A Screech and a Bang! by Mark Anthony Given

When a high ranking state official’s drunken night ends on Zanoli's doorstep, the misadventure has only begun. Where John Kennedy Toole's novel, “A Confederacy of Dunces,” left off, "A Screech and a Bang!" begins. Given's energetic text, near Dickensian characters and bombastic narrative infused with intoxicating laughter provides nonstop astonishing inventiveness, and wavers between situational comedy and a tragic tale, and provides quite a comedic masterpiece of esthetic delight.