Intergenerational conflict has been around almost as long as storytelling itself. The tension between the youths and olds is a tried-and-true convention, and it works because it's not only easily recognizable but relatable. We've all heard the variations on "kids these days" or the "back in my day" speech, the old man on the porch swinging his cane, decrying the fact that people are demanding change and he's sad because he can't be racist/sexist/bigoted anymore without getting called out for it. I mean you know how it goes. And it's not just a storytelling conceit, as plenty of real-world socio-political shifts correlate closely to changing generational paradigms. The generations become attached to ideologies, and as new ones emerge there is a constant push and pull between the past and the future. We're living through one of these shifts right now, as a disaffected and disenfranchised generation of young people become fed up with the world their parents and grandparents left them. It's really the 60s all over again, which is to say that we've never quite escaped the specter of the counterculture movement. All that to say, stories about generational/ideological conflict remain relevant and urgent, and Adam Cesare's Clown in a Cornfield has its finger on that pulse. But because it's a horror novel, it may be more accurate to say that Cesare has opened the vein and hosed the walls, mixing the blood of the old with the blood of new to create something fresh, exciting, and fun.
Clown in a Cornfield is billed as a slasher, which carries with it a set of expectations. Listening to Cesare's recent interviews, however, it's clear that he approaches the slasher less as simply a genre and more as a storytelling form, a structure that's been codified since its inception and is as malleable as the drama, the tragedy, the romance, etc. This is important, because it allows Cesare to tap into the slasher-as-form before the slasher-as-genre, which is a roundabout way of saying that the novel avoids the pitfall of relying exclusively on reference or pastiche to set itself up. Cesare's earlier work relied (though never in a detrimental way) on a sort of genre shorthand that his characters (and presumably his readers) were invested in. With Clown, his characters are not horror-movie nerds, so they're never relying on identifying tropes as a way to assess a situation. Instead, they're simply in the moment, reacting to the horror not as some genre-savvy nostalgia-pawn but as real people trying to survive a harrowing situation. Indeed one of Cesare's strengths here is his ease of characterization. All of our teens pop and feel true, with each one constantly scrutinizing the other's motivations, dissecting every gesture or snide comment or silence. It all feels very high-school-y and is laced with angst-ridden drama and jealousy, and I mean that as a mark of achievement, considering both its characters and Cesare's audience.
But even though it's billed as YA, Cesare never talks down or belittles; nothing in the novel feels pandering or smoothed over. The violence and bloodshed feel considered, and each set-piece moment feels carefully crafted. Cesare displays a mature hand here, relying on matter-of-fact prose and idiosyncratic details to drive the terror home, preferring subtle dread punctuated with flashes of the extreme over gore-slicked prose and vivid descriptions of knives entering skulls and brains spattering and flesh tearing. As for the titular clown, Frendo, I think Cesare has crafted a worthy entry into the slasher-villain canon, and he even throws in some unexpected twists that had me tearing through the pages just to see what other wrinkle might be added. As with many slashers there is a tragic past sequence, and I found myself wanting to go back and read this section for clues as to who the killer might be, a testament to how propulsive and compelling Cesare's narrative is.
I don't want to get too much into the plot, but Clown ultimately stages an ideological conflict between the older citizens of small-town Kettle Springs and its burgeoning rebellious youths, with their social media and their phones and their disrespect for their elders. "Make Kettle Springs great again," we read at one point, Cesare making no qualms about who he's targeting and the worldviews he's condemning. Horror as a genre is fertile ground for political critique, with a venerated history going back decades, and Cesare carries that tradition forward. This is a distinctly modern tale that's anchored in the contemporary debates of today, but, as I mentioned earlier, its foundation built upon intergenerational conflict will continue to keep the novel fresh. Clown is an ode and a balm for every young adult who has found themselves frustrated and stymied at every turn by an older elite that refuses access and instigates oppressive policies, to the point where they might feel as if they're literally being targeted for death. Had I read this novel in my own teen years I would have loved it and felt like someone understood. Reading it now, I still love it, and I find myself populating the villains with the people in my own life who exemplify those same bigoted, stagnant positions, even if I don't quite identify with our lead characters. Indeed if I were to offer a critique, I wish that our protagonists had more ideological or philosophical weight than they do. If the killer clown in a cornfield comes to represent a hate-fueled resistance to change, what do Quinn and her allies stand for, aside from an abstracted notion of the future? I wanted Quinn and Cole and Rust to actually articulate themselves more fully, to know more deeply what they were about and what they believed. Of course another reading might argue that they function as ciphers for the reader to project their own beliefs onto, that any young person will be able to identify with the almost primal desire for difference in a culture that idealizes a discriminatory past. This is a small point of contention and probably highly personal to my own reading tastes, because none of this prevented me from fully enjoying the novel.
I came to Cesare through his Youtube channel, where he reviews horror films and pairs them with a horror book, and I've really enjoyed some of his other works, particularly Con Season. Clown in a Cornfield was high on my list of anticipated titles, and it did not disappoint. This is a fun, thrilling ride that somehow pulls off the magic trick of feeling like a throwback while also delivering a story and characters that feel decidedly contemporary. Clown feels new, and it's a great object lesson in how a novel can utilize archetypes and forms that engage with the past without becoming its subject. This book was a pleasure and joy to read. Go check it out!
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Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
Good old slasher fun
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 10, 2023
damppebbles
Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2020
ASHISH
It's a slasher novel and its the best one out now .
Reviewed in India on December 25, 2022
ASHISH
Reviewed in India on December 25, 2022
Also Clive barker has given this a seal of approval. Go for it .
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