Concrete Fever

by Nathaniel Kressen

“A Manic Must-Read About Love and Loss” – Literary Man

“Expertly-paced. Dark. Gorgeous.” – The Rumpus

“Completely screwed-up and fantastic.” – Continual Progress

Bestselling Independent Novel – Strand Book Store

On the night he decides to jump off his Upper West Side rooftop, a prep school teen encounters a lost girl dancing on the ledge. They split cigarettes, spill secrets, and hatch an unexpected plan: to play out a romantic relationship over the course of one night, and discover whether magic can truly exist. As the game propels them through scattered haunts of the city, the line that separates fantasy from reality blurs, leading each to reconsider what is real, what is illusion, and whether the dawn will bring with it a new beginning or a violent end.

In his triumphant debut novel, newcomer Nathaniel Kressen weaves a real-time psychological love story, introducing two unforgettable characters searching for meaning in post-9/11 New York City.

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Short bio:

Nathaniel Kressen is the author of two novels — Dahlia Cassandra (named Best of 2016 Fiction by Entropy & Luna Luna Magazine) and Concrete Fever (Bestseller, Strand Book Store) — as well as the co-founder of Second Skin Books and the leader of the Greenpoint Writers Group. He is publishing weekly serialized fiction with At Large magazine.

Extended bio:

Nathaniel Kressen is the author of two novels — Dahlia Cassandra (named Best of 2016 Fiction by Entropy & Luna Luna Magazine) and Concrete Fever (Bestseller, Strand Book Store) — as well as the co-founder of Second Skin Books and the leader of the Greenpoint Writers Group. He is publishing weekly serialized fiction with At Large magazine.

Nathaniel lives and works in Brooklyn. In addition to his work with the GWG, he curates The Loaded Canon at Brooklyn Oenology which combines raw unpublished work with high-end wine & cocktail pairings. His writing has been published by some of the most well-respected indie presses, though he has a penchant for going the DIY route when traditional paths take too long.

Upon finishing his first novel, he taught himself how to bind books and went on to print, stitch, and sell nearly 250 copies through local stores. With those earnings he published the first paperback edition of Concrete Fever - now in its second printing. Though the pin pricks on his fingers have healed, he remains committed to creating physical art objects out of literary fiction.

His work for the stage has been published and produced in NYC, DC, LA, and regionally. As a screenwriter he won First Place in The Relevance Group's American Details Competition. He is a proud alumnus of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied performance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute.

His better half is the visual artist Jessie T. Kressen. They camp and travel and mix cocktails for friends. They have a horde of furry children together as well as an epic backyard garden.

Reviews

[Mara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cover Blurb: Yes or No? I actually kind of like the cover art. It's colorful and fun to look at, and I adore the pocket sizeness of this book! It's such an adorable little size! But. . . .that's about all I liked about Concrete Fever.

Characters: I can sum up every single one of these characters in one word: slimeballs. Jumper, our protagonist, is an asshole and admits it, and does nothing to remedy his behavior. He sleeps with every girl he knows, drinks himself into oblivion, does drugs, and thinks he can get by with anything because he's rich. Gypsy isn't much better. She does drugs, behaves provocatively, has no respect for personal property, does drugs, drinks, smokes, and is more than likely completely off her rocker. Jumper's dad, we find out, isn't much different from Jumper, though he did try and clean up his act (it didn't last). And Jumper's mom, Nix, was a disgusting individual, too, who doesn't do anything to fix her attitude or behavior, either. So, yes, not only did I not care about anyone; I despised them.

The Romance: Um, if you want to call what happens between Gypsy and Jumper romance, be my guest. But I don't; I call it lust. Pure and simple as that. So, no, I was not invested in the "romance" and I definitely thought it took up way too much of the story (well over 95% of it, in fact).

Plot: "Jumper" is the son of a rich businessman who dies in the Twin Towers. Not that Jumper is broken up about it. His dad never had time for him, treated his mom horrible, and Jumper has no interest in becoming like him. Nevertheless, after his dad dies, Jumper decides to end his life. But when he goes up on the rooftop of his apartment building to make friends with the concrete, he meets a girl dancing along the ledge. Gypsy is not like any other girl he's met. She's crazy, she's wild, she has no restraint, and she's dangerous. But the two decide to act out an entire romantic relationship in one night. Neither knows the other's real name, and they agree that whatever they say about their past, they will treat it as if it's the truth. Concrete Fever had no point. I know that contemporaries rarely do - I've read enough of them now to get what a good contemporary is supposed to be. This wasn't it. The entire book felt like a fevered dream, and maybe it was supposed to because Jumper is narrating it and he is drunk or high for the majority of it. But still - there just wasn't a point. They went out and got drunk, came back to Jumper's apartment and got drunk, had sex, got drunk again - and high, - went out again to eat, et cetera. We got to learn about Jumper's parents' messed up past, too, and I enjoyed that even less than Jumper's story.

Believability: No complaints.

Writing Style: First person, past tense. However, none of the dialogue has quotation marks, so you have to guess when someone is talking - and who, because the Author rarely says who is speaking at the time. Once you get into the rhythm, it's not too hard to follow, but I hate that kind of style. I just hate it. The style was also very choppy, and the imagery less than appealing. I have given a sampler below. And yes, the whole book it like this:

She guided my hand to the bruises on her face. She winced but kept it there. It felt like ham steak. I wanted to knife it apart and fry it. Pepper it. Swallow down its juices with a side of eggs. Sunny side up. Yolks broken and swimming in the cooking oil. I smelled coffee. I heard an alarm sounding. It was like that with Gypsy. An ounce of reality led to a fantastical world taking shape. (pg. 90)

Content: 23 f-words, 22 s-words, 3 g--damns. I don't even know where to begin with the sexual content, it was so continuous and explicit.

Conclusion: If this book had ended where Gypsy and Jumper faced their problems and overcame them, maybe I could at least give it a single strawberry. But even if that were the case - which it isn't; Gypsy and Jumper don't seem to learn anything at all - I couldn't overlook the fact that this book is filled to the brim with profanity, explicit sexual content, and truly despicable characters.

Recommended Audience: Girl-and-guy read, 20-and-up.

[Fayrouz Elh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book and thought i’d give it a proper chance. Overall, I would say it’s a good, engaging read.

I read it in a couple of hours and was hooked to the storyline from the start almost. I so desperately wanted to see any plot or character development that would remedy some of the gaps in the story. I enjoyed the parallels we saw between Jumper’s upbringing and his parents’ messed up relationship and then his own yearning for lust. The mention of 9/11 could have been more substantive. The brushing past the abusive nature of some of the characters was weird to read. Nonetheless, it’s a good account of lust in a New York setting that doesn’t only romanticize New York in an unrealistic way. I would recommend this as a short, engaging read.

(There were several typos that irritated me though)

[Dylan Zucati · Rating 2 out of 5]

CONTENT WARNING: Self-harm, drug abuse, and suicide. I don’t say this to steer you clear from reading, but these themes are tantamount to telling this story. If you or a loved one has experienced thoughts of self harm or suicide, call 1-800-273-8255 for the suicide prevention hotline and speak with someone who can provide you with the resources you need to stay safe. Sometimes talking about it is enough.

Catcher in the Rye was written in reaction to World War II. Concrete Fever exists in the same vein, reacting to the fall of the twin towers. I haven’t read Catcher in the Rye since high school, I’m not sure how intentional the relationship between these two novels might be. What I do know: Concrete Fever is tied to 9/11 like the Iraq War. Nathaniel Kressen summons the apathy of modern day America to the page immediately, but the fallout makes for an unpleasant experience at times. Fans of Brett Easton Ellis or Ottesa Moshfegh may be able to stomach this quick read better than me, but I don’t know if you’ll enjoy it as much as you would those other authors. For all the unpleasantness this book brings, it does do some really interesting things with POV, I just think the execution of which doesn’t land the way it wanted to in the end. It originally existed as a play and I wonder if I would have liked it better on the stage.

Concrete Fever begins with a real shithead planning to kill himself. On his way off the roof, he comes across a girl who claims to be his guardian angel. These two name each other, Jumper and Gypsy, before spending the novel ruining people’s evenings across New York City. I don’t think you’re supposed to like either of the unfortunately named main characters. Their charisma is undermined by some terrible behavior or perception of the world that sours quickly almost every time. One page is spent one-upping each other’s dead baby jokes, and it’s one of the more tame moments between the two. Chapter three begins with a reflection about Jumper’s mother that turns into a flashback from her point of view, still being told by the eighteen year old half-orphan. The chapters then alternate between the young chaos couple and flashbacks from Jumper’s parents point of view. There is an undertone of domestic violence throughout, almost tackling undoing the sins of the father conceptually, but falling apart into an ultimate message of “Some men can’t help it, but also maybe the women in their lives pushed them to it(?)” It’s really perplexing because it feels like Kressen is trying to say something about how violence within the home is unforgivable and often passed down on accident. Unfortunately both Gypsy and Jumper’s Mom, Nix, are portrayed as volatile woman, self medicated in a way that makes both the drug problems and beatings from partners, their own fault.

Setting this book’s problematic nature aside, there was a lot of it I enjoyed. If you could suspend your disbelief about why Jumper knew stories from his absent father’s perspective, the unraveling of that character became one of the more interesting plot lines of the novel. From the moment you first figure out that his dead dad was in the towers when they fell, to finding out he jumped rather than suffer within the collapse. He becomes more and more sympathetic until you finally see him hit Nix during a bender the book would have you believe she pushed him to. Learning more about both parents could have made this novel much longer, maybe even fixed some of these shortcomings. Unfortunately, as the story of the inebriated teens comes to a close, so too must the parent’s story and all they represent within it. The writing was generally entertaining to read, even in distasteful moments everything clipped along at a breakneck speed, encouraged by the lack of quotation marks at any point. If Concrete Fever had been longer it might’ve had the opportunity to tell a more well-rounded story, but with more pages or a tighter print, the nauseating experiences may have closed the book early for me.

I’m going to spoil the ending because I think it encapsulates my problems throughout in the final three paragraphs. Before a section break marked with an italic x, Jumper and Gypsy are standing on the roof again. The reader understands that they go back inside or over the building together, both their lives are in Jumper’s hands. It’s a tense moment that the book has been building up to and after that section break we get, “For a brief moment I was suspended, then felt a drop. A slow rocking from side to side. The security of cushioning.” which leads into the last three paragraphs about them being on a train, riding to the end of the line where they would start a life together. Concrete Fever spends the 221 pages portraying itself as a story about how pointless life is after the death of a patriarch, tying into post-9/11 New York City and everything that entails. It could have ended on the roof, leaving the audience to wonder, just as it could have ended Jumper’s Father’s story with him leaving on a bender without hitting anyone who pushed him there. Instead it leans into the fake-out, punching you in the gut before telling you that it’s all going to be okay in the end, undoing the sentiment built out of all its metaphor. It’s not a good or bad book, it could have been either, but instead it ended up being an okay novel about a couple teenagers witnessing first hand that the world’s not fair, and running away like so many have dreamed to do before them.

[Kaitlyn Crow · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars) I’ve held on to this book for a while and finally tackled it - man, it is DARK. But interesting and, for the most part, an enjoyable read. The pacing was great (aside from some flashback scenes paralleling the main story, the entire thing takes place in one night) and I don’t think I’ve ever read a piece of fiction that responds so viscerally to 9/11. This book is very “in the body” in a way I really appreciated, there is a theme of violence and substance abuse throughout and I really felt the punches, really felt the tipsy-topsy of being so drunk you’re not sure which way is up.

Things I Did Not Enjoy:
- I don’t really understand how the lack of formatting for the dialogue added value to the story and I was often frustrated by it. Maybe it’s not for me, but I’ve seen it work in other novels and I just don’t see its place here.
- These were not believable teenagers and I kept having to remind myself of their ages. Aging them up to 19/20 would’ve made more sense, and meshed better with the parallel story of the main character’s parents taking place in the college years.
- The end was meh. I’m glad it didn’t go the direction that I was expecting it to (splat) but it also didn’t feel believable. Maybe this is also part of the age issue.
- The assigned name for the lead girl… yeah that’s not great. We veered into manic pixie dream girl territory with her several times throughout the story.

[Luna Saint Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unexpected jewel, this book’s raw emotion pushed and pulled me to the end in one sitting. The anger and sadness after the events of 9/11 were often inexplicable. Kressen pulls it off!

[Pattie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Concrete Fever is the debut novel by Nathaniel Kressen. It was originally a stage play and, I imagine, it would read better as such. In fact, elements of it still remind the reader of a play. The novel centers around two unnamed teens, one affluent, the other more undefined, who encounter each other on the rooftop of a building in New York. The male is contemplating suicide when he meets the female. They spend the evening drinking, eating, drinking, smoking marijuana and drinking while trying to work through their myriad dysfunctions and find meaning in life. For me, though, this novel tried too hard to be hip and relevant, and came off more of a cliche. It touched on issues of anger, loss, alcoholism, mental illness, intimacy and how patterns repeat themselves, all leading to an epiphany that we are ultimately responsible for our own well being and choices in life. We are supposed to wonder whether the main character will choose life or death but I never found that to be too much of a guessing game. Oh, and a pet peeve of mine, the book had no less than 3 proofreading errors in it. Shameful but not the fault of the author, but Second Skin Books.

Overall, the author can write but got too caught up in forcing mood/character and not simply allowing both to unfold and grow in a more natural fashion. There is a lot of room for growth.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this two days ago and I'm still not sure if I even liked this book. The main character/narrator is Jumper and he's not the best guy. He's a high schooler who drinks a lot and gets stoned while living in his deceased father's high rise apartment New York City. One night, he decides to end it all and jump off the roof, but instead he meets a girl dancing on the ledge. He calls her Gypsy and they agree to act out a whole relationship over the course of one night while being honest with each other (but how would the reader know?), thus starting a crazy, alcohol and drug infused adventure. We never learn their real names and the ending was ok.

I honestly bought this book at the thrift shop based on the fact that the cover is neat and it's signed. That's not usually why I buy books, but it was this time.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great premise with two of the main protagonists who experience same hardships from both past experiences of dealing with the "not so perfect," parents and the inner conflicts of dealing with their own self being. Great language used in the book to depict the feelings of each character , as well as describing what one thinks of the other. Definitely my first novel to read that deals with post 9/11 attacks. And gives you an insight of what jumper and gypsy'a hardships with their parents involved in it .great to see a book touch base on these conflicts that many people deal with still, ex:alcoholism , physical abuse , and marriage and divorce.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style was a little abrupt which took some getting used to. Around the halfway point it took a few turns I didn't really care for, but the last couple chapters definitely drew me back in. Interestingly, a character I didn't like in the beginning turned out to be my favorite, which made me like the book a bit more. I prefer books with layers like that, when you're set up to think a certain way about a character, and then it all changes. No where near one of the best books I've read, but good enough for 3 stars.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am about halfway through this book and not sure that I want to finish it. Reads like a high school creative writing assignment that got a C. Gorgeous cover art but so far has little else going for it. Update: I finished it and that is time I won't get back. I guess there is a reason they say "don't judge a book by its cover." Wish I would have left it at the bookstore.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not really sure I liked this book, but I did think it was better than just ok, therefore the three stars. The mindless drinking and violence just didn't do it for me. Strangely, I much preferred Nix and Jughead to Gypsy and Jumper as they seemed more human in spite of their flaws.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://lovewhatyouread14.blogspot.com...

read my full review there.

i wasnt crazy about it.
such a little book that took me sooo long to read.

[Claudio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modern day Catcher in the Rye in practically every respect, though that's not a bad thing in the slightest.

[LauraSue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it in one sitting. Could not put it down.

[Luna Havilliard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has no words to describe it. There is no book that has this nonexistent plot or existing plot. Apologies If this makes absolutely no sense by a lot of things make no sense.