I can only give this 2 stars because, even though I could tell the writing was extraordinary, I cannot say I would recommend it to anyone who wasn't predisposed to enjoying this sort of thing. I did not find it entertaining.

I didn't particularly enjoy the first-person narrator. He was just too meandering and self-centered. This might be the point, since he's this self-destructive, washed-up writer. He's still not someone I wanted to spend 500 pages of my life with. Maybe I'm dense. I didn't get the literary references that were no doubt sprinkled through out. It even felt a little 'overwritten' to me. Also, repetitive. Five chapters in and he's still calling someone "St. Pauli Girl" (not to her face, thankfully) even though he knows her name and is constantly sleeping with her. I got it after the first two or three times. But I don't get why she keeps throwing herself at him. Maybe it's part of the gun church plot. Maybe it's author-worship. It's just inexplicable at this point.

The gun church of the title makes an early appearance and then disappears. If it had reappeared earlier, along with some more interesting characters and some actual plot, I might have hung on and finished the book. It was intriguing. Moving on to something I do enjoy.

Notice that this is all just my reaction. There are plenty of 4 and 5 star reviews. This might be the sort of thing you'd like, if you like this sort of thing. ( )

A darkly funny take on the '80s bad boy New York writers, starring the now has-been Kip Weiler after he is relegated to teaching in coal country. After a school shooting, he falls in with a cultish group of gun enthusiasts led by a fan who uses his books as a Bible. A dash of Misery and Wonder Boys, but a story only Reed Farrel Coleman could tell. And when does the book within a book become real? ( )

Couldn't get into the story at all. DIdn't like the characters one bit. Te only Reed Farrel Coleman book I didn't like and couldn't finish. ( )

(PW Review: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4405-5199-4)