Book: Up Nights
Author: Daniel Kine
Published: May 2013 by Ooligan Press; 200 pages
First Line: "There were very few reasons for Francis to come looking for me, but he did, because he always had."
Rating: 4/5 bullshit poetry scholarships
Recommended if you like: On the Road, reading about vices, characters who are a little (or more than a little) lost, coming-of-adulthood stories.
Ooligan Press provided an electronic copy of this book.
Up Nights is a great example of how a book can grab my attention against the odds. I received a pitch for this book by accident; it was addressed to another set of bloggers, but it came to me. Normally, I would have scrolled through, slightly amused. Possibly I would send the publisher a nice note letting them know that they'd made an error so that they could get the email addressed to the right person; I wouldn't actually making any offer to review the book, though. Up Nights, though, was a rare pitch for a book I really, really wanted to read, and it wasn't even addressed to me.
I'm glad that I read Up Nights. While it wasn't a perfect book--and while I have no idea if it was enhanced by my recent reading of another junkie book, Spoonful, or the opposite--it was a book I enjoyed very much. I almost felt like it was a continuation of On the Road, set in modern times and with a twist: in Kerouac's story, the shiftless and wild Dean abandons Sal in Mexico, but in Up Nights, Arthur abandons his wild friend in Mexico. This happens just before the story starts, but everything in the book spins out from this event.
Kine's characters are young and uncertain; pretty much anybody who's ever been through their twenties can identify, I think. They explore regret, sexuality, friendship, love, loss, and existentialist crises. Who are we? Where are we going? Will we ever get there? Kine captures the deep doubt of youth in a way that balances it with the freedom of youth. While searching for the meaning of life, Arthur and company are getting high, getting laid, and dropping everything to drive across the country on a moment's notice. Oh, and you know, hopping a plane to Cuba. For reasons.
The only things I didn't love about the book: the very, very beginning was a touch awkward. If I didn't have a 50-page rule, I could very well have put it down . . . hence, why I have the 50-page rule, because I'm very happy I finished the book. Kine found his rhythm and the awkwardness smoothed out. The other thing that pinged at me was his style of drawing out certain details in a 'suspenseful' way. We learn early on, for example, that Bill is still in Mexico and that Arthur is really uncomfortable about it; Kine feeds us details about this, and a few other things, as we go. I don't have a problem with that at all; what I found disappointing was that I didn't feel the teaser-feeding had a proportional payoff to the built-up suspense. I would have liked more revelation about those topics. Fortunately, they aren't crucial to the enjoyment of the book.
You know what is crucial to the enjoyment of the book? Reading it. And I totally think you should. I mean, if you want to. And stuff.
[sc:greengeekgirl]
