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As the author of four iconic works of nonfiction, including the instant classic Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Chuck Klosterman has earned a well-deserved cult following. With his first novel, Downtown Owl, he seamlessly translates his habitual interests and obsessions—music, death, drugs, romantic longing, small Midwestern towns, transcendent sports moments, and random theories about pretty much everything—into fictional form.
Set in Owl, a small North Dakota town, over the course of several months in the summer, fall, and winter of 1984, Downtown Owl is told from the perspective of five of the town’s inhabitants. Mitch Hrlinka is a sweet-natured high-school football player who’ll never be quarterback because he “was not clutch. Nobody said this but everybody knew.” Julia Rabia, a pothead and transplant from relatively urbane Milwaukee, is the new high-school social studies teacher, to whom “the overtly idyllic nature of Owl seemed paradoxically menacing…like a Burmese tiger trap for apolitical strangers who needed uninteresting jobs.” Horace Jones is a decent and thoughtful elderly widower, whose “life revolved around coffee. It was central to his existence. He was that kind of person.” He drinks it with other old men for a social life and alone for comfort. John Laidlaw, Mitch’s football coach, is “a pheasant hunter, a two-pack-a-day smoker, a notorious cheapskate, a deeply closeted atheist, and an outspoken libertarian.” He was “also an English teacher, and—were it not for his preoccupation with” luring female students into “his powder-blue Caprice Classic—he might have been among the best educators in the entire state of North Dakota.” Cubby Candy, who narrates only briefly, but illuminatingly, is the misunderstood town bully.
Klosterman weaves these characters into an entertaining narrative that showcases a meticulous attention to detail and a relentless commitment to locating the offbeat and abnormal with the normal daily routine. Although Klosterman occasionally hits a false note, his story rings true.
Click here to visit Chuck Klosterman on MySpace.
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D0CTA J0K3R |
December 24, 2008klostermansucks, swallows, and gargles |
Brooke Callan. |
December 15, 2008AfterAfter purchasing Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and never even finishing the book because it was not entertaining at all, I do not think I would read another Chuck Klosterman novel. |
The ORIGINAL Cup of Joe |
December 05, 2008it appearstom is sucking the royal man dick on this whole putting up new books deal |
The PrΩdigal SΩn |
November 26, 2008Twilight:the chick becomes a vampire in the 4th book. I just saved you 20 hours of your life. You're welcome. |
Orgasmic AhDumb |
November 25, 2008its not a crush DAMMIT!I haven't turned soft! Everyone who likes this book can go suck a giant horse dick! yeah! thats right! See, I'm still an internet bad ass. I just made a reference to animal felatio, thats pretty hardcore.....isn't it? |
John |
November 24, 2008HAHAHAHAadam has a crush on SUEY!!! YOU GUYS!!! whooo. who gives a shit about the book when the boards got shit like that!!! |
D0CTA J0K3R |
November 21, 2008hahabitch if you come to my house i hope youre bulletproof. |
The ORIGINAL Cup of Joe |
November 21, 2008seriously hoeGTFO! |
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