num_pages: 314
description: At the age of 17, Randall Hunsacker shoots his mother's boyfriend, steals a car and comes close to killing himself. His second chance lies in a small Nebraska farm town, where the landmarks include McKibben's Mobil Station, Frmka's Superette, and a sign that says The Wages of Sin is Hell. This is Goodnight, a place so ingrown and provincial that Randall calls it "Sludgeville"—until he starts thinking of it as home. In this pitch-perfect novel, Tom McNeal explores the currents of hope, passion, and cruelty beneath the surface of the American heartland. In  Randall, McNeal creates an outcast whose redemption lies in Goodnight, a strange, small, but ultimately embracing community where Randall will inspire fear and adulation, win the love of a beautiful girl and nearly throw it all away.
language: English
title: Goodnight, Nebraska
titlecomplete: Goodnight, Nebraska
genres: Fiction, American, Coming Of Age, Americana, Book Club, Drama, Westerns, Romance, Contemporary, Literary Fiction
ratings_count: 910
places: Nebraska
awards: awardedAt: 883641600000
name: California Book Award
category: Fiction (Silver)
publisher: Vintage