Author_s pop culture background sneaks its way into the novel

“Downtown Owl: A Novel” is the first work of fiction by Chuck Klosterman and it’s not at all what I thought the name suggested. Some of you might be familiar with Klosterman’s “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs” (2003), which features an amusing critique of “Saved By the Bell” and extensive use of clever footnotes. Good stuff. Because Klosterman has written for Spin magazine and is known for pop culture journalism, I expected “Owl” to be a novel about urban places after dark – kids hanging out after shows and the ways rock ‘n’ roll corrupts the “innocent” American teen. Nope, not this book. Instead, “Owl” is about Owl, a farming town of 850 people. That’s 50 fewer than live in the Stephenson Complex. I should mention that the book takes place in the winter of 1983-1984. If you spent that winter as a fetus, developing a skeletal... [read full story]