Wilder\u2019s novel unfolds entirely within the uninterrupted narration of Warner Truman, an 18-year-old high school graduate whose tendency to self-aggrandize is immediately apparent: \u201cI\u2019m going to be president one day. No doubt about it.\u201d Warner also announces that he is a hero, promising to eventually explain the tumultuous events that he feels have earned him that title. The world outside Warner\u2019s head is chock-full of people he resents. He despises his own father while idolizing his grandfather Jed, a former police officer whose questionable behavior Warner invariably interprets as evidence of strength and intelligence. Warner\u2019s version of an earlier family tragedy provides the first reason to question his own perspective: His younger brother, Randy, was paralyzed after jumping from a window. But while Warner insists he was in the bathroom at the time, he acknowledges contradictory accounts and a lingering \u201cseed of doubt\u201d about his role in the accident. At school, Warner navigates a world dominated by bullies like Deke Smith and the vile Coach Kennedy. His relationship with his girlfriend, Carly, deteriorates as she grows closer to a boy Warner hates named Carter Bedford. He also befriends Joey, a lonely student who\u2019s relentlessly mocked for his weight; as part of Warner\u2019s insistence on his own benevolence, he appoints himself the isolated boy\u2019s new \u201cmentor.\u201d Uncertainties start to multiply as Warner observes Coach Kennedy\u2019s abusive behavior toward Joey and female students\u2014especially when he learns that Joey keeps an AK-47 hidden in his basement. Despite Warner\u2019s insistence on being a good person\u2014\u201cIf somebody needs help I\u2019m your man\u201d\u2014his attempts to quietly manage everyone around him get more and more pronounced. As bullying, abuse, romantic jealousy, and simmering violence increasingly rise to the foreground, Warner\u2019s promised explanation of his supposed heroism begins to look considerably more complicated.<\/p>\n
Wilder\u2019s impressive commitment to Warner\u2019s consciousness creates a surprisingly multifaceted novel despite confining readers to a single perspective. Scenes remain dynamic as Warner\u2019s mind constantly darts between narration, memories, jokes, and self-justifications. His voice can also be very funny. (One extended and memorably quirky tangent confidently argues that Gandhi was actually Jack the Ripper.) Wilder channels an extensive literary knowledge through Warner as well; the ideas of Orwell, Steinbeck, and other writers all get filtered through Warner\u2019s peculiar interpretative mind. Warner\u2019s psychology is skillfully rendered, particularly when the narrator seems determined to convince readers of his heroism by insisting on the opposite in his characteristically vulgar fashion: \u201cI\u2019m not a hero despite what happened later. I\u2019d be a pawn under a dictatorship. Likely sell my buddies up the river to keep my balls out of a vice.\u201d But Wilder\u2019s fascinating experiment can also be exhausting. The novel\u2019s nearly uninterrupted blocks of text, with little conventional punctuation or paragraphing, is abrasive and frequently unpleasant, especially because Warner\u2019s caustic perspective focuses increasingly on potentially upsetting subject matter. Wilder\u2019s acerbic humor, often channeled through Warner\u2019s ceaseless cynicism, feels sharp and precise, but it leaves little room for the horrific events the author describes to fully coalesce. While admirable for its style and technique, Wilder\u2019s deep dive into this strange antihero\u2019s psyche may leave some readers eager to escape his company.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wilder\u2019s novel unfolds entirely within the uninterrupted narration of Warner Truman, an 18-year-old high school graduate whose tendency to self-aggrandize is immediately apparent: \u201cI\u2019m going to be president one day. No doubt about it.\u201d Warner also announces that he is a hero, promising to eventually explain the tumultuous events that he feels have earned him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7447"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}