by Pete Dexter
First published 2011
Warren Spooner has a talent for disaster. From his earliest years, he collides with the world around him, turning simple situations into spectacular mishaps. His childhood unfolds as a series of painful blunders and embarrassing accidents that would crush most people. But Spooner keeps getting back up, armed with a twisted sense of humor and an almost supernatural ability to survive his own mistakes. As he grows older, his troubles multiply and darken. Violence finds him, or maybe he finds it. His resilience becomes both his salvation and his curse, pushing him through experiences that would break others. Pete Dexter follows his protagonist through decades of mayhem, creating a character who refuses to quit even when quitting might be the smart choice. Spooner's story swings between moments of genuine comedy and deep pain, sometimes within the same scene. This is life without filters, told through the eyes of someone who has never learned to duck when trouble comes calling.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, comedy, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: dark-humor, unreliable-narrator
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
603 pages · Kindle Edition · Atlantic Books (UK)
Content warnings: violence