"Joseph Di Prisco's novel [Confessions of Brother Eli] is bitterly funny, the story of enormously fat, smart and self-destructive Brother Eli. Irreverent in more ways than one, he's an instructor at a Catholic private school with a menagerie of peculiar teachers and a student body roiling with humorous angst and subtle rebellion.

"Eli feels his life spinning out of control with drink, food, and his affection for an eccentric transfer student, but his essential morality allows him to be the perfect lens through which to see the faults of his Brothers, the church, and the world. His emotional evolution is subtle...but this trip in his mind and body...is often absurd, sometimes touching, and always enjoyable."
ãChris Kridler, The Baltimore Sun

"Confessions of Brother Eli is a terrific first novel, at once funny and disturbing, totally engrossing. I loved the characters, the voice, the style...the language of the book. Brother Eli is a fascinatingly flawed, human, and original characterãand I rooted for him all the way."

ãKatrina Kittle, author of Traveling Light

"Brother Eli himself is the main triumph of this engaging novel. Ungainly, irascible, moral, self-defeating, funny, fresh, he will streamroller his way into your heart, while he muses on everything from bad breath to the nature of spiritual doubt. Di Prisco takes a hard and savvy look at the inside of Eli's world, this Catholic prep school school and the forces that shape it, while still allowing us to respect part of it, the good heart of this particular Brother. You will never forget him."

ãCornelia Nixon, author of Now You See It and Angels Go Naked.

Brother Eli is a mountain of a man, bald of his free will, in the thrall of a gargantuan appetite. His robe is stained, his classes are demanding, his attitude cynical, his breath sour. He smokes, drinks, fights against the forces of darknessãparents and school administrators. He does not lack opponents in the Church, his family, the student body, or his orderãMost Holy Family. Now, even that war in Viet Nam is coming close to home and school. Enter two semi-mysterious strangers to Catholic Prep. One is a novice who is hysterically embraced by students and Brothers alike. The other is transfer student Nadette Nevers, who is shunned and reviled by classmates, but esteemed by Brother Eli for her eccentricity and independence. Along with a menagerie of quirky characters, Brother Eli journeys through matters of faith, truths, lies, money, envy and power, sexuality and food.