Customer Reviews

Summer Rain

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Summer Rain is the obsessively detailed, fictional memoir of a type I bipolar living out a penniless summer in Bloomington, Indiana. The action takes place in the late pre-Internet era, probably a year away from the advent of Mosaic/Netscape Navigator, and much of the narrative sweep has to do with computers and early networking. John Conner, the narrator, lives mostly in his boiling imagination, creating a world of his own out of chaotic death metal, bottom-feeder jobs and meticulously described fast-food meals (you can feel the protagonist's hunger--will this be my last scrap of food until payday?). He yearns for the One True Love that he is certain exists somewhere. She does, but only in his fevered, pharmaceutically fueled dreams, tantalizingly out of reach. The most interesting parts of the novel are when Conner goes off the deep end of either depression or mania--shoved there by the girls who initially want him, then send him packing when they become overwhelmed by his intensity. This happens enough to keep the book percolating until it simmers to a close.

When I was in college, one of the big important books you were supposed to read was Coupland's _Generation X_. But the big secret was that I was never able to finish it; this was a source of guilt for years, until I came to terms with the fact that this book and this buzzword simply did not speak for me. Back then I'd found even the 80s minimalists more engaging. Well now this generation has come of age and grown and this book documents that sliver of time in the early 1990s when everything was so ripe and promising with the golden hue of youth. Who would be first to write about those early days of TCP/IP computer networks, university Internet access and Usenet that we all learned and lived through in college? Jon Konrath. He was there and that's what he wrote about in this first book of his, a big thick novel about heavy metal college radio and midwestern campus life at its Nineties slacker apex. It's honest, evocative, and funny as hell at times. You should buy it now in this first edition and greet him in the beginning of what is sure to be a long career.

My first reaction to this book was, "650 pages to cover just one summer? I hope Konrath never writes a memoir!" I'm glad that first impressions weren't lasting, as the quasi-autobiographical novel really does not have much that could be cut out.

The story covers the summer of 1992 for John Conner, as he struggles with a painful breakup, the possibility of failing out of school, perpetual money troubles, and the challenges of picking up women via computer 10 years before it becomes trendy. Top it off with a diagnosed case of bipolar disorder, and you have a trying summer.

Although it helps to have lived in Bloomington to appreciate the precision of Konrath's descriptions, the book's deeper messages of alienation, struggle and coping with change make it appropriate for broader audiences.

Hi, I'm Jon Konrath, the author of Summer Rain, and I thought I'd thank everyone for reading these reviews and tell you a bit about the book. The story is based on the first summer I spent at Indiana University in 1992. John Conner is broke, flunking college, and just lost his girlfriend. He's living hand-to-mouth in a quiet college town, exploring the underworld of strange characters, slackerdom, and high-tech computers while trying to find love, money and happiness. It's a story about making the decision between a life of success and boredom versus a life of creativity and uncertainty, and would interest anyone who grew up in the early nineties or went to a college surrounded by cool people. I hope you check out the book, and visit my web site at rumored.com for more information on my writing. Thanks!

VAX, drugs, and rock n roll: John Conner's metaphorical rainy world of terror is rampant with uncooperative co-eds, cheap alcohol, bad food and death metal. Ever wondered what it's like to be stuck in a college town when there's barely a college in session? "Summer Rain" is a darkly humorous depiction of two long months in Bloomington, Indiana.