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Downtown Owl

3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 · rating details · 6,801 ratings · 875 reviews

"New York Times" Bestselling Author Chuck Klosterman's First 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....more

Hardcover, 275 pages

Published September 16th 2008 by Scribner

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Sep 15, 2011 Jodi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008-read, rock-roll-bookclub

In a Pop Matters interview Chuck Klosterman says, “It was harder to write fiction, but maybe that was only because I’d never done it before. I can’t remember if writing Fargo Rock City was hard or easy.”

The fact that he’s never written fiction before is painfully, achingly, stupefyingly, annoyingly obvious. First, there is the problem with the adverbs, which I won’t go into again.

To start off Klosterman can’t even answer the question of who is telling this story, one of the main tenets of all fi...more

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Sep 20, 2008 RandomAnthony rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ok, I just finished Downtown Owl. A few thoughts:

1) I realize slamming Klosterman is fashionable, but I liked this book, esp. the first 250 pages, quite a bit. However, it's important to note that Klosterman loves North Dakota and parts of Downtown Owl read like mash notes to the author's home state. You could see him sitting in a bar saying, "Wasn't growing up in North Dakota weird, even if we didn't know it at the time? But still, I can't complain."

2) I laughed out loud at least ten times whi...more

9 likes · like · see review

Aug 17, 2008 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, on-my-shelves, 52booksin52weeks-07-08

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

6 likes · like · see review

Sep 12, 2008 Helena rated it 2 of 5 stars

Chuck Klosterman is adorable and thus we fell in love and made casual small talk one day about a year ago when he came in to sign books. Now we live together. Except, you know, he's a book on the shelf and I'm a real live girl.

I think, perhaps, had I read this several years ago, it would have been The Best Book I've Ever Read. However, Douglas Coupland got to the several-years-ago-me first and so I spent the course of Downtown Owl looking for the Canada references. (There aren't any. But explain...more

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Sep 27, 2008 christa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman follows a few months in the lives of 17-year-old level-headed, slightly depressed, Mitch — a mediocre athlete who’s ideal bedroom would be as sterile as a hotel room. Julia, the 23-year-old recently-hired history teacher who’s resale value skyrockets because she’s new in town and she’s in a town of men who want to ply a woman with alcohol. And Horace, a widower who enjoys solitude, spy biographies and wars he did not fight in. The omniscient unnamed narrator is a...more

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Feb 24, 2009 Holli rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved it. Klosterman is a genius and I'll read anything he writes- he's so clever and writes in such a conversational way. It's easy to get into the rhythmn of his writing and I enjoy every page. In this book, he tells the story of a tiny town called Owl that's hit by a monster blizzard. The blizzard doesn't even happen until the last few pages but every page leading up to it is a pleasure. The surprising/creepy ending kept me thinking about it for days...

Favorite Passage:
"Why do we get out of b...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Ryan Schneider rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is Klosterman's first novel. It is quite good. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Klosterman excels at weaving a tale in which seemingly nothing happens yet which is full of life and realism and pathos and strife. His theme of "What is normal?" permeates the text, which is a brilliant socio-political comparison with daily reality of Orwell's 1984 and the daily reality in Owl, North Dakota in the waning months of 1983, where high school sports are the talk of the town, drinking is a normal leisure act...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Brianna Sanchez rated it 4 of 5 stars

For a town where everyone knows everyone seems cliché. Though in the small town "Owl" of North Dakota, this concept is normal for almost all the residents. Three different stories from three different people are told in a darkly comical way by Chuck Klosterman in "Downtown Owl".

In the novel "Downtown Owl" by Chuck Klosterman, set in the 1980's the author writes of three characters who are intangibly connected. Julia, a twenty something woman who has just moved into Owl and is less than motivate...more

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Jan 22, 2009 Tyler rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is absolutely fabulous. It ranks as one of the top three books I have ever read and definitely one of the funniest. The people who say it isn't a very good read went in with the wrong expectations. This isn't Steinbeck or Henry James, this is a modern Salinger. What else could you expect out of Klosterman? It's not about what goes on around the characters, but rather what goes on inside the characters. It is absolutely wonderful. You get to follow the thoughts of multiple characters wh...more

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Aug 01, 2008 Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars

There were parts I loved and parts that seemed like silly writing exercises to amuse himself.

7 likes · like · see review

Nov 20, 2008 1morechapter rated it 4 of 5 stars

I didn’t even know who Chuck Klosterman was when I picked up this book, but after listening to just a few minutes of Downtown Owl, I had to check to see who he was and if he went to high school with me. He didn’t — as he’s from North Dakota — but Downtown Owl was so jarringly and surprisingly familiar to me that I had to make sure. Set in 1983 and 1984 in the cold, flat plains of fictional Owl, ND, this book captures small town plains life almost perfectly. At least it does for that time frame.

T...more I didn’t even know who Chuck Klosterman was when I picked up this book, but after listening to just a few minutes of Downtown Owl, I had to check to see who he was and if he went to high school with me. He didn’t — as he’s from North Dakota — but Downtown Owl was so jarringly and surprisingly familiar to me that I had to make sure. Set in 1983 and 1984 in the cold, flat plains of fictional Owl, ND, this book captures small town plains life almost perfectly. At least it does for that time frame.

The residents of Owl converse and care deeply about the weather, crops, the high school sports teams, the bars, and the fact that the local movie theatre is closing down. (Check, check, check, double check.) The day doesn’t seem complete if the farmers don’t get together and talk about all these important events over coffee every day. (Triple check.) And last but not least, the English teacher is having the high school classes read 1984 in 1984. (Quadruple check.) Klosterman could have been telling this story about my own hometown in the very year of 1984 when I, too, was reading 1984 as a high school sophomore. Eerily familiar, I tell you! Oh, and the music, too. All the popular music of the day gets a mention, and that was a nice blast from the past as well.

The three main characters in the book are Mitch, a high school student on the football team; Julia, a young, brand new teacher who is the new celebrity in town; and Horace, a 70ish widower whose wife died of insomnia. I really don’t want to say too much about the characters because they each have their own unique voice and slant on living in Owl that is best experienced yourself. If you want to know more about them, read the book!

The book does have quite a bit of bad language in it, one scene of animal cruelty that was graphically described, and an ending I wasn’t sure if I liked or not, BUT… I will definitely be looking into Klosterman’s next novel, particularly if it contains plains people in a plains town.(less)

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Oct 29, 2008 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: the-admiral-bookclub, purchased

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 03, 2008 Tamara rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Klosterman fans, small-town North Dakota residents (past and present)

Shelves: gen-fic, 2008

If this were the first thing Chuck Klosterman had ever gotten published, it would not propel him to the fame he enjoys, and could even doom him to obscurity. But since it's not, both he and the book will do just fine.

It's also a good thing I grew up in a small town in North Dakota. I know where each of the small towns (other than the fictional Owl) he references are, and have been to probably all of them. And I have known all of the people in the book, just with different names.

Speaking of names...more

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Oct 15, 2008 J.A. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: autographed

As ridiculous as it may sound, Chuck Klosterman has written a paean to North Dakota in his first novel, Downtown Owl. Equally as ridiculous, this is the first Klosterman book I have read, so I am not able to compare his fiction to his non-fiction. It’s likely that this will not be the only Klosterman book I will read, but it will probably be the only book I read about a rural North Dakota town in the 1980s. Most of the story (like the town itself) revolves around Owl High School, whether told fr...more

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Nov 14, 2008 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars

While I read Downtown Owl, I kept thinking of that old chestnut "You can't see the forest for the trees."

I enjoyed individual chapters of the book. Unto themselves, there were quite a few of them that told interesting stories about the main characters with Klosterman's snarky pop culture commentary. I especially liked the sections that focused on Horace, the 74 year old widower. It's in these chapters that it feels like Klosterman's created a living, breathing person that exists outside of his...more

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Jun 28, 2011 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: listened

I'd so love to give this book 5 stars. I loved the characters, even though the readers didn't have the North Dakota (Northern Wisconsin/Northern Minnesota) accent I love so much because it reminds me of my childhood, the parts were read to perfection, I doubt I would have enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed listening to it. Parts were hysterical, laughter to the point of tears. I loved the characters stories, so very small town Midwestern, probably characters found in any town, really. The...more

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Mar 19, 2009 Kevin rated it 3 of 5 stars

I like Chuck Klosterman, but I'm not sure why. His writings are often, on the surface, about subjects I don't care for, like sports, or 80's pop metal, or his own sex life. When it comes to music, he is, in fact, like Christopher Columbus - he discovered something thousands of people had already known about for centuries. The tone of his writing is usally patronizing, and his attempts at witticism often assume that his reader knows just as much about pop culture as he does, which is not always a...more I like Chuck Klosterman, but I'm not sure why. His writings are often, on the surface, about subjects I don't care for, like sports, or 80's pop metal, or his own sex life. When it comes to music, he is, in fact, like Christopher Columbus - he discovered something thousands of people had already known about for centuries. The tone of his writing is usally patronizing, and his attempts at witticism often assume that his reader knows just as much about pop culture as he does, which is not always a safe assumption.

Downtown Owl is the third of his books that I've read, after Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, and Killing Yourself To Live. It is his first attempt at writing a novel, but it shares many of the aforementioned qualities with his previous works. For its first hundred pages or so, it was exactly as I expected: self-indulgent and amateur. It was composed mainly of exposition, and this was filled with lots of little (parenthetical) asides that made everything seem rather vague and ill-defined. But I guess that's the world Chuck Klosterman inhabits. The characters seemed caricatures, and I begin to suspect he had lost his ability to sympathetically portray provincial people, and was mocking them, unbeknownst to himself.

Then something happened and I realized I was laughing out loud at the book. The characters had developed somewhat from caricatures into grotesques; they were endearingly flawed like characters in books can be. I suppose small midwestern towns are like this kind of novel. Everyone in them has a well-defined relationship to the others in the narrative whole experienced by all of them, and this both gives experience meaning and lets modern doubt and angst stay hidden in the subtext.

In this sense, the book is an idyll, though one made heavy with the gravity of the unvoiced, inner lives of the protagonists. The perspective follows three characters, with a couple interludes, each of them an outsider in some way. The fictive town of Owl, North Dakota, that informs all its residents' experience, is refracted through the realities of these strangers, and when a sudden blizzard blitzes the town, they become consciousness untethered, each forced to confront the only authentic substance of his or her world. Two of them die.

I read this book in an afternoon - it probably took five or six hourse, all told. Except for the fact that it's a novel, Downtown Owl is like all the other Klosterman I've read. Sometimes he stretches a bit too far for wittiness sake, but he hits the mark a bit more often than he misses. I'm either thrilled or dismayed at the things he says, but never bored. If you already like him, read this book. If you don't know him, start somewhere else.(less)

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Mar 12, 2009 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Chuck Kolsterman, in his first novel, captures the feeling of a very small town in North Dakota in the 1980's. Chapters are headed by character names, but they are not first person accounts from those people; instead, the headings give us an entry point into the thoughts and the stories that contribute to who that person is in the moment. Owl is the name of the town where "everyone knows everything about everyone", and although that idea often rings true, the novel does a great job of exploring...more

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Feb 08, 2009 Craig Butler rated it 2 of 5 stars

Ok I'm giving the book a two because,through all the rubbish and incontrovertible flaws this book contains of.There's still a story told that screams from under piles of pop culture references and needless list.It happens to be a good story that could have been wonderful,The three characters are pretty interesting.The towns intriguing enough and it's nicly painted because Klosterman obviously has that attachment with the mid-west,

With all that being said,a two-rating Is mighty benevolent of me...more

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Nov 25, 2008 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love Chuck Klosterman but I am disappointed in this book. Is it really fictional? I read an interview where Chuck says that the character most like him is Horace, but really I think all three of the characters (Horace, Mitch and Julia) are a mish-mash of Klosterman's inner most personalities. Well, maybe not Mitch because he isn't obsessed with KISS and 80's hair metal.

Chuck stays true to his essay style constantly writing short chapters alternating between the characters, but unlike all of hi...more

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Nov 30, 2012 Cameron rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've enjoyed Chuck Klosterman's witty takes at a variety of subjects via his collections of essays and memoirs. And so this, his first novel intrigued me. In many ways, it keeps the same charm of Klosterman's familiar prose. That is great in most cases, but it can make things a bit clunky in others, where wordplay and puns don't come off as easily in a narrative fiction. There are a few instances where the voice of a certain chapter is an internal monologue, others when it is told by a distanced...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Logan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I gotta say I really enjoyed this book. I'd never read Klosterman's work before besides a few journalistic pieces in Grantland. I came across Downtown Owl while meandering through a used bookstore. I began to casually read the first chapter and was immediately hooked by Klosterman's breezy and clever writing style. I finished the book in less than two days, which is quite a feat for me since I don't consider myself a particularly fast reader. There was something about the way Klosterman describe...more

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Apr 27, 2012 David Fuller rated it 3 of 5 stars

When art imitates life, you rarely have as good a chance to watch as in Chuck Klosterman's first novel.

Originally from Wyndmere, N.D. (go ahead, find it on a map), Klosterman wrote his way into pop culture with his smart, funny, self-deprecating and piercing books.

In Fargo Rock City he tackled heavy metal. In Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs he skewered online culture and virtual entertainment. In Killing Yourself to Live he went on a pilgrimage to understand America's fascination with dead rock stars...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Will rated it 3 of 5 stars

Downtown Owl did something wholly unexpected: it stayed with me. The central theme resonated for a few days after I put it down. This much was surprising, particularly after reading it quickly and without much involved thought.

It has been well discussed that this is Chuck Klosterman's first stab at fiction, and it reads as such. For the majority of the book, it seems as if Klosterman is simply narrating a non-fiction memoir. It would not be a stretch to imagine him as his protagonist Mitch, the...more

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Jul 24, 2011 NJMetal rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have read Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman. Now I will a) write a review of it here and b) attempt to write said review in the style of Chuck Klosterman. When I picked up this book I was (mostly) excited to read a new work by Mr. Klosterman though (somewhat) apprehensive about his taking on of the fiction novel genre. I was 85% happy with the final outcome.

This is my review. My review is this. After having read his first published stab at fiction in the form of a short story in Chuck Klosterma...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reading-list, general-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I wish I could give this three and a half stars, because somehow that seems more accurate to me than four or three. But I'm being trivial.

I have a hard time with this book, because it's very different from what I normally choose to read. "Downtown Owl" follows a series of people living in a small North Dakota town. It's mostly snapshots of moments in their lives, not the most important or most defining moments, but just the day to day drudgery that comes from living in a tiny town in the Midwest...more I wish I could give this three and a half stars, because somehow that seems more accurate to me than four or three. But I'm being trivial.

I have a hard time with this book, because it's very different from what I normally choose to read. "Downtown Owl" follows a series of people living in a small North Dakota town. It's mostly snapshots of moments in their lives, not the most important or most defining moments, but just the day to day drudgery that comes from living in a tiny town in the Midwest. Much of this, I remembered and I think the author hit the nail on the head in some remarkable ways.

The people are normal and their thoughts and problems are the kind you expect to see in a place like Owl in the mid-eighties. I liked a lot of the insight, especially one short chapter which was mostly a series of vignettes about various men that one of the characters had befriended. It was impressive how the author managed to convey such a sense of these people so succinctly.

However, "Downtown Owl" has a dark side to it. The book begins with a short newspaper write up of a blizzard that tore through the area, killing many in a freak white out. The whole book is a count down to this. The cover is a picture of a small town mainstreet with two circles cut into it, showing the unblemished white of the book cover beneath. It is, quite frankly, chilling to look at after finishing the book.

This is where the difficulty comes in. This book was very well written (excepting some of the dialogue which I found stilted) and I can make reasons for why the author ended things how he did, but I put this book down unsatisfied. I'd been with these people, learned about them, and yet most of them were left without an ending. The final newspaper blurb at the end of the book is almost cruel in how accurate it is, lamenting the death of a popular basketball player while glossing over the other deaths. It felt small and petty, and while that's real, it was hurtful at the same time.

It's that selfish streak I have when I'm reading a book. I understand that when you die, that's it. Everything else that comes after doesn't really matter to you. I understand that not everyone gets a story that ends definitely. I can grit my teeth and accept these facts as best I can, but I still wanted more for these characters. I wanted better for them. Their deaths didn't mean anything, and the abrupt cut off at the end almost suggests their lives didn't mean anything either.

I would recommend this book, but I think it would be better suited to a bookclub setting where it could be discussed. I know I certainly feel like talking about it.
(less)

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Apr 01, 2011 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was an odd yet still very interesting read. If you have ever read Klosterman, or hell even heard him talk for extended periods of time, the writing style just about falls in line with what you have previously experienced from him. To borrow a paraphrase something Klosterman himself used on The BS Report podcast when talking about Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, this book is one of those reads that, as you read it, does not seem all that difficult to write yourself, and yet as you progress throu...more This was an odd yet still very interesting read. If you have ever read Klosterman, or hell even heard him talk for extended periods of time, the writing style just about falls in line with what you have previously experienced from him. To borrow a paraphrase something Klosterman himself used on The BS Report podcast when talking about Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, this book is one of those reads that, as you read it, does not seem all that difficult to write yourself, and yet as you progress through the book you realize that effortless style is a large part of his talent, because the complexity is undeniable and something that few writers could accomplish so well.

He illuminates the very plain existence of the people of Owl, North Dakota in 1983/1984. The viewpoint alternates between (I think) 5 people (although one person gets just one brief viewpoint and another fades out as the story progresses), and the shifting viewpoint gives us a look at their many eccentricities and struggles with this small-town life. If you are going into this expecting big doses of plot, then you need to re-do your expectations. It is entirely character driven until the last thirtyish pages, and to me that is a fascinating kind of read, especially when does as well as this is. As for the ending, I won’t get into spoilers, but I was feeling myself get disappointed until the last two or three pages, which made up for it and gave it a very solid ending, though I think more could have been done epilogue-style.

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that there are several laugh-out-loud funny moments in this book. It takes a lot to get me to have that reaction to a book, but this succeeded time and again.

I did have a couple of criticisms of it, though. First, I know it’s not Klosterman’s style to worry about confining himself to the rigid, often ancient rules of writing, but the adverbs damn near killed me. I’m no grammar policeman. I think that the occasional adverb use can be super-effective, but this might have been the most adverb-filled novel I’ve ever read. By no means is this a deal-breaker, it’s more just a minor pet peeve of mine. The other critique I have is its endless pop culture references. With Klosterman, this shouldn’t be a surprise because this is how he makes his living, but Mitch’s lack of interest in music and the details of what his friends were listening to got to be a bit tired.

All things considered though, I’d give this book a strong recommendation for anyone looking for an eccentric yet very well done read.
(less)

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Feb 12, 2011 Kelsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-literature

I loved this book! I don't know what I thought about the ending. I think it might have been unnecessary, but at the same time, I liked it. I also love when a book is so character driven! I could totally relate too, coming from such a small town in Wisconsin.

"I just think it's idiotic that we don't get mail today, simply because Columbus was a bad explorer. You do realize he discovered America by accident, right? He thought the Indians were pygmies."

"Why do we get out of bed?" Mitch wondered. "I...more

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Feb 01, 2011 Allison rated it 4 of 5 stars

Though "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" had always caught my eye (what a title!) in the bookstore, I never read a Klosterman book until I picked up "Downtown Owl" at my local library. I flipped to the inside flap and was hooked.

"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 governm...more Though "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" had always caught my eye (what a title!) in the bookstore, I never read a Klosterman book until I picked up "Downtown Owl" at my local library. I flipped to the inside flap and was hooked.

"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."

The story is told from three main points of view: Mitch, a high school student, Julia, a high school teacher new to Owl, and Horace, a man who's lived in Owl his entire 73 years. Every so often, a secondary character will narrate a short chapter, but it really relies on the three main characters, and it really works being written this way. The characters are realistic and unique individuals. Even without the chapter "titles" indicating who was speaking, their personalities come through immediately.

For at least 3/4ths of the story, I had no clue how the narrators fit together. (Besides Julia teaching at the high school Mitch attends, their paths never cross.) I didn't read a chapter and then say 'Oh, I know what's going to happen. He's going to twist it like this, and then this will happen.' I genuinely had no clue, even at the climax. That, I think, is super powerful. How amazing to have your reader totally in the dark, clueless about what will happen, but loving the story you're telling? Impressive work! There is no foreshadowing, there are no hints at what will happen. I literally had no idea what would make the story end. And, because of that, I technically had no idea why the story was being told - but it was enjoyable just the same. It was an easy read because once you start, you can't put it down. The chapters are so short and so intriguing you keep saying "Just one more, just one more!"

One of my favorite passages follows. I love when authors get down something you've felt forever, and put it in these perfect words and you stop and say YES. THAT is what I've been feeling all this time.
"Sometimes you think, Hey, maybe there's something else out there. But there really isn't. This is what being alive feels like, you know? The place doesn't matter. You just live."

The ending, to me, was a total surprise. It's based on true events, so I suppose if you know your North Dakota history (the subject Julia teaches, it just so happens) you might have an idea what's coming. But if you don't, I don't advise you to look up the dates on Wikipedia. Just read it. You'll be shocked at the end, but it's one of the best endings I've ever read in a book. Not a hint of corniness, no deus ex machina - just perfection.(less)

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Jan 14, 2011 Rebecca Coleman rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was recommended to me by a writer friend who knows I'm a picky reader (and also a writer myself). She warned me in advance: "It's character, character, character, character... PLOT!!!". Thus I was prepared for what was to come, and I could sit back and appreciate the book. And what a great book it is. It's one of those books that comes to you slowly... all through it I wasn't sure where the author was going, but based on his skill I had faith in the story. And then, at the very end, I...more

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About Chuck Klosterman

Charles John "Chuck" Klosterman is an American pop-culture journalist, critic, humorist, and essayist. He was raised on a farm near Wyndmere, North Dakota and graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1994. After college he was a journalist in Fargo, North Dakota and later an arts critic for the Akron Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, before moving to New York City in 2002.

More about Chuck Klosterman...

Books by Chuck Klosterman

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story

Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas

Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota

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