Along the way, we get all the ingredients readers have come to expect from Chuck Klosternan. As usual, he is very amusing and sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious. Pop culture references come at you faster than ravens rushing to greet Tippi Hedren. He is the master of the set-up, the throwaway line, the ironic aside, the closing anti-punchline.
The book builds up to a confrontation between two of the nastiest characters in the city of Owl. A neanderthal high school athlete named Chris Sellers, nicknamed Grendel, is looking to throttle Cubby Candy, who is smaller but makes up for his disadvantage in size by his willingness to fight dirty. “There are only three qualities required for successful fighting,” Candy explains. “I have them all, and I have them to the highest possible degree.” These are (1) a total disregard for pain, (2) a full commitment to winning no matter what heinous action is required, and (3) the right motive. For Candy the right motive is a complete absence of motive. This spurs him to continue fighting long after others would give up.
These two thugs are only minor characters throughout most of the book. But by the time they face off at the apple orchard in the final pages of the Downtown Owl, Klosterman has built them into larger-than-life protagonists. I haven’t seen such pre-fight hype since the first Ali-Fraizer bout at Madison Square Garden.
In these closing moments, Klosterman shows off his full mastery of the narrative. He brings all of his plots to a slam-bang conclusion almost simultaneously. And he adds a sweet ironic twist at the end that imparts a piquant flavor to the whole endeavor. Capping a book this good with an ending that lives up to everything that went before is no small feat. For my part, I give both thumbs up to Downtown Owl. Let’s hope Chuck Klosterman’s debut novel is the first of many.
Article comments
1 - guy
I loved this novel, growing up largely in that area of the U.S. and all the pop culture references were great. A must read for some.