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Clown Girl: A Novel
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780976631156
ISBN: 0976631156
Label: Hawthorne Books
Manufacturer: Hawthorne Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: January 04, 2007
Publisher: Hawthorne Books
Studio: Hawthorne Books
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Editorial Review:
Clown Girl lives in Baloneytown, a seedy neighborhood where drugs, balloon animals, and even rubber chickens contribute to the local currency. Against a backdrop of petty crime, she struggles to live her dreams, calling on cultural masters Charlie Chaplin, Kafka, and da Vinci for inspiration. In an effort to support herself and her layabout performance-artist boyfriend, Clown Girl finds herself unwittingly transformed into a "corporate clown," trapping herself in a cycle of meaningless, high-paid gigs that veer dangerously close to prostitution. Monica Drake has created a novel that riffs on the high comedy of early film stars — most notably Chaplin and W. C. Fields — to raise questions of class, gender, economics, and prejudice. Resisting easy classification, this debut novel blends the bizarre, the humorous, and the gritty with stunning skill.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Hit my funny bone, but it just hurt
"Finish the first fifty pages!," I kept saying. "You got through 100; that's a good portion." "Chuck, where are the laughs?" "Who didn't see this coming from a mile away." These were just a few of various comments I huffed and puffed as I made my way through this perfect example of forced dialouge and 'jokes.' I was all too thankful to finally read that...*spoiler alert*...they (I'll leave it as they) broke up. Take it from me, the ending serves as the perfect analogy to anyone thinking of picking ... Read More
Rating: - Depressing, hilarious, unconventional, and universal all at once
Journalist Charlie LeDuff wrote that "The job of the clown is to never reveal this one simple truth: life is horrible." Well, Monica Drake breaks this rule, along with many others of the "Clown Code of Ethics", in just about every chapter of Clown Girl.
You'll read in the Palahniuk introduction that this novel creates its own reality, and it definitely does. Drake pulls you into the hilariously depressing world of Baloneytown (adjacent to ForSalesville) and tells the story of a girl trapped ... Read More
Rating:  - Dark, Dank and Delicious
Recently I read somewhere that great novels aren't written anymore - certainly it's true that great novels aren't often published anymore. but Clown Girl stands as a shiny exception. Through spare dialogue, brutal imagery and divine comedy Drake pulls the reader into a vivid world that is mesmerizing, unkind, post-modern and somehow redeeming.
If I wrote, "Drake compromises no character to explore complex issues of identity, role and class stereotyping within the gen X slacker world" I would ... Read More
Rating: - Funny concept, great voice
There are a number of places that are laugh out loud funny in this offbeat first novel. I, too, found this book because I loved Geek Love so much. Indeed, it does not stand up to that book for depth of plot or character, but it is an entertaining read. As others have said, this feels like it started life as a short story and probably would work best in that format, or perhaps a novella, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. Some of the characters and story elements are a bit cliche, but it's a breath of fresh air ... Read More
Rating:  - Cannibal
Two cannibals were eating a clown. One cannibal said to the other "does this guy taste funny?" Two people were reading "Clown Girl" one liked it and the other didn't. I am the one who didn't. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. Be well.
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