A review by snowmaiden
Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman

3.0

As a novel, I don't think this book is very successful. There isn't much plot until there's suddenly way too much at the end, with "dramatic" developments that I probably would have seen coming a mile away if I'd been bothering to pay attention. However, as a time capsule of what it was like to grow up in rural North Dakota in the early 1980's, it's invaluable. I can't tell you how many times Chuck brought up some obscure detail that made me chuckle or smile because it was exactly right. (Although I'm still upset about the Guess jeans reference. Sure, they existed in 1982, but I'm pretty sure no one in Owl, North Dakota would have heard of them, let alone worn them.)

This is reminding me I need to go back and read Chuck's later novel. I have no doubt that he improved his second time out of the gate. (And yes, I'm calling him Chuck and not Klosterman for a reason. I do know him, although I'm completely sure he doesn't remember me, that geeky freshman girl who used to stare at him as he walked the corridors of Merrifield Hall, pontificating to his many hangers-on [or to his archnemesis Rex Sorgatz]).