| Hell of a Book | |
| Author: | Jason Mott |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Publisher: | Dutton |
| Pub Date: | 2021 |
| Pages: | 323 pp |
| Isbn: | 978-0593330999 |
Hell of a Book is a 2021 book by Jason Mott. It won the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction.
In alternating chapters, the novel tells the stories of two different characters: a nameless novelist on tour for a book also titled Hell of a Book, and an African-American child named Soot. Soot, who lives near Whiteville, North Carolina, is being bullied on the school bus, while the novelist is troubled by visions of a child he calls "The Kid", who speaks to him in riddles.
The Star-News said that with the novel, Mott earned "a place on the shelf beside such African-American writers as Colson Whitehead and Octavia Butler".[1]
On November 17, 2021, the novel was awarded the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction.[2] It was also longlisted for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction,[3] the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize,[4] and the 2022 Joyce Carol Oates Prize.[5]