Ovenman

"One of the most raucous and fun books I've read in ages...Ovenmanis a frenetic blast of pleasure: a depiction of America at its skankiest, populated with unlikely heroes and told with a reckless glee that commands serious attention." --Chas Bowie, The Portland Mercury "Equal parts sleazy and frenetic, Parker's debut is a chortle-out-loud story about the sweaty, battle-scarred struggle between creating self-monuments and throwing hand grenades." --Annie Bethancourt, Williamette Week "While the plot is certifiably hilarious, it's really When's voice that's in the driver's seat. Dazed, confused, and occasionally caring, he carries all 250 pages of this terrifically entertaining novel." --Toby Warner, Boldtype "Ovenmanreads like a high calibre graphic novel, minus the graphics. Cluttered, uncomfortable, compulsively crafted, unashamed of occasional farce or relentless surreal quirky distortion, this is writing you might imagine coming out of the brain of Julie Doucet, if she were a guy who lived in Florida." --Juliet Waters, Montreal Mirror "Jeff Parker is a writer who understands that voice is the doorway to all true beauty in fiction. Tight, wry, dark, and deeply funny--he is a master of the hyper-compressed sentence that explodes with more meaning and nuance than should be possible.Ovenmanis a welcome addition to the literature of the lovably hapless by a young writer with talent to burn." -- George Saunders, author of Pastoralia and In Persuasion Nation "Funny, soulful, and energetic,Ovenmanis wonderful." --Mary Gaitskill, author of Veronica "Rarely are mopping and pizza dough so pleasingly rendered. Even inside When's world of chaos, Parker's novel pushes forward with grace. This is a delight of a debut." --Aimee Bender, author of Willful Creatures "Mr. Parker has written a weirdly attractive life of people one thought had no life, the pierced and tatted Xtremes. Creepy, convincing, hooty, and fun. The movie will be scary." --Padgett Powell, author of Edisto "In his utterly originalOvenman, Parker has created a time capsule of the nineties in Central Florida and an ode to the mysteries and hopes and acrobatics of youth. When Thinfinger, the skateboarding philosopher at the heart of this terrific novel, is brilliantly acerbic and uncommonly insightful. And awfully, awfully funny. Here's a brief note of which I hope he'd approve: This novel really cooks. Read it tonight." --Bret Anthony Johnston, Director of Creative Writing, Harvard UniversityParker, Jeff is the author of 'Ovenman ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780977698929 and ISBN 0977698920.