Cornelius Suttree has forsaken a life of privilege with his prominent family to live in a dilapidated houseboat on the Tennessee River near Knoxville. Remaining on the margins of the outcast community there-a brilliantly imagined collection of eccentrics, criminals, and squatters- he rises above the physical and human squalor with detachment, humor, and dignity.

Cornelius Suttree has forsaken a life of privilege with his prominent family to live in a dilapidated houseboat on the Tennessee River near Knoxville. Remaining on the margins of the outcast community there-a brilliantly imagined collection of eccentrics, criminals, and squatters- he rises above the physical and human squalor with detachment, humor, and dignity.