Callisto: A Novel (P.S.) [Paperback]

Torsten Krol (Author)

Book Description

Series: P.S. | Publication Date: February 17, 2009

Odell Deefus, who's not the sharpest tool in the shed, has one goal: to "try my hardest to be a good soldier against the mad dog Islamites." But while driving to an army enlistment office in Callisto, Kansas, his '78 Chevy breaks down on the side of a country road, and it's only the beginning of his troubles. When he accepts a local's offer of shelter until the car is repaired, things go from bad to worse—worse as in murder, drug dealers, tenacious televangelists . . . and finding himself a prime target of the FBI, which thinks he's a member of a terrorist sleeper cell. And none of it bodes well for his unrequited crush on Condoleezza Rice. But fear, rash judgments, and extreme reactions are simply the norm in a post-9/11 world. Odell will just have to deal with it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Krol's bizarre novel mires a big dumb hick in a small town, where he is targeted for aiding and abetting terrorists. Gentle giant Odell Deefus is driving to an army recruitment center when his car breaks down along a country road. But he gets much more than he bargained for with his rescuer, Dean Mowry. Turns out that Dean has been studying Islam, had more than a little to do with his aunt's recent disappearance and is somehow involved with a shady character who goes by Donnie Darko. Soon enough, Odell accidentally kills Dean and becomes a surveillance magnet after he reports the discovery of a body (not Dean's) in the house. Meanwhile, Odell's story is so preposterous that it has the FBI thinking he is a member of a terrorist cell who can lead them to Dean. Though Odell is initially difficult to connect with, his naïveté becomes a sharpened satirical tool as he confronts the flaws in the institutions he treasures. The plot has its patently absurd moments, but readers of a certain demographic (hint: they're not driving to the recruiter's office) will enjoy the romp. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Pseudonymous New Zealander Krol lands on U.S. shores with a rambunctious debut starring a rum-swilling version of Forrest Gump called Odell Deefus, who hails from Yoder, Wyoming. Yoder wasn’t kind to Odell, either in school; at home, where his drunken father favored him, not with chocolates, but with beatings; or with girls (“Me, I have to think before I talk, but in the meantime the conversation has moved on . . . so forget that”)—all of which prompts the 22-year-old Odell to leave town in his ’78 Chevy and drive to Callisto, Kansas, where he plans to enlist in the army. (Odell has a serious crush on Condie Rice and believes his chances with her will improve if he serves in Iraq.) Things go badly awry in Callisto, too, and soon enough Odell is burying and reburying a dead body, finding another in a freezer (along with a scrumptious cache of Sarah Lee products), and single-handedly sending the terrorist-alert gauge zooming from orange to red. Does Krol lose control of his wildly careening plot? Sure, he does, especially on a side trip to Guantánamo Bay, but by that time, we hardly care. Odell has one of those narrative voices that grabs you out of the gate (“My name is Odell Deefus. I am a white person, not black like you might think from hearing the name and not seeing me”) and never lets go. Every war needs its absurd antiwar hero; Vietnam had Tim O’Brien’s Cacciato, and now Iraq has Odell. There are other echoes, too. Think The Good Soldier Schweik with a touch of Confederacy of Dunces and maybe even a little Catcher in the Rye. --Bill Ott

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Product Details

• Paperback: 437 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1 Original edition (February 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061672947
• ISBN-13: 978-0061672941
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,110,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars May be the book of the year, February 17, 2009

By 

Agent Orange - See all my reviews

This review is from: Callisto: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

This is a long read and all the better for it, since it's very hard to put down. Anyone who has worried about the US Adminstration post 9/11 will see here all their fears hilariously confirmed, but quite apart from that Odell Deefus is the sort of character that once he enters your head you can't get rid of him - and nor can you stop laughing!

A superb piece of comic writing by a curiously pseudonymous author. Any guesses, anyone?

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars engaging wild look at the Americanization of terrorism, March 2, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Callisto: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

Twenty-one year old Odell Deefus is enlisting in the army. However, the thirty years old car he drives to take him to the recruiting center from his home in Wyoming breaks down on a remote back road somewhere near Callisto, Kansas. The big dumb hick feels fortunate his heap expired by a home. He knocks and enters when no one responds. A few moments later Dean Lowry ask him what he is doing here. Dean does not get much friendlier implying Odell, with his black man's name, is a fool to want to fight the Jihadists in Iraq.

However, Dean is not a Good Samaritan. He has studied Islam with a jihadist's fundamentalist attitude, been involved with his Aunt Bree's disappearance and is connected to a nasty sort named "Donnie Darko." When Odell accidentally kills Dean with a bat and finds Bree's corpse in the freezer, he calls the police. The FBI conducts a massive search while also blowing away his claim that Dean with someone named Darko was plotting homeland terrorism; instead they assume he is the key member of a home grown terrorist cell and take him to the tropics for interrogation.

This is an engaging wild look at the Americanization of terrorism through the eyes of a naive "Yearling". Odell, with his innocence and misunderstanding of subtly even those hammered into his face. He keeps the tale going as he is engulfed by cynics starting with Dean, Lowry's sister and the Feds; even his worship from afar of Condoleezza Rice becomes tainted. Although the story line is action-packed and at times overwhelming, readers who appreciate a well written satirical thriller will appreciate Torsten Krol's indictment of the unnecessary loss of innocence as a result not of 9/11 and the subsequent waste of global good will, but both caused by the American reaction to 9/11.

Harriet Klausner

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting and Enjoyable!, January 27, 2008

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Callisto (Paperback)

Callisto is a very unique and interesting read. I guess the most similar character to compare to the main character Odell Deefus who is telling the story would be Forrest Gump. Just like Forrest, Odell isn't the brightest guy in the world and gets himself into some interesting situations due to his naivety, gullibility and eagerness to please as well as loyalty to those who are nice to him. As Forrest recounted his tale to an old woman waiting for a bus, Odell recounts his tale to his audience through writing it down in a few children's exercise books while travelling on a bus.

Odell's tale begins as he is driving through America's south to enlist in the army since they now no longer require high school graduation. He's a nice guy but has no real skills so his future employment looks bleak. He's no dole bludger though and is prepared to enlist even though it is more than likely he'll be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan where he might well die, but he has to contribute to society in some way so if this is all he can get for a career he'll take it up. Unfortunately for Odell his car keeps breaking down and those that pass him by are not nice enough to help him out. Luckily when the car seems to have given up for the last time there's a driveway not too far away so Odell walks down it to grab a glass of water. There he is confronted by a man named Dean carrying a baseball bat but quickly convinces him he is not there to rob him. Dean offers to drive him to the enrolment office the next day, something to eat and to sleep on the couch. Dean is too hung over the next day to drive him to town or even do his job of mowing lawns so Odell grateful for all Dean has done offers to mow the lawns for him and be dropped off the next day instead. When he returns Dean seems to have changed from the nice guy he was, tells Odell to stay out of the backyard and wants to know where the tips he usually gets mowing the lawn are. Odell also discovers a freshly dug grave in the backyard and puts two and two together that Dean is about to murder him, probably in his sleep. When he awakens with Deans face beside his ear and holding a shotgun in his hand Odell hits him with a baseball bat but still being a nice guy tucks him into his bed. Only Dean has a visitor and since Odell doesn't want to get in trouble he pretends to be Dean, the next morning he makes Dean breakfast and discovers a body in the freezer and also that Dean is never going to wake up. When Dean's sister arrives on the doorstep Odell has to do some fast thinking to get her out of the house and explain why he is there before she discovers Dean. Now that two people have met him in Dean's house he can't just leave or he'll be pinned with murder.

This is a very funny novel with a very likable main character who endures a lot as various people try and take advantage of him and government agents seem determined to pin terrorism charges against him. Why? You'll have to read this great book to find out.