Although Downtown
Owl is Chuck
Klosterman's first novel, it's in some ways a sequel to his 2001 memoir Fargo
Rock City.
Klosterman's first book was split between ruminations on the glories of
pop-metal and anecdotes about growing up in rural North Dakota; Downtown Owl takes place in another one of those
North Dakota nowheres—the farming community of Owl—and is about a
group of people a lot like the ones Klosterman likely knew as a boy. There's
Mitch, a third-string Owl High School quarterback who has no particular
interests other than sleeping; Horace, a reticent widower who spends his days
taking in the gossip at the café; and Julia, a new teacher who feels out of
place, if only by virtue of her advanced degree and broader life experiences.
Over the fall and winter of 1983 and '84, these three strangers drink and stew
and rehash local legends, as Klosterman describes what it's like to live in a
place where everyone knows what you do, but no one knows who you are.
Klosterman's
transition from cultural critic to novelist isn't always a smooth one. In his
criticism, Klosterman tends toward matter-of-fact pronouncements, delivered in
a voice that seems to say, "I have nothing invested in being 'right' about any
of this." In fiction, that style detracts from the dramatic drive. Klosterman
may know these
characters, but he doesn't seem to have particularly strong feelings about the
choices they make, which means readers have to supply their own reasons for
caring about what happens to them. But even when the story's stuck in neutral, Downtown
Owl's digressions
remain entertaining and even penetrating. Klosterman frequently steps away from
the main narrative to cover Owl's historical misperception of its high school
football legacy, or nitpicky disputes among the local Catholics, or what's
going through the minds of an English class forced to suffer through a
discussion of George Orwell's 1984. In a way, the book's digressions are its narrative. Klosterman's not
just telling the story of three people; he's telling the story of a town, and
how it muddles along with a dwindling population and a narrow interest in what
lies beyond the city limits. Klosterman captures the mindset of a place where
long-term goals dissipate into the endless landscape, and people fall back on
dealing with their immediate needs, whether they be getting drunk with friends,
or getting drunk alone.