The Pisstown Chaos: A Novel
By (Author) David Ohle
Soft Skull Press
Soft Skull Press
28th May 2008
United States
General
Fiction
813.54
Paperback
208
Width 127mm, Height 203mm
195g
"Mesmerizing . . . a vivid world, both familiar and foreign, dark and slyly humorous, makes the book a grim delight" (Publishers Weekly). One family finds themselves forceably dislocated in the midst of chaos, disease, and forced-relocation. Political power seems to be solely in the hands of one Reverend Herman Hooker, an "American Divine" who revels in the peoples' suffering as they are "shifted" (separated from--and then randomly coupled with--one another) by decree every five years. There are up-shifts, down-shifts, and side-shifts, but no attempt to make harmonious pairings. Chaos rages on as parasitic infestations spread and the Reverend rules with an iron fist from his Templex headquarters, spouting platitudes to the ever-moving masses. The final book in the trilogy that began with Motorman and its sequel, The Age of Sinatra, The Pisstown Chaos is a wild end to the cult favorite series.
David Ohle is an American writer, novelist, and a lecturer at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, The Transatlantic Review, The Paris Review, and Harper's, among other magazines. He is the author of the cult novel Motorman, as well as subsequent novels The Age of Sinatra, The Pisstown Chaos, and The Old Reactor.