A review by trin
Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman

4.0

Even though I enjoy Klosterman’s nonfiction, I did not have high hopes for his first novel, as the only other example of his fiction I’ve seen—the short story that closes [book: Chuck Klosterman IV]—was pretty weak. Unusually, and delightfully, my expectations were far surpassed. In Downtown Owl, Klosterman brings (back) to life a small North Dakota town in the early ’80s. His observations seem pitch-perfect to me (at least based on my own experiences in a small Vermont town in the mid ’90s), and the book is frequently hilarious—Klosterman’s snarky prose can work in a fiction format! Yay!

The book’s ending does make me want to kill him a little, but in a good way. Mostly.