Homer begins, "You will find me changing voices as I slip into — let us say — mode of the closer participant.

My eyes get bigger than ever over the situation of this town and my passing through it." And so begins the telling of the story of Hey Jack! Because of Hannah's achronological narrative style, it is sometimes difficult to determine past or present events — even though in this community the past is the present.

Hannah's raconteur style also familiarizes the reader with the town and its cast of tragic and addictive characters.

Community is not created out of historical facts and voluminous details, but created through the actions, inactions, thoughts, and desires of people who live or once lived. This is what makes community. Mark Charney in his interpretation and criticism of Hannah in "Establishing the Community: The Juxtaposition of Images in Hey Jack! and...