Waterloo

by Karen Olsson

Nick Lasseter is in a slump--as a reporter for the Waterloo Weekly, and in every other part of his life as well. When he grudgingly agrees to write a piece about a rising female Republican legislator, he stumbles onto a political fight in which the good guys and bad guys start to seem interchangeable. And not even the deceased can be relied upon to stick to their stories when Nick gets involved with a political insider. As they search the dim depths of a civic past that's anything but dead and buried, they find that some things never change--things like the moral ambiguity of practical politics and the sad, hilarious cluelessness of young men in love.

Bittersweet and biting, elegiac and sharply observed, Waterloo is a portrait of a generation in search of itself--and a love letter to the slackers, rockers, hustlers, hacks, and hangers-on who populate Austin, Texas--from a formidable new intelligence in American fiction.

Genres: Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

Reviews

[Emily H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are very few novels about Austin, Texas, and so I had to read this one. Author has a very solid political writing background and so I thought it would be interesting. It turned out to be a slow read, in a good way, think Virgin Suicides. I wasn't that interested in the small-town politics in the end. I wasn't too drawn into the love story either. But I did like the nostalgic depcition of old Austin. The sad comedy of the old bar buddies/drink sharks getting together to protest the closing of an iconic bar was bittersweet. Seriously, people do spend a LOT of time here gathering and rallying events that would be inconsequential in other cities, or so it seems to me. I'm thinking about the oak tree that the man poisoned when his wife divorced him and so many people rallied together and had all night prayer circles around this 400-year old tree hoping it would come back to life. This is one example off the top of my head. This book captured the change of Austin from a small-town Olympia, WA feel to big urban sprawl trendy Mecca like Denver, CO. Haven't seen anyone else do such a great job with it.

Olson also writes excellent and well-researched articles on immigrant politics and Texas border issues for Texas Monthly magazine.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waterloo by Karen Olsson is to Austin as the works of George Pelecanos are to Washington, DC. That’s my analogy and I’m sticking to it.

They are similar in that both books portray people that exist in legions in the real life of the respective cities but are not popular grist for the fiction mill. They are similar in that they are both well-plotted, well-observed, and fun to read. They are similar in that, if you read them, you get a peak at a part of the respective cities which are not frequently written about, even though they are populated by far more people than the places that appear more frequently in fiction, meaning, the places where the rich and powerful live.

Also, these books, I thought, were often dissimilar in the way that Austin, TX, and Washington, DC, dissimilar. For example, Austin doesn't take itself too seriously, neither does this book. I laughed several times reading this novel, as the author intended, especially at the short introductory chapter in which the author gives a pocket description of “Waterloo”, Austin’s stand-in. I have NEVER, as far as I can remember, laughed at the cruel and violent world of George Pelecanos’ Washington. He didn’t, I believe, want you to. There’s nothing funny about the world of Pelecanos.

Both this book and the works of George Pelecanos are enjoyable in their own way, and perhaps your enjoyment will depend on whether you are in a Washington, DC, kind of mood or an Austin, TX, kind of mood. As for me, I need to relax a little, so I enjoyed Waterloo, and I enjoy Austin for the same reason.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a perfectly enjoyable book about a few slackers in Austin, Texas, involved in minor goings-on. It fits into the ever-expanding ranks of clever, biting novels written by disillusioned former reporters. (I actually didn't bother to check if Olsson is a journalist, but her description of a reporter begrudgingly doing a job whose luster is worn off is so true-to-type that it's hard to imagine that she hadn't had that feeling first-hand."

Aside from doing a nice send-up of reporters, Waterloo is also a funny treatment of local politics. I found this description of Austin quite satisfying. "The city would eventually harbor state legislators and musicians, who populations who, despite their very different styles of dress, were united in their desires not to have to work too hard, to be locally renowned, and to drink beer paid for by somebody else."

[Chelsea Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tyler said he didn't think he would like this book because it bothers him how people fetishize Austin. People do that, and you can't do anything about it because those people are very self-effacing about it. Everyone likes being here, though it's a badge of a lack of motivation. This seems like very old news to me, and I've only been here three years.

Not a lot happens in this book, and you think about that as you are 1/4, 2/5, 3/7, 5/6 of the way through it. "Nothing much else is going to happen in this book" you say to yourself, as another character has too much to drink and the main character sees someone they know in a dusty bookstore and the main character's porch sags an additional millimeter.

I've had some mixed feelings coming back to Austin, my home-for-now, over the past month since I have returned from my probably-home-for-life, Los Angeles. I feel kind of lazy just by being here, and that, reflexively, makes it a little harder to relax than when I was in a busy city DOING something with my life. Unlike the characters in this book, I'm (if I want to be) here for a period of time somewhat predetermined. That takes a load off because Austin is like that one place in the Phantom Tollbooth where it's very hazy and hard to tell what exactly is changing at all.

Austin makes me want to stick around long enough to gripe about the newcomers and reminisce about minute changes that make it less awesome than it was (in this way it a lot like working at the LA Times, and points to how much pride people have about being a part of both places.) My point is: I haven't talked much about this book, because it does such a good job of capturing what it's like to live in Austin, that in talking about the book I talk about my own experience of living here, because they're that close.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I had this on my Around the USA shelf to read for Texas, but it just wasn't anything I cared to go back to after reading 100 pages. I think if I wanted to write an interesting novel about Austin I'd focus on the people in the fringe, not the politics and journalists.

I'm reading another Texas book that might do the trick.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts like a lion, ends with a whimper.

[William O. II · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than "The Gay Place."

[Mad Hapa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Austin, you have more in common with Portland than you realize...

[Dustin Dwiggins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated all the atx references but **shrugs**

[Karen Kurth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many stories going at once!

[Nika · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was fine, but just not what I expected. I thought this was a story about political intrigue, but there was way more personal drama than expected and the political part was also disappointing

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best book about Austin that I've read. It captures our town's peculiar charms, its gradual transformation into a more sprawling and less appealing place, and the people who found their way here and could never leave.

The storytelling reminds me a little bit of some Larry McMurtry's All My Friends Are Going to be Strangers, and perhaps a little bit of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. These characters are all a little too lazy and perhaps a little too myopic to figure out how to get what they want, and the novel often feels the same way. I thought that they set up several threads that didn't quite come together in the end the way they were supposed to, but perhaps that's the point?

I recommend this book highly to any of my friends who have strong opinions about the best breakfast taco, who still miss Liberty Lunch, who have complained about traffic on MoPac, or who have worried about gentrification of East Austin. I think you'll like these characters and spending time with them.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who lived five years in Austin, I looked forward to reading a book that would bring back some of that experience. It does capture the rapidly disappearing aspects of the city through the eyes of several people watching it slip away. The characters each represent the old era-an old liberal politician, possibly reminiscent of Sen. Ralph Yarborough in the broadest since, and Nick, the exhausted and put upon reporter for an alternative daily, and his uncle Bones, who uncomfortably straddles political lines. I only wish that the author had spent more pages on the two most interesting characters, Andrea and John Carter. And that she'd called Austin Austin instead of Waterloo. Anyone who's spent any time there knows that's exactly the town she writes about.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from one of the author's sisters. Karen has a facility with language that I admire, clever quips and explanations of a certain status quo malaise that hangs over Waterloo/Austin. She frustrates my expectations of plot development, but I admire this, as the usual narrative arc is an expectation I want frustrated. Must there always be character changes and dramatic epiphanies? Things change in a slower slightly sadder pace which reflects real life better. It's a portrait of a city, as filmed through a highly detailed slower-than-24-frames-per-second camera.

[jboi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read/write about this for one of my blowoff classes that I'm taking basically just so I can graduate without doing any real work. This was hilariously sub-Pynchon bullshit that had no real feeling of finality at the end but I mean I read it in a day and it's about Austin so it wasn't too aggravating.

Actual line: "Bye, you guys," Roger said derisively after they had gone. "Hey, have you all heard the new Radiohead?" *chapter ends*

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're feeling any Austin nostalgia, you should read this. It's a thinly veiled account of Texas politics, set in Austin. Oh, I mean "Waterloo". I thought it was very good, but I may have been swayed by the fact that I was living in Hollywood at the time I read it and really, really wanted to go home.

[Somer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book will appeal most of all to those residents (or former residents) of Austin, TX who remember what it was like before everyone and their mother discovered how cool Austin is. I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did, but the characterization is very strong and, while there might be a few too many plotlines, overall this book was quite enjoyable.

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

an enjoyable contemporary book set in Austin TX (by way of the fictional town "Waterloo"). I expected more plot development (but not grisham style epicness or anything!), but it wasn't really the point of the book (or the characterisation of the city for that matter). The characters were the book's real strengths, not the political happenings which sort of fizzled out to me.

[Lore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olsen captures Austin, in broad strokes and in the details, the people and locations. The story isn't grand, but it's realistic in its scale and pace, meandering like life in Austin does.

I won't read this again, and would be unlikely to push it on anyone, but I was glad enough that I read it.

[Mai Ling · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an inside glimpse at the world of small-town politics and the journalists who cover them. Just like my life! It was great, even if the end was a bit ... unendlike. I can't complain. The writing is great and stylish, and the characters are simply real.

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a local favorite. Waterloo is well-written and I love that it captures all the great Austin stuff- politics, music, bars and funny slackers. It's an easy read- reminds me of a Nick Hornsby. For the best-of Austin-lit, read it with "The Gay Place."

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish. Sarcastic look at politics in "Waterloo" otherwise known as Austin. Didn't really like any of the characters, so didn't care if anyone got gumption and did something. Don't know if knowledge of Austin political players matters.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

To read my review from Time Out New York, please click on this link:

[http://www.timeoutny.com/newyork/Deta...]

[Juju · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best and only novel about Austin, Tx I have read.

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

BookPeople/ KUT Book Club - Oct 2018

[Frances · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set in a fictional Austin, Texas. Interesting depiction, but nothing special.

[Michael]

a good read.