World Famous Comics: Ovenman: A Novel (Tin House New Voice)
Ovenman: A Novel (Tin House New Voice)
By: Jeff Parker Publisher: Tin House Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Tin House Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 250 Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Skateboarder, punk rocker, kitchen slave, and general ne’er-do-well with a slightly tarnished heart of gold, When Thinfinger tries mightily to survive a seemingly endless round of troubles in small-town Florida. After getting fired from his job at the Barbie-Q, he lands a gig at the hippest pizza joint in town, where he soon becomes the leader of a disheveled crew. He’s the singer for a mediocre rock band, but his bandmates only let him sing their name, Wormdevil, to all the songs. His girlfriend dreams that he murders her and decorates their apartment with the skulls of small animals. And his best friend enlists him in his plan to land his photo in Thrasher by skating a bowl of poisonous snakes. Navigating a life littered with freaks and miscreants, When crosses a line, and things suddenly become hotter than his pizza oven. Jeff Parker’s laugh-out-loud funny first novel follows a contemporary Everyguy through the strange twists of a woefully complicated life.
excellent! Outstanding first novel from a writer with a great eye for detail. I can't say that I've ever read anything quite like it...Jeff Parker really nails his characters and sense of place from the first page. The writing is tight, dark, propulsive and very funny...I finished this in one sitting. Can't wait for the next one.
Quirky A gritty slice-of-life from a young skateboarding punk living in Florida in the 90's. Everything about When Thinfinger is idiosyncratic, starting with his name and moving to his badly tattooed arms and penchant for writing post-it notes to himself when he's drunk. Fairly quick moving and insightful, well-written novel.
Tasty Humor Ovenman is no superhero, but he's a great character. Parker excels at quirky, funny characters: Shaka Bra scarring himself before going off to war; Blaise hunting rattlers for a skateboard stunt; Marigold dreaming of murder as she sleeps holding a baseball bat; and the title character Ovenman, overlord of the nightshift at the local pizza joint, just trying to figure his place in it all. It's not Tolstoy, so 5 stars would be overstating it a bit, but rarely have I laughed out loud so often while reading. Solid, literate fiction, a well told story and fun, memorable characters...like I wrote on the post-it note I put on the cover "read it again!"
Fantastic I laughed, I cried, I immediately grabbed my Huffy with the orange banana seat and tried popping wheelies...you know, cause that's a turn-on. I look forward to the next one!
great reading A very enjoyable, quirky novel. Nearly every line in the novel is entertaining, nicely spun, with unusual word choices. This is a sort of updated Catcher in the Rye in terms of current intense youth jargon. The characters are zany, and full of strange energey and surprising thoughts and offhand remarks that contain quite a bit of provocative truth--for example, ". . . it tasted like generic industrial laundry detergent, the kind that really cleans."