2 days ago
This novel's vibe is Bret Easton Ellis meets Donnie Darko
Michael Clune's coming-of-age novel is narrated by a chronically anxious teenager called Nick, who hangs out in a rural barn where a group of loosely connected young people get high. The barn is owned by the rich family of two brothers, Tod and Ian, the latter of whom has taken so many drugs 'the dude is drugs'.
Once upon a time, that might have served as a description of Clune. The American writer is best known for his addiction memoir, White Out (2013), which drew the praise of fashionable authors such as Ben Lerner, Lauren Groff and Maggie Nelson. Indeed, his account of his heroin years was so lyrical that one critic wondered if it actually made the case for taking smack. 'Dope never gets old for addicts,' Clune wrote. 'It never looks old. It never looks like something I've seen before. It always looks like nothing I've ever seen.'
