What's most intriguing about this book is how it straddles the line between pretentious and down-to-earth. It's actually both. He gives us his best rendition of someone who's read Derrida and Proust all his life, while at the same time giving us the play-by-play on how he's taking bolts off his International Harvester truck.
I figure this book is rubbing a lot of people the wrong way. Because that line is pretty hard to straddle. You can end up looking like a dolt just for trying. However, I am of the opinion that if I'm laughing out loud every 10 pages he's done more than his share of work. I dare anyone to read his diatribes on squirrels ("keeping the buggers in the cross-hairs") and how he fixes the toner in his printer without at least smiling, if not chuckling. He has some real writerly instincts, this guy.
Plus - hey, I'm from the Midwest. I recognize the type of people he's talking about. I understand why you'd kick your dryer into your backyard, plant your garden faithfully each year with such meager hopes, and why you'd hear teenage hoodlums remonstrating each other about manners. We rock, here in the Midwest. And he's reflected all of that so engagingly, so I'll absolutely read more by him.
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