Ovenman: A Novel

by Jeff Parker

This debut novel follows When Thinfinger--skateboarder, kitchen worker extraordinaire, and ne'er-do-well with a slightly tarnished heart of gold--and the trail of Post-It notes he relies on to make sense of his world. When a robbery occurs at his beloved pizza parlor, things begin to heat up for Ovenman.

Skateboarder, restaurant worker, and punk rocker wannabe, the antihero of Jeff Parker’s uproariously funny debut novel adds a new twist to the classic coming-of-age story. Our hero, When Thinfinger, is a ne’er-do-well with a slightly tarnished heart of gold, and relies on Post-it notes to help him make sense of the chaos and momentum of his a girlfriend who dreams he murders her, a long lost Biodad who writes letters filled with lies, a televised war that is over before it has even begun, and a robbery he can’t remember committing.

Genres: Fiction, Novels

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 28, 2007

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book let me down.
Punk rock, skateboarding, pizza, partying, food service jobs, crap tattoos....this book reflected my teenage years. Yet somehow I could not relate to it or any of the characters. Maybe because I didn't grow up in 90's Florida, but if that's the case then the author didn't do his job properly because he made a book specifically for one small audience instead of creating a story that everyone could relate too and enjoy.
I was excited about reading it at first and especially after some people had said it was written in a similar style to Irvine welsh and Chuck Palahniuk, which is just not the case.
I found the characters very much unimaginative and stereotyped and I could not figure out why they all had stupid names?
Was this supposed to be a kids book?
And was it supposed to be funny?

[Tobias · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot subtler than I'd expected -- you do get crazy drunken punk rock action, but the meditations on work, family, and relationships are what endures. Maybe this is due to his contributing an introduction, but I was reminded somewhat of Sam Lipsyte's Home Land as well...

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antihero When Thinfinger is a bit of a loser, although a lovable one. After being kicked out of the house by his parents for accidentally getting both arms covered in horribly mangled tattoos, 15-year-old When found himself forced to take a job in fast food and has been there ever since. Although a bit of a maestro in a restaurant, he's basically hapless in everything else. He's a skater who keeps losing his boards; his bulimic girlfriend sleeps in the living room, plagued by dreams that he's trying to kill her; he's the lead singer in a band who will only let him repetitiously sing the word "Wormdevil," the band's name; and nearly every morning he finds himself reliant on the post-it notes his drunken self has affixed to his body in an effort to clue him in on the previous night's shenanigans. Although a terrible boyfriend who consistently steals here and there from the pizza restaurant that employs him, he's a fairly good guy; but when he wakes up one morning to discover a pizza box full of stolen money on his coffee table, things take a bit of a turn.

Despite being hailed as "uproariously funny," Ovenman is probably not the sort of book that would have made it into my shopping basket had it not been for my bracket in The Morning News's Tournament of Books. (Yes, it's sort of like a college basketball bracket, and yes I realize it's incredibly nerdy. Shut up.) Of course, this funky little book was quickly taken out in the first round by Denis Johnson's epic Tree of Smoke, I was intrigued at the description and figured I'd check it out.

Basically, I have this theory that there are some things that are better on airplanes. Sprite? - better on an airplane. Individual packets of peanuts or pretzels? - better on an airplane. Tiny bottles of liquor? - good, but definitely better on an airplane. Hand-held gaming devices, Sudoku puzzles, tabloid magazines, and novels by Jennifer Weiner and Helen Fielding ? - all nice enough, but for some reason far, far better when enjoyed on an airplane. It's something about the tiny, enclosed space where you are forced to sit and enjoy something completely and entirely in one sitting that makes all these things more enjoyable than they would be most anywhere else. I feel similarly about Ovenman. It was an enjoyable read, but as strange as it sounds, I have a nagging feeling that it would have been ten times better if I would have read it on an airplane. For whatever that's worth.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. It
Started out awful. Got a little better then ended in a big flop. The main character literally gets drunk every night and blacks out at the age of 16. (Give or take) The only time the author does anything to capture the reader is when he describes some boarding moves or "hip" punk bands/ moves they use when partying. Overall pretty poor book. If I didn't buy this book for a few cents from my local library I wouldn't of finished it. Not a re read in my opinion.

[Malaise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book by accident and ended up being so pleasantly surprised. Very funny, well written, great read

[Diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't like this book. At the beginning, it claimed to be this hilarious book. In the end, I was bored and didn't find it funny at all. In addition, the main character When is kind of a jerk and a good for nothing. He treated his girlfriend Marigold like crap, he thinks that stealing is okay, and he doesn't really seem to accomplish anything throughout the entire book. Overall, I really didn't like the book.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm usually prejudiced against twenty-something male slackers, but the narrator of Ovenman is incredibly likeable and warm-hearted. What's most impressive about this novel is the voice; it's very distinct from the first page, which is a rare quality. Funny, insightful, and surprisingly honest.

The novel is well-paced, has great dialogue, and the relationship between the narrator and his girlfriend seems very real. Also, it's cool to read a novel about skaters and the early 90s. It was like a keyhole into the mind of someone I wouldn't have dated in high school (or after), but someone who I might've secretly had a crush on. In terms of the arc, the novel is a bit sprawling and meandering. But I suppose that's just part of slackerdom.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ovenman has a demographic. People who lived from the 90's, know skateboarding, know punk rock, and have visited Florida (and not just the beaches). If you're like me and almost all of these things apply to you, this book is likely to be relatable and to entertain. Jeff Parker really captures the aimless feel of these characters living day to day. From drunken escapades to acting on the fly, Thinfinger is an enjoyable character to follow through life. While the ending was both very satisfying and also kind of a letdown, that does not blemish what is an otherwise entertaining book. Parker's unique voice triumphs in Ovenman and if the setting and characters sound at all appealing, this book is well worth your time.

[William Powhida · Rating 4 out of 5]

My collaborator and fellow instigator Jeff Parker got his first novel published last year. I failed to get my cover design on this book, but you can still see the partial remains in the background of the school bus yellow. It's probably more appropriate, that failure, to the spirit of the book than anything else.

It's the story about a dude with bad tattoos trying to figure out how he ended up with such bad tattoos. If history is written on the skin then When Thinfinger has had a real bad deal and it's time to do something about it. A man can't live with pillows for sleeves forever if he wants to get a little bit of respect.

[Karen Germain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. It started out strong and I appreciated some of the dry humor. Overall, I think the characters and the situation grew a little long, the last third of the book started to drag. It sort of redeemed itself with the ending. I really liked the last two pages. I think that this book had enough style and qualities that I liked and I would give Jeff Parker another shot.

I liked this quote from Sam Lipsyte wrote in the forward, "Slackerdom's one thing. Slacking is quite another." I thought this was really appropriate to the characters. Sadly, I found many similarities to people I know in real life.

[Logan Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. It made me laugh quit a bit. I worked in the serving industry for 9 years and could relate to a lot of the charactors in the novel. Even biodad.

I was about halfway through still wondering where this is going? What's the point of having written this book? It comes around. The number of people like When out there will astound you. There are so many versions of him in this industry, male female, cooks, servers.. hell even Managers. I would rather have seen this as a movie over "Waiting" which was an industry favorite.

Pleasantly surprised with this one.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little wary of the book since the intro was written by Sam Lipsythe- and his book Homeland made me too uncomfortable to finish reading. However, I decided to open my mind to the genre I like to refer to as 'depressed white guy narrative'. Glad I did.

There were a few characters that weren't fully formed for me; I could never really picture Marigold. But this book is solid- it's a story; I like stories. I spend all my time writing 3rd person science writing. So in my free time, I love to read stories. Like this one.

[Keith Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm guessing this book and its subject has fallen from fashion these days -- but I remember it from a decade ago, and remember liking it quite a bit, even though it was about a world and characters I knew nothing about. I have also recommended it when people ask me if I know a skateboarding novel. Here's a thing I wrote a dozen years ago:

https://annarborobserver.com/articles...

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure whether to give this book a 4 or 5 star rating. Not in my top 100 I guess, but really I had such fun reading it that I went ahead and gave 5. The first person narrative voice is spot-on, something that is pretty hard to pull off for such a quirky persona. But Parker did it, and I laughed and shook my head at what When Thingfinger had to say about his life.

[Mandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate this book. I hate not finishing books, but I don't think I'm gonna make it to the end of this one. I find all of the characters completely pathetic, not endearing and I haven't found any of the antics at all funny. Mostly just disturbing. I must not be the target audience of this book...

Update - I never finished the damn thing.

[Bronwyn Mauldin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp with the pizza guy. When Thinfinger loves working at the pizza parlor more than a person should love any job. He loves the worst tasks that everyone else hates. Then he drinks until he passes out, writing post-it notes to himself that he has to decipher the hungover next morning. For all his failings, you can't help but love the guy.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book which is hard to categorize. It's main Character is Thinfinger who besides having a odd name is a very odd and weird dude. He struggles through the book with odd jobs and finally lands the job of his dreams. A pizza maker. This is only the beginning of the weird and corky life he lives. I hope to read more about Thinfinger in the future.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Punk Rock, Central Florida, Crappy Restaurant jobs, Disenchanted Youth, a guy named When Thinfinger and a surfer named Shaka with 25 girlfriends.

If any of these subjects pique your curiosity you'll be in a for a treat. A fast, not-complicated read that made me think of anarchy- Florida young style.

[Justin Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy ass book. Fun to read and unlike some other reviewers I related to a lot of this book and I don't even skate.
I do want to open my own Pizza place but be really careful with who I hire... definitely not When or any of the staff at Piecemeal ha
Entertaining and brutal the whole way through.

ha,
Justin

[Frances Kordov · Rating 3 out of 5]

stealing is bad. if you're sort of kind of smart you can do it. but you also have to be a huuuuge douchebag. (basically, this book is narrated by an amazingly annoying DB but just compelling enough to make you want to finish it. Mildly entertaining, and I learned a lot about pizza making)

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable book; quick to read, hard to put down. And yet...shallow. The main character sort of remains stuck in one place throughout; with no character transformation, I was left wanting something more.

[Kiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

RIYL Irvine Welsh, Chuck Palahniuk. Great dialogue. Dank, but great humor. Not sure if I like how it ended, but the ride to the end is an entertaining and dirty one. And a very quick read.

[Bob Redmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific dialogue, writing that escapes the grad-school factory (despite being a product of it). Story of a disaffected restaurant worker/skater/soft-hearted misanthrope. Who can't relate?

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skateboards, pizza, paranoid girlfriends,the most unique character names ever... oh yeah!

[Josh Spilker · Rating 4 out of 5]

funny and a bit scattered--a coming of age story for the skateboarding/restaurant/punk rock set.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny. Great 1st person narrator. Strong minor characters. Lots of energy.

[Sonya Huber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rockin' and great fun. Also the most fun with office supplies.

[Jewels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed some bits and pieces, though was disappointed by the Fight Club ending.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tightly wrapped up and entertaining all the way through, though Parker's short story collection is more humorous.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and light read about a young punk searching for any source of meaning in his reather meaningless life...and I am pretty sure he found nothing.