Kornwolf: A Novel [Hardcover]

Tristan Egolf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 6, 2005

Tristan Egolf's new novel is a book about the return of an old curse — the Kornwolf, a ferocious werewolf whose nocturnal rampaging becomes increasingly impossible to ignore. Kornwolf takes the reader for a good old-fashioned romp in the stubble — a journey through the slums and honky tundra of rural Pennsylvania, where nothing quite passes for good or bad, sublime or dismal, discrete or brash. And then the monotony breaks. Something — a freak of creation — is running amok in the fields. To solve the mystery, three generations of prodigal sons — a writer and hometown boy who swore he'd never come back to Penn's Woods; a middle-aged former pugilist who runs a decrepit boxing gym; and a misfit, mute, beaten-down Amish boy — are brought together by the light of a blue moon, in a town called Blue Ball. On one level this is a masterfully orchestrated, hilarious, and compelling take on the classic horror yarn, on another, Kornwolf is a social satire of suburban sprawl, closed minds, and all manners and varieties of self-satisfaction — Amish, civilian, or... other — in the best tradition of Tom Robbins and George Saunders.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Depending on the phases of the moon, Ephraim, antihero of this caustic, exuberant novel, changes from a meek Amish lad into a hideous, foul-smelling werewolf with a taste for Satanic thrash-metal and an uncanny resemblance to Richard Nixon. Pursued by a cynical reporter, a sympathetic boxing coach with a mysterious past and a horde of vigilantes, Ephraim rampages through the barns and cornfields of the Pennsylvania Dutch countryside, as well as the exurban subdivisions and Sprawl-Marts that are gnawing away at it. As he lopes toward a prophesied Halloween bloodbath, his howl gives voice to the hidden violence and sexual transgressions of the orderly, pacifist Amish, the "hedonic enchantments" with which consumer culture seduces the young and deranges settled communities, or perhaps an anarchic devilry that neither traditional religion nor modern capitalism can tame. This is familiar teen-werewolf territory, but Egolf, who committed suicide earlier this year, infuses it with deadpan wit and sardonic social satire, both sympathizing with and lampooning the Amish resistance—and occasional surrender—to the corruption of "English" society. Like Stephen King, Egolf (Lord of the Barnyard) pokes the dark, squalid underbelly of smalltown life, but adds an edge of punk derision. Although Egolf's climax plunges into lurid melodrama, he delivers a smart, stylish supernatural fable with an infectious bite. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From The New Yorker

In the third novel by Egolf, who took his own life last year, a rough beast is slouching through the hills of rural Pennsylvania, with glowing eyes, a pompadour, and a strong resemblance to Richard Nixon. This is good news for Owen Brynmor, a reporter who has recently returned to his hated home town, which he recalls as a soulless place where public schooling was "a daily incentive to go on a shooting spree." He gleefully concocts a shaggy-werewolf story for the local paper, hoping to disrupt the peace, and little suspecting that the lycanthrope really does exist. By day, he's a mute Amish boy; by night, an avenging spirit out of German myth. Egolf's frantic novel reads as if it had been written all at once, in a white heat, and its coherence suffers accordingly. Still, the voice is unforgettable, at times attaining the incantatory power of Whitman's "barbaric yawp."
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (December 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080211816X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802118165
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,479,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, entertaining, fun, December 29, 2005

By 

Jon Wandke - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kornwolf: A Novel (Paperback)

This book is great from the beginning, introducing characters and situations, gradually revealing more and more. It would be a disservice to any potential reader to touch upon any plot points, because the thrill of discovering them while reading the book is so great.

It is exciting and funny. There are loose ties at the end, and the last bit of the book seems to have been rushed a bit more than the rest. I wish the author had explored the aftermath of the last events. It would have added to the fun immensely.

If you're interested in either werewolves or in having a fun read, this is highly recommended.

I will definitely read Egolf's other two books.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Note to Author: Don't die before finishing a great novel., September 14, 2007

By 

nfp "MuseionArtist" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kornwolf: A Novel (Paperback)

Legend has it that Tristan Egolf shut himself away in some Pennsyltucky shack to pound out this glorious hunk of potential. When he considered the draft finished, he ended his own life.

And, not to sound cold, this is why Kornwolf suffers. It feels unfinished, and the knowledge of suicide after completion leaves me feeling like I'm minding after his dumbfounded child. Ideas are half realized and fizzle out. Characters warp in and out of focus. The humor of earlier works is weakened here and overcome with too much spite. You always feel like you're going somewhere but never arrive. And the ending seems forced out at the last second.

This book desperately needed its author to stick around just a little longer to work with an editor and bring it up to "Lord of the Barnyard" and "Skirt and the Fiddle" status.

I really don't know whether to be mad or sad. It's an artifact of a writer rather than a piece of his literature. Kornwolf is like reading a Faulkner's or a Hemmingway's first drafts. You see the story peeking out at you, and you know there's greatness there. But it needs shape and definition.

But alas, in this case, it will never come. Ever.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It looks like Richard Nixon, September 2, 2010

By 

J. Edgar Mihelic "Iconoclast" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kornwolf: A Novel (Paperback)

I finished this book a couple of days ago, and I have been sitting on this review for a couple of days. You see, I am torn. I read and enjoyed his Lord of the Barnyard: Killing the Fatted Calf and Arming the Aware in the Cornbelt on a random recommendation from a bookstore clerk. I only heard about Egolf's second book in a capsule review in the New Yorker, and I think they only included it because it was hot on the heels of his suicide. I didn't even know this book existed until I ran across it at a bookfair and I grabbed it up at a reduced price.

I'm torn because Egolf wrote this right before his suicide, and just knowing that tints the process of reading and enjoying and evaluating it as a text. Early on, a forlorn character is saying forlorn things, and part of my brain asked of this book was just an extended suicide note. It's not though, it is an interesting narrative that brings together an intersection of boxing, Amish folk in Eastern Pennsylvania, and warewolves. Even though I normally wouldn't be drawn to a book covering the supernatural element, Egolf lets the situation develop and come together very well.

There are some minor problems with the work, and it comes from what seems to be idiosyncrasies that may have been pulled out in further drafts. For example, the place names referred to in the book have real analogues in the world and if you're familiar with eastern PA you'll know what is being referred to but otherwise you might not know the geography of the world. There is also a lack of exposition in places that could have made the ending tighter, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed the work.