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Small Town Odds
Writing with an acute sense of place and character reminiscent of Richard Russo, Jason Headley's first novel tells the hilarious and poignant story of Eric Mercer and Pinely, West Virginia. Enromously likeable and a habitual screw-up, Eric has settled into a sometimes raucous, underachieving life in his one-stoplight hometowna life cobbled together from his part-time activities as bartender at the American Legion, assistant mortician, and father to his beloved 5-year-old daughter, Tess. Tess seems to be the main reason smart, talented, twenty-four-year-old Eric is staying in town, though her mom, a centerfold-quality beauty, would have it otherwise. When Jill, the lost love of his life, returns to Pinely in the same week that the town goes nuts in preparation for the high school football team's Big Game, life unexpectedly shifts into high gear, and Eric must blunder his way toward enlightenmentfast. Authentic, irresistible, and refreshingly unpredictable, Small Town Odds is the debut of a graceful and gifted writer.Barnes & Noble Best of 2004: Staff Picks
- GenresFiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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72 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 18, 2022
I finally got around to reading this book which has been on my bookshelf for years and really enjoyed it. Not a lot happens but one of the reviews on the back of the book by booklist says says “… a sweet, candid tale about finding contentment when life doesn’t go as planned” and that’s exactly what I found this novel to be. The main character, Eric Mercer is both troubled and lovable and I found myself laughing out loud at times while reading this. I really enjoyed this book.
April 14, 2008
I felt like I really knew these people. I really wanted things to work out for them. And I really knew that this author had to tell the truth about their lives no matter what. I would like to read other things by this author, because he sees life through remarkably clear eyes and with lovely language.
February 5, 2020
The comedian Jeff Foxworthy is known for his “You Might be a Redneck” routine, which provides a handy inventory of traits indicative of red-neckedness. For example, if you own a home that’s mobile and five cars that aren’t mobile… get it? With due apologies to Foxworthy, I applied this litmus test to Eric Mercer, the main character of “Small Town Odds” by Jason Headley.
Eric might be a redneck if he:
• lives in the small southern town where he was born
• is mostly known in said town for his glorious high school football career
• regularly wakes up in jail after a night of hard drinking
• fathered an illegitimate child in high school, NOT with his girlfriend
Check, check, check , and check. Eric’s neck is indeed good and red. But like many proud rednecks, he knows his own mind, works hard, and accepts his responsibilities. Those are also typical redneck qualities that make it okay for them to laugh at themselves without anybody taking offense (an admirable trait, all too rare these days). They are also virtues that make Eric a very sympathetic character, whom readers root for no matter how many knuckleheaded things he does.
It didn’t have to be that way for Eric. His prospects upon graduating from high school looked bright; he planned to get the hell out of town to attend Brown University in the fall, and his loving girlfriend and soulmate, Jill, would be in school nearby. Unfortunately, he sabotages his future happiness when he gets very drunk at a high school party and has sex with a girl whom he’d been fantasizing about all his life. As his bad luck would have it, she gets pregnant. Eric forsakes college for fatherhood, while Jill leaves for bigger and better horizons. No wonder he drinks so much.
Five years later, Jill returns to town for the funeral of her father. Eric is only too happy to comfort her in her time of grief. His past, present, and future collide in a spontaneous kiss, which then sends Eric into a dither of ambiguous emotions. The author does a clever job getting into Eric’s head and making even his most delusionary ideas and actions seem credible. For example, in the aftermath of his stolen kiss with Jill, Eric’s fantasies take off:
“He and Jill would take the love that was obviously still there between them and weave it into a grand tapestry of passion. If anything, their love would be even stronger because of their time apart. He would study hard and learn great things.”
His penchant for rationalizing is one of his most endearing qualities. It also predictably gets him into trouble. Readers would like to slap him and say, “snap out of it.”
Even though, in the end, Eric predictably makes a mess of things, he picks himself up and carries on, like the noble redneck that he is. He may be his own worst enemy, but his heart is in the right place.
If you love “Small Town Odds,” you might be a redneck. If so, that makes me one.
Eric might be a redneck if he:
• lives in the small southern town where he was born
• is mostly known in said town for his glorious high school football career
• regularly wakes up in jail after a night of hard drinking
• fathered an illegitimate child in high school, NOT with his girlfriend
Check, check, check , and check. Eric’s neck is indeed good and red. But like many proud rednecks, he knows his own mind, works hard, and accepts his responsibilities. Those are also typical redneck qualities that make it okay for them to laugh at themselves without anybody taking offense (an admirable trait, all too rare these days). They are also virtues that make Eric a very sympathetic character, whom readers root for no matter how many knuckleheaded things he does.
It didn’t have to be that way for Eric. His prospects upon graduating from high school looked bright; he planned to get the hell out of town to attend Brown University in the fall, and his loving girlfriend and soulmate, Jill, would be in school nearby. Unfortunately, he sabotages his future happiness when he gets very drunk at a high school party and has sex with a girl whom he’d been fantasizing about all his life. As his bad luck would have it, she gets pregnant. Eric forsakes college for fatherhood, while Jill leaves for bigger and better horizons. No wonder he drinks so much.
Five years later, Jill returns to town for the funeral of her father. Eric is only too happy to comfort her in her time of grief. His past, present, and future collide in a spontaneous kiss, which then sends Eric into a dither of ambiguous emotions. The author does a clever job getting into Eric’s head and making even his most delusionary ideas and actions seem credible. For example, in the aftermath of his stolen kiss with Jill, Eric’s fantasies take off:
“He and Jill would take the love that was obviously still there between them and weave it into a grand tapestry of passion. If anything, their love would be even stronger because of their time apart. He would study hard and learn great things.”
His penchant for rationalizing is one of his most endearing qualities. It also predictably gets him into trouble. Readers would like to slap him and say, “snap out of it.”
Even though, in the end, Eric predictably makes a mess of things, he picks himself up and carries on, like the noble redneck that he is. He may be his own worst enemy, but his heart is in the right place.
If you love “Small Town Odds,” you might be a redneck. If so, that makes me one.
August 3, 2023
Loved the humor in this book. Very well written and the characters were entertaining. The hopes, dreams and plans of the main character were never the same from one act that changed everything. Good read...
April 14, 2025
I found it interesting that this book itself read like a small town. It felt steady and safe, not too much excitement, but a nice story with good values.
May 13, 2013
This is my favorite kind of novel –- about a man who has made a mess of his life and his relationships and who reaches a crossroads that will test him to see if he’s capable of setting things right. Any fans of Nick Hornby, Tom Perrotta or Jonathan Tropper will surely like this novel, and Jason Headley more than holds his own with the masters of this particular kind of comic/dramatic literary fiction.
At the outset, Small Town Odds looks like it’s a going to be a redneck novel as it begins with a scene about an apparent loser who’s found himself in the drunk tank after a night of carousing and fighting in a small West Virginia town. But then we learn our hero, Eric Mercer, is much more than a drunken fool. He was actually a bright young high school student, who was headed to Brown University with scholarships after graduation. He was also a high school football player and after helping his team beat their rival school for the first time in 20 years, he became a local hero. At the time, he was dating a young girl who had moved into town a few years earlier, and whom he turned from a lackluster, indifferent student into college material. She was his first and great love. But she was away camping with her father the night of his big game, and when an older girl who’d been the object of his boyhood crush comes onto him they have a drunken one-night stand that leads to a pregnancy.
So that’s the dilemma of Eric’s life -– he gave up all his dreams for a bigger life to stay in the small West Virginia town he couldn’t wait to leave in order to help raise his daughter. He never got to close to the mother, even all his years of worshipping her from afar, because he felt she trapped him. While he hasn’t done much with his life since, other than working part-time at a funeral parlor and bar, he has been a good father to his daughter, Tess. But on the nights he doesn’t have her, he’s the town hellion, getting into fights to act out his rage over having to give up all his dreams.
The turning point comes when his ex-girlfriend, who is now on the verge of finishing law school, has to come back to town when her father dies. Over the past six years, he’s managed to avoid her any time she’s been home for a visit, but with his job at the funeral parlor he can’t this time.
That sets into motion all the action for the novel – and it’s told with chapters alternating between the present and the past so that we get more details about Eric’s high school heroics, his relationship with the girl who was the great love of his life, and the woman who would become the mother of his child. The pacing of the novel and the gradually unfolding of all the details are done with sheer brilliance.
It’s also a great comic novel. Eric covers his disappointment in himself with sarcasm and his lines are very funny – but they call come across like the things a witty person could actually say – and not the kind of over-the-top witticisms that someone could only come up with if they had a team of comedy writers constantly at their disposal.
This is the kind of novel that had me smiling on every page, it was such a sheer joy to read. All the minor characters are terrific, including the fathers, the girlfriends, and the mothers. Eric’s best friend, the dimwitted but loyal Deke, provides a great comic foil.
What’s particularly masterful is the way the author manages to get us to sympathize with his protagonist through all his conflicts with his friends, parents and the women in his life because the author doesn’t overdo it by always stacking the cards in Eric’s favor. At times Eric is very unlikable, and it’s hard not to be angry with him, as his family and friends surely are, for the choices he makes. But through it all you still understand why he is behaving at times so abysmally and irresponsibly.
The novel makes you want to keep turning the pages as it gets you wondering whether Eric will be able to rekindle things with the great love of his life, or if he’ll ever manage to find any forgiveness and affection in his heart for his daughter’s mother. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen (as much as I didn’t want the novel to end), but then I was blown away at how the author manages to find the ending that was exactly right for the novel. Obviously, I can’t recommend this novel highly enough.
If you end up liking it as much as I did, and are looking for more novels like it, I can recommend any of the works by the authors I mentioned above and also Drew Perry’s This Is Just Exactly Like You and Dallas Hudgens’ 2 novels, The Season of Gene and Drive Like Hell.
I was curious to see what Jason Headley was up to now, and his website makes clear he’s done some scriptwriting and he’s written and directed some very funny short films that are on his Web site. I hope he returns to novel writing again at some point because this debut novel supplies evidence of an immense talent.
At the outset, Small Town Odds looks like it’s a going to be a redneck novel as it begins with a scene about an apparent loser who’s found himself in the drunk tank after a night of carousing and fighting in a small West Virginia town. But then we learn our hero, Eric Mercer, is much more than a drunken fool. He was actually a bright young high school student, who was headed to Brown University with scholarships after graduation. He was also a high school football player and after helping his team beat their rival school for the first time in 20 years, he became a local hero. At the time, he was dating a young girl who had moved into town a few years earlier, and whom he turned from a lackluster, indifferent student into college material. She was his first and great love. But she was away camping with her father the night of his big game, and when an older girl who’d been the object of his boyhood crush comes onto him they have a drunken one-night stand that leads to a pregnancy.
So that’s the dilemma of Eric’s life -– he gave up all his dreams for a bigger life to stay in the small West Virginia town he couldn’t wait to leave in order to help raise his daughter. He never got to close to the mother, even all his years of worshipping her from afar, because he felt she trapped him. While he hasn’t done much with his life since, other than working part-time at a funeral parlor and bar, he has been a good father to his daughter, Tess. But on the nights he doesn’t have her, he’s the town hellion, getting into fights to act out his rage over having to give up all his dreams.
The turning point comes when his ex-girlfriend, who is now on the verge of finishing law school, has to come back to town when her father dies. Over the past six years, he’s managed to avoid her any time she’s been home for a visit, but with his job at the funeral parlor he can’t this time.
That sets into motion all the action for the novel – and it’s told with chapters alternating between the present and the past so that we get more details about Eric’s high school heroics, his relationship with the girl who was the great love of his life, and the woman who would become the mother of his child. The pacing of the novel and the gradually unfolding of all the details are done with sheer brilliance.
It’s also a great comic novel. Eric covers his disappointment in himself with sarcasm and his lines are very funny – but they call come across like the things a witty person could actually say – and not the kind of over-the-top witticisms that someone could only come up with if they had a team of comedy writers constantly at their disposal.
This is the kind of novel that had me smiling on every page, it was such a sheer joy to read. All the minor characters are terrific, including the fathers, the girlfriends, and the mothers. Eric’s best friend, the dimwitted but loyal Deke, provides a great comic foil.
What’s particularly masterful is the way the author manages to get us to sympathize with his protagonist through all his conflicts with his friends, parents and the women in his life because the author doesn’t overdo it by always stacking the cards in Eric’s favor. At times Eric is very unlikable, and it’s hard not to be angry with him, as his family and friends surely are, for the choices he makes. But through it all you still understand why he is behaving at times so abysmally and irresponsibly.
The novel makes you want to keep turning the pages as it gets you wondering whether Eric will be able to rekindle things with the great love of his life, or if he’ll ever manage to find any forgiveness and affection in his heart for his daughter’s mother. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen (as much as I didn’t want the novel to end), but then I was blown away at how the author manages to find the ending that was exactly right for the novel. Obviously, I can’t recommend this novel highly enough.
If you end up liking it as much as I did, and are looking for more novels like it, I can recommend any of the works by the authors I mentioned above and also Drew Perry’s This Is Just Exactly Like You and Dallas Hudgens’ 2 novels, The Season of Gene and Drive Like Hell.
I was curious to see what Jason Headley was up to now, and his website makes clear he’s done some scriptwriting and he’s written and directed some very funny short films that are on his Web site. I hope he returns to novel writing again at some point because this debut novel supplies evidence of an immense talent.
July 12, 2007
Small Town Odds by Jason Headley
This book entertained me and just kept getting better and better as the chapters went on.
The lead Character, Eric, is introduced. He was an honor student and a high school football hero. Yet, he never went on to college to become whatever possibility his studious mind was capable of. He seems to be bitter and somewhat depressed. He remained in the very small town he grew up in. He had wonderful parents and he knew just about everyone in town. He had his same friends that he has had since he is a boy as well.
This highly intelligent and kindhearted gentle person has some suppressed anger. He also appears to be in some degree of a depression. It’s like he’s in a very long dysfunctional grieving over something. It seems out of character that this fellow would have a habit of getting very drunk, then go out and do wild things like getting into bar fights, or disturbing the peace. The suppressed anger in this gentle person arises and rears its ugly head during these times. Then, the next morning, be back to his gentle self. Why is he like this?
The story will take you on the journey of his childhood, teen hood, and into young adulthood that will lead you up to the events that brings you to him today and then a little beyond that point. You are left knowing that Eric has turned a new chapter in his life and still curious and wanting to read more of what is next for Eric.
The town that this story takes place is full of quick-witted citizens that are good people. Eric’s boyhood friends and their childhood adventures are quite amusing as they lead you into the purpose of his life. His teen year of discovering love while being clumsy and nervous when he was trying to come off smooth is pretty funny to read too.
Another concept this story touches on is how delicate life is and the realization of our own mortalities. Eric recounts his memories of his own grandfather. Jason illustrates the closeness Eric had with his grandfather when he was age 5 and how he saw him go from being an active man to one becoming weak and ill. He recounts the funeral and how Eric makes one last attempt to wake up grandpa from his nap. It’s a cute section of the book in which is also very touching and emotional. It’s enough to shed a tear or two during this book.
In the end, you understand why Eric didn’t go off to a big name college. You understand that his purpose of staying in his small hometown is an important one. The question is will he come to grips with his purpose in life?
Jason had a great way of hitting all the sentimental teary emotions in this book, but also lifted you with the quick wit of all the characters.
How about making a box set series of Small Town Odds, Jason?
This book entertained me and just kept getting better and better as the chapters went on.
The lead Character, Eric, is introduced. He was an honor student and a high school football hero. Yet, he never went on to college to become whatever possibility his studious mind was capable of. He seems to be bitter and somewhat depressed. He remained in the very small town he grew up in. He had wonderful parents and he knew just about everyone in town. He had his same friends that he has had since he is a boy as well.
This highly intelligent and kindhearted gentle person has some suppressed anger. He also appears to be in some degree of a depression. It’s like he’s in a very long dysfunctional grieving over something. It seems out of character that this fellow would have a habit of getting very drunk, then go out and do wild things like getting into bar fights, or disturbing the peace. The suppressed anger in this gentle person arises and rears its ugly head during these times. Then, the next morning, be back to his gentle self. Why is he like this?
The story will take you on the journey of his childhood, teen hood, and into young adulthood that will lead you up to the events that brings you to him today and then a little beyond that point. You are left knowing that Eric has turned a new chapter in his life and still curious and wanting to read more of what is next for Eric.
The town that this story takes place is full of quick-witted citizens that are good people. Eric’s boyhood friends and their childhood adventures are quite amusing as they lead you into the purpose of his life. His teen year of discovering love while being clumsy and nervous when he was trying to come off smooth is pretty funny to read too.
Another concept this story touches on is how delicate life is and the realization of our own mortalities. Eric recounts his memories of his own grandfather. Jason illustrates the closeness Eric had with his grandfather when he was age 5 and how he saw him go from being an active man to one becoming weak and ill. He recounts the funeral and how Eric makes one last attempt to wake up grandpa from his nap. It’s a cute section of the book in which is also very touching and emotional. It’s enough to shed a tear or two during this book.
In the end, you understand why Eric didn’t go off to a big name college. You understand that his purpose of staying in his small hometown is an important one. The question is will he come to grips with his purpose in life?
Jason had a great way of hitting all the sentimental teary emotions in this book, but also lifted you with the quick wit of all the characters.
How about making a box set series of Small Town Odds, Jason?
November 28, 2008
Eric is 24 and still living in the small town he grew up in West Virginia. Eric had big dreams but they were derailed when a mistake one night led to the birth of his daughter, Tess. He gave up the girl he loved and college to stay and be a father. During one week his old girlfriend, the high school’s Big Game, and the gorgeous mother of his daughter all converge, propelling Eric to unavoidable decisions.
Not quite lad lit, this was a moving story of what it means to be a father, to be a family and how to reconcile yourself when your future doesn’t turn out like you planned.
Not quite lad lit, this was a moving story of what it means to be a father, to be a family and how to reconcile yourself when your future doesn’t turn out like you planned.
May 28, 2016
It is not the author's fault but this is not my type of book where the main character causes nothing but trouble and beating people up. It had a redemptive ending but I guess it has been so long since I was at his age that I didn't see the point of it. The main character I did not see as redeeming but he did make some good choices.
I believe that the author did do a good job with the book but I don't even enjoy shows with violence, so I definitely did not enjoy the main character always punching people and seeming mad. I don't think I would read another of this author's books.
I believe that the author did do a good job with the book but I don't even enjoy shows with violence, so I definitely did not enjoy the main character always punching people and seeming mad. I don't think I would read another of this author's books.
March 22, 2016
This book was surprisingly good. I liked the structure of it - going back and forth between the days in one week and some carefully chosen flashbacks in the main character's life. It also had a beautifully written sex scene where the sex was exciting but charming and not at all nasty (and that is rare). Also, there was a pretty amazing scene where the main character says that thing you are never supposed to say about your children.
November 1, 2008
I love books about small towns! Small Town Odds was about one young man's decision that changed the course of his life just shortly after graduating from High School. The story line kept me guessing and wanting to know more about each character. I loved little Tess and her relationship with her father.
November 14, 2010
Great book to read on my lunch breaks. :) Another "realistic" tale of every day life, especially for "us small town folk" :) I found most intriguing that this story of love (for a daughter and lover) is told completely from a male perspective. Not every day we females get to see inside the male psyche, especially when pertaining to the icky "L" word (:
July 7, 2007
This is the guys first novel - it captures small town life so realistically,
March 8, 2008
A quick read. Author grew up and based the book on my boyfriend's hometown :)
May 8, 2008
Set in my hometown -- I loved this book.
July 3, 2008
Really well written and absorbing. Mainly about a guy with lots of promise who throws away success and true romance for reasons murkily revealed. Alcohol really messes him up.
January 9, 2009
I checked this out from the library based on the cover picture. It wasn't bad though. A nice, well-told story with a compelling first-person voice.
December 26, 2011
A book following a week of the life of the fictional character Eric Mercer. The book is as uneventful as the title suggests, but fine if one is looking for some light reading.
February 5, 2014
Slow start, but a good read after the first 100 pages.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews