Unexpected.

i have no idea why this book has the cover that it has. this is an understated, weird midwestern-gothic novel about coincidence, throwing rocks at moving vehicles, mailing money to strangers, reenactments of bank robberies. i guess it's sort of hard to distill that into a cover image but still, pretty girl with freckles in a field of dirt is definitely not the correct vibe.

i like tom drury *a lot* -- "end of vandalism" was a revelation, albeit a quiet / subtle / downbeat one. this is shorter and throttles back the deadpan humor a bit in favor of a stranger story and crystalline-mundane dialogue. the climactic scene that shifts from the "bank robbery days" play to the orchard is glorious, even if the plotting required to set it up is a little clunky. if i had to boil this down i'd say it's fargo but with ghosts instead of cops. which i think is a pretty good idea.

this set me to:
-looking at "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" (source of epigraph)
-wondering whether it has anything to do with Melville's Pierre (there are some structural/conceptual similarities)

choice nugs:
"There a pack of tricolor beagles strained at their leashes and bayed at the old man, Tim Geer, who sat eating a grilled cheese sandwich in the back of one of three police cruisers now in the lot. The dogs did not seem to realize their job was done or maybe they only wanted the sandwich."

"Roland's graduation picture hung on the wall. He looked wary in the photograph, as if listening to a complicated offer that might be a ripoff."

"She'd had some hard times. Something begins to fade from the eyes after too much of anything. She had thick dry reddish hair and white scars on either side of her face as if she had been attacked by a bear.

In fact, she said, she'd done this with her own fingernails one time after going too many days on speed. Pierre did not know what to say to that, but she smiled and nodded, as if the pain had faded, leaving only a sort of impersonal amazement."

Audiobook- I actually listened to this book because I like the narrator and bring from the driftless region I thought it could be entertaining. While a good book all wrapped up, it was kinda dry and jumpy.

Though slow to start, I did enjoy The Driftless Area a considerable amount. I don't mind slow openings, and this one was not bad. For about the first 5 chapters (there are only 10, so roughly half the book) there is no mystery or noir of any real sort. There is however alcoholism, romance/sex, and a brief near-death experience. Once the plot started rolling, however, it went. Drury's novel did keep me entertained the whole read and had an interesting plot/characters; however, my biggest problem with the novel was a supernatural twist thrown in around the end of chapter 7. True, it did tie into the novel (I won't say what, who or how for a spoiler free review), but it still felt totally out of left field and a bit unnecessary. Once you look past this though, it was a nice, short and fun read.

Also a side note: Drury's "sex scene" (if you will) was exceedingly well written, in my opinion. It was not graphic in any sense. The actual act of sex is not described, but the description of the scene and the two lonely people looking for someone to understand them and love them was absolutely phenomenal. I felt the character's connection to each other and what their actions meant on a deeper, spiritual level, not just physical.

After I was completely fed up, I started skimming. I finished it, but I wish I had never even picked it up. Honestly, I don't even know wtf the story was supposed to be about. The description was very misleading.

Not a fan of the twist, but his writing is so atmospheric that I still really enjoyed this book.

seemed a bit child-like with the large font and short book. But interesting. Maybe neil gaiman-like.

Very strange.

I picked this up to read after seeing the film. I figured the book would be much better - the movie, despite starring my beloved Anton Yelchin and Zooey Deschanel, was so awkward! The dialogue was awkward. The scenes were awkward. It was all awkward. The chemistry was awkward. The characters were all awkward. They moved awkwardly. I got really tripped up - how could either of them be such awful actors? How could the entire supporting cast be awkward?

Oh - after reading the book, I get it. The book is awkward. The dialogue from the movie comes right from the book. It's not natural. The characters are strange. The plot is awkward. It's all a big awkward mess that manages to hold itself together until the end... when it just sort of trails off.

It's an all right read - I'm not sure I'd have liked it if I hadn't been comparing it to the movie the whole time.

That being said, there were a few paragraphs that I thought were genius. At the same time, there's very little description and it's just a very strange style.