Lord Of The Barnyard: Killing The Fatted Calf And Arming The Aware In The Cornbelt
Tristan Egolf
Read January 2008
Copy borrowed from Ramsey County Public Library
Essay written March 30th, 2008
I honestly can't remember which library branch I checked this out of. I feel like it may have been Roseville, but it could just as well have been White Bear Lake. Perhaps I even requested it for pick-up at WBL. It really doesn't matter.
After I finished Lord Of The Barnyard I found a review of it on the New York Times website that said it had a lot of potential but just didn't quite capitalize. It cited the fact that there wasn't a single line of dialogue in the whole book. I didn't even realize that there wasn't any. I went back and looked at it and sure enough, no dialogue. That goes to show me, at least, that dialogue was unnecessary. The plot moved along well; the main character, John Kaltenbrunner, was captivating; the seedy town of Baker was marvelously rendered. Lovely cover art too, the photo of the rifle-toting hillbilly midair, the wood paneling under the title.
Let's see if this works.
(Say, that works out nicely. I'm going to have to do that all the time from now on.)
I'd recommend it to others, and I'd seek out more Tristan Egolf, but alas, there's not much. I've read Kornwolf, and the library has a copy of The Skirt And The Fiddle, but that's all there is. The man killed himself, which was quite the mistake if you ask me. He should have lived another ten years, written another five or six novels, some of which may have been truly great. Then suicide, and his place in American literature would have been secure. But, again, alas.
Good chaos. I like that. Baker reminded me of Waterloo, Iowa.
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