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A review by vanessakm
Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman
3.0
I know a little something something about growing up in a small town in the mid-80's. Granted, my hometown in Kentucky was about 8000 people which makes it ten times the size of the fictional Owl, North Dakota. But still, parts of this book just felt so right to me, like driving around with your friends and parking under the water tower listening to Van Halen's 1984 on cassette. I sometimes hesitate to say a book is funny because there's this notion among some people-including me-that a book can be funny OR it can be a worthy read. But this novel is funny and worthy. I laughed out loud in several places. The one scene in English class where Klosterman lists out what all 22 students are thinking ("Robot cows", "My boyfriend has amazing hair", the meaning to the opening lines of Def Leppard's "Rock of Ages", how to kill the teacher with a crossbow) was so funny I had to resist the urge to pick up the book and start calling people so I could read it to them.
I look at reviews I've written sometimes and think, "WTF was I thinking?" and this will probably be one of those. This book reminded me a little bit of Steinbeck's [b:Cannery Row|4799|Cannery Row|John Steinbeck|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309212378s/4799.jpg|824028], which is a book I talk about way too much anyways. Owl certainly isn't up to that level but it has the same kind of episodic leisure and seeks to create a super-quirky, real-ish and beloved community in the round. The story is narrated (except for two segments) by three citizens of Owl. One is Mitch Hrlicka, a high school junior and unexceptional athlete. One is Horace, an elderly farmer and widower. The last is Julia who has just moved to Owl from Milwaukee for her first post-college teaching job. I loved them all.
It's really hard to synopsize and review books like this so I'd like to mention the two most common criticisms of it. One is that all the characters sound like Chuck Klosterman, who is better known as a pop culture essayist. The small but important distinction is it's really the omniscient narrator who sounds like Klosterman or his doppelganger. So I didn't mind that.
The other criticism is the ending. I won't spoiler anything but it's a...bold choice that Klosterman makes. I'm not sure I cared for it. In fact, I think I didn't. And I don't understand Klosterman's choice for the epilogue. What was he trying to say? I went to bed and kept waking up thinking about it. You owe me an Ambien or something, Klosterman.
But that's good when a book works overtime. I gave it three stars because--I'm not sure why. It misses the cusp of greatness. But it's greatly entertaining and engaging and it clearly stayed with me. I really was invested in Mitch, Julia and Horace. Also, I learned important blizzard survival tips.
I look at reviews I've written sometimes and think, "WTF was I thinking?" and this will probably be one of those. This book reminded me a little bit of Steinbeck's [b:Cannery Row|4799|Cannery Row|John Steinbeck|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309212378s/4799.jpg|824028], which is a book I talk about way too much anyways. Owl certainly isn't up to that level but it has the same kind of episodic leisure and seeks to create a super-quirky, real-ish and beloved community in the round. The story is narrated (except for two segments) by three citizens of Owl. One is Mitch Hrlicka, a high school junior and unexceptional athlete. One is Horace, an elderly farmer and widower. The last is Julia who has just moved to Owl from Milwaukee for her first post-college teaching job. I loved them all.
It's really hard to synopsize and review books like this so I'd like to mention the two most common criticisms of it. One is that all the characters sound like Chuck Klosterman, who is better known as a pop culture essayist. The small but important distinction is it's really the omniscient narrator who sounds like Klosterman or his doppelganger. So I didn't mind that.
The other criticism is the ending. I won't spoiler anything but it's a...bold choice that Klosterman makes. I'm not sure I cared for it. In fact, I think I didn't. And I don't understand Klosterman's choice for the epilogue. What was he trying to say? I went to bed and kept waking up thinking about it. You owe me an Ambien or something, Klosterman.
But that's good when a book works overtime. I gave it three stars because--I'm not sure why. It misses the cusp of greatness. But it's greatly entertaining and engaging and it clearly stayed with me. I really was invested in Mitch, Julia and Horace. Also, I learned important blizzard survival tips.