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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I thought about things when reading this, July 3, 2003
First of all, I read this book in two days, laughing out loud in various coffee shops, while I should have been at work. I guess the fact that I was blowing off work instantly meant that I was meant to relate to Buzz, the main character. Sheppard's writing is cynical and hilarious, giving the reader many classic lines that you end up wondering where they came from. For example, "This barber had a pinched-up face, like someone had taped a dog turd under his nose 20 years ago and he'd never removed it, except to maybe freshen it with a new dog turd." or about Tolkien, "He writes ponderous escapist bulls**t that bears no resemblance of real life. Evil is too evil to be actually evil. And good is impossibly good. And it's written like a high school history textbook, so that the d**ks that read it can pat themselves on the back for being smart." It's the sort of real life humor written in a real life way that I enjoy. (Not all the humor is scatological, this is just an example of how lines explode out of nowhere). Also Sheppard's use of dialog is realistic and amazing. It is as if you are at the Pizza Hut, where the characters work (or in their car), listening, laughing, and cracking open a beer with them. The character's are entertaining screw ups, especially Buzz's friends, yet Buzz's character, even though a screw up, is saved by the sweet relationship he has with his sister. Now the thoughts... I thought of Holden Caulfield when reading this. I thought of Bright Lights, Big City (the book) while reading this. I thought of my college and High School days while reading this. I thought of Jesus' Son (the book or movie) while reading this. I thought of Hunter S. Thompson while reading this. I thought that this book would make a tremendous movie (please don't cast Matt Damon or Leonardo D.). I thought of a lot of people that would enjoy this book a lot and that I could turn people onto an author that they'd prob. never heard of. I DO give Small Town Punk a strong recommendation, especially for slackers, 80's punks, clubbers etc. Important to note: This is not a book about PUNK ROCK. The strength of the book is the relationships between friends and their situations, as well as family relations and dysfunction.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Working for The Hut, October 16, 2002
Did every town have a punk rock Pizza Hut? I know mine did, and when I read John Sheppard's book, I realized it wasn't an anomaly. This tale of a Reaganism-infected Florida and the lack of a punk scene features a band of outcasts that anyone with some Black Flag or Dead Kennedys in their record collection could identify with. But the book isn't really a punk rock anthem as much as it is a tale of small town boredom and the desire to get the hell out and do something other than mow lawns and play football and go to church. There's a lot of great humor in the situations these characters go through, but the authentic details of this era sold me on the story. This is a great book to read if you're an old-school punk, a recovered small-town escapee, or just anyone who appreciates a great story.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The literature of anger, June 11, 2007
This review is from: Small Town Punk (Paperback)
The concept of motive is so narrowly defined in both fiction and existence. The word is so often defined in the most Newtonian nature--a strict, measurable sequence of events that are reversible. Sure, there are precipitating stimuli in the world of Buzz, the main character of this novel (an abusive father, alcoholic mother, crazy grandmother, the Reagan era), but these don't satisfyingly explain this boy's hatred for the world and himself, nor his drive to maintain a close and deep relationship with his sister, Sissy. He keeps his job at the ratty Pizza Hut though he despises the Half-Price Wednesday clientèle, and he relishes visits to his grandmother if only to raid her medicine cabinet and replenish the stash he keeps in his genitalia-shaped change purse. He finds the love of his life, but is almost just as satisfied making people hate him. The boy is quite simply a torrent of rage and emotion. John Sheppard has already proved his mastery at breathing life into the lost and ejected with books like Midnight in Monaco and The Runner-Up and handles Buzz with the proper mixture of humor, insight and revulsion. Buzz is horrifying as well as familiar, and his insights are both spot-on and laughably trite. But what exactly is the source of Buzz's motivation? It's the whole world around him--flat, featureless Sarasota, home to the unimaginative and dangerously oblivious. Even many of the local punks provide no haven, for they are rich copycats of English weirdos who can afford leather and dye jobs. Sheppard captures with an icy lens how the weight of existence can drive a young man to sit on a curb, plant his feet in the gutter, smoke a cigarette and say that he's having a good time...well, maybe just a bit better than having his face kicked in by a couple of football players, but still... This is one of Sheppard's strongest works--emotive and accessible, while also a kick in the gut. Buzz is a psychological puddle of vomit worth picking the pepperoni out of.
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