Forever and Forever, the trailer park/gulag for the over-sixty-five set in Harry Crews's stinging new satire, provides Florida sun, few services, and all the dehumanization that waiting for death while getting a tan can offer. It's fine fodder for Crews's mordant wit.

In Celebration, Crews unleashes a spark -- actually a walking bonfire -- of life energy into this dreary locale. She goes by the name of Too Much, and she's dedicated to the chance of ultimate possibility. Exulting in her power to bring joy and celebration where there had only been resignation and despair, this beautiful and wildly sensual bombshell stirs up trouble, awakening appetites that most were sure had died decades ago -- in short, she brings new life to this cemetery annex. The result is a black comedy that is both darker and funnier than anything Harry Crews has written before.