Spooner Paperback – October 25, 2010

A while back, I watched an offbeat movie on Netflix that I had never heard of, called The Paper Boy. I thought it was terrific and decided to see if the movie had been based upon a book. It was, and its author was Pete Dexter. I did a Google search and found that Mr. Dexter had written at least a half dozen other novels, including Spooner. Since its paperback version was nearly 500 pages, I didn't think the Kindle price of $8.99 was such a bad deal, so I bought it. Boy, am I glad I did. Right off the bat, however, let me tell you that this is not a book for everyone, but if you enjoy the storytelling of Joseph Heller and John Irving, I think you'll absolutely love Spooner.Essentially, this is a complex biography about two men - Warren Spooner and his stepfather, Calmer Ottosson - and their unusual and unlikely relationship. In a way, it's a kind of love story. Now, before you go getting all worked up and saying "I don't want to read any love story about two men," just relax. We're talking stepfather-stepson love here, nothing perverted. On the contrary. It's all about mutual respect, some given and some earned.On more than one occasion while reading this book, my wife heard me laugh aloud, sometimes hysterically; that is the essential nature of Spooner. Indeed, it is a very funny book. However, it is also a complex tragic story, replete with a sense of poignancy that I always seem attracted to.I can't wait to read another of Mr. Dexter's books. But for now, I would suggest you get started with Spooner. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Reminded me of the strung together farces of a John Irving novel. Pete Dexter has a marvelous flair for analogy. With a central theme of 'you don't have as much say in your life as you think you do', you wouldn't expect to find yourself laughing as often you will. The real irony is the books funniest scenes all involve death. The details of Spooner's mother's death is priceless and though it involves both the death of his mother and Silly the bulldog, it is as good of a tragically farcical scene as you'll ever read and I defy you not to at least smile, if not laugh out loud.My only knock is that the arc of the story ended up too much in Calmer's head at the end and it sort of ran down like wind-up toy rather then dropping off a cliff, as you might expect from the rest of the plot. In that Spooner's life was always thrust upon him and he was mostly along for the ride, the ending is true to the rest of the book and Dexter certainly would have betrayed the story with a neat and tidy ending.All in all, it's a great read. You'll walk away with at least three or four new 'one liners' stuck in your world view.

This is the first novel I ever read more than once. I got to the end of the afterward and immediately turned back to the start!Pete Dexter crafts some extraordinary and unpredictable sentences! I have bought this 3 times to give away and re-read it each time and I still find new things. Dexter's whole output is worth reading.

Dexter paints powerful imagery with his prose, but I find something wanting in this book. When I began reading, I was expecting it to read in some kind of order, with logically organized narratives. The book is written like a collection of essays... think of Me Talk Pretty One Day (Sedaris) meets a Confederacy of Dunces (but not in a good way).The book is written as haphazardly as the character Spooner thinks. I don't know if this was intentional, but I found myself getting very annoyed as I tried to follow what was going on. At the end of the book, I breathed a huge sigh of relief that it was finally over. If it hadn't been chosen as a book for our book club to read, I would have given up less than halfway through.I found it especially difficult to relate to any of the characters. Perhaps the author thought that Spooner would be a loveable yet awkward character? His stepfather Calmer is much the same way, somewhat awkward, although with more common sense and intelligence. I really wanted to find at least one character that I could root for, yet I found none. I held out for the ending, hoping that there would be some revelation between the characters and there was just nothing there.If you don't care about a well-orchestrated timeline, this may be the book for you. There were certainly some stories that I greatly enjoyed (especially The Fiend), but I found most of those to be during Spooner's childhood. The rest of the time, most (mis)adventures just made me feel uncomfortable.

Spooner sat in my Kindle for several weeks before I got to it. From page one through the 'thanks' at the end, I wished I had begun sooner with Spooner. I am an avid reader, 3~5 books a week, and I have a life too! I noticed that there had been 250 pages cut a la the editor. I am so tempted to ask Mr.Dexter for those 250 pages. That is how sad I was when it ended. Obviously there will not be a sequel, but I surly wish there was going to be. I was impressed the Mr.Dexters' style and flow of his narrative. His dialog, descriptions and pace were so pure, so 'right' for his characters. I loved it! Fortunately it is in my Kindle, and I can access it anytime....which I am sure I will.

Un mélange que j'aime assez, comme chez Almodovar, par exemple. A la fois drôle, c'est le côté comique de la vie et tragique, celui qui parfois domine et, malheureusement, ne nous fait pas rire. Ce roman manie les deux avec dextérité. Sous ses apparences de gros ours maladroit et un peu pervers, le personnage principal, antihéros par excellence, a une dimension universelle, la souffrance. Juste un poil trop long est la seule critique que j'en ferai.

Enjoyed Deadwood, really enjoyed Paperboy and absolutely loved Spooner. Pete Dexter has got to be one of Americas foremost commentators on the quirks, highs and lows of life present and past in the good old US of A.This, set approximately in the present, is the story of the undereducated, square peg, Spooner who blunders through life from crisis to crisis totally lacking in ambition, but achieving success in spite of his overuse of his self destruct button. We meet his family and friends anyone of whom could be the subject of their own biography. I suspect that with Spooner Dexter lets us into aspects of own life when depicting our hero's life as a journalist and best selling author.After chortling through the first few chapters I feared that Pete Dexter could not keep up the laugh out loud humour, the captivating dialogue and gripping story lines. I was wrong as he had me happily hooked for the whole 400 plus pages. This should not be written off as simply a piece of lighthearted fun. Sure it is full of laughs and outrageous situations and even more outrageous characters, but on another level it is a clever observational piece of writing.

Having thoroughly enjoyed 'The Paperboy' I gave 'Spooner' a go. What a great book! Impossible to describe except to say that it's a scatalogical meander of a book -- very little plot -- during which we get right inside the head and heart of two great characters -- Spooner and his step-father, Calmer. The writing is breathtakingly cheeky but spot on. In places I was reminded of John Irving (crazy characters and outlandish events). I can't recommend it highly enough.

A laugh out loud of a read following the life of Spooner and the problems that he and we all have in the struggles of a normal day.

Brilliant. Like this then try Richard Russo.