The Neon Bible

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The Neon Bible

First edition cover
Author	John Kennedy Toole
Language	English
Genre	Novel
Publisher	Grove Press
Publication date	May 1989
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
ISBN	0-8021-1108-4 (hardback edition) & ISBN 0-8021-3207-3 (trade paperback)
OCLC	18411432
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 19
LC Class	PS3570.O54 N46 1989
Preceded by	A Confederacy of Dunces (1981)

The Neon Bible is John Kennedy Toole's first novel, written at the age of 16. The novel is a bildungsroman about a callow youth named David in rural Mississippi during the late 1930s to early 1950s. He learns of religious, racial, social, and sexual bigotry in the narrator's ten strongest memories, one memory per chapter. The memories begin with David on a train, escaping the past, hoping for freedom. The book is told entirely from the first person.