SOURCE: "Is Nitburg Burning?" in The New York Times Book Review, July 7, 1991, p. 18.

In following review of Never Die, Kaye faults Hannah for not fully developing his characters.

Barry Hannah can succinctly and with great good humor evoke the profound bewilderment of the human condition.

Consider, for example, the husband-narrator of the short story "Love Too Long," from Mr. Hannah's 1978 collection, Airships: "'You great bastard!' I yelled up there. 'I believed in You on and off all my life!'"

This element is still present in Mr. Hannah's ninth book, Never Die: "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Rotten Indian-giver, eh?" one character says.

But Mr. Hannah's sly wit is squandered here. The characters in this novel are undeveloped, and Mr. Hannah's fine, wry insight is wasted when applied to caricatures.

The plot, too, lacks conviction. Set in 1910, it involves a university-educated gunfighter's decision (inspired...