Downtown Owl A Novel

Somewhere in North Dakota, there is a town called Owl that isn't there. Disco is over but punk never happened. They don't have cable. They don't really have pop culture, unless you count grain prices and alcoholism. People work hard and then they die. They hate the government and impregnate teenage girls. But that's not nearly as awful as it sounds; in fact, sometimes it's perfect. Chuck Klosterman's Downtown Owl is the unpretentious, darkly comedic story of how it feels to exist in a community where rural mythology and violent reality are pretty much the same thing. It's technically about certain people in a certain place at a certain time...but it's really about a problem. And the problem is this: What does it mean to be a normal person? And there is no answer. But in Downtown Owl, what matters more is how you ask the question.

Chuck Klosterman is the author of Chuck Klosterman IV; Fargo Rock City; Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; and Killing Yourself to Live. He was until recently a columnist for Esquire, a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, and has also written for GQ, Spin, The Washington Post, ESPN, and The Believer. He lives in New York City.