BTW

by Jarett Kobek

Bad relationships, interracial dating, cross-faith intermarriage, the endless pangs of monogamous love, reality television, Muslim fundamentalism, Crispin Hellion Glover, Internet pornography, Turkish secularism in the era of Erdoğan, the amorous habits of Thomas Jefferson, errant dogs, cheeseburger tattoos, alcoholics without recovery, 9/11 PTSD, female Victorian novelists, the people who go to California to die.

Jarett Kobek’s second novel, BTW, presents the tragicomedy of a young man in Los Angeles balancing a lunatic father, two catastrophic relationships, identity politics, and American pop culture at its most confused.

Genres: Fiction

168 pages, Paperback

First published November 12, 2013

Reviews

[Cassandra Troyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

KOBEK IS KING.

All the brutal reality of late 20's longing, doubt, disappointment, and betrayal laid out with enough wit to make you cringe while laughing.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like books that are about books and its readers, and Jarett Kobek's novel is very much in that it's a love of literature filtered through the narration of sort-of young people in love within the magnificent landscape, that is Los Angeles. Or perhaps they're not in love, but individuals struggling to communicate or at the very least to articulate their unhappiness among the streets of Los Angeles.

There is a strong situationist aspect with respect to the understanding of a city by the way of the main character's dealings with his placement in Los Angeles and how the others fit in the landscape as well. It is a very nice readable cocktail of thought, action, and looking at the world through Victorian literature among other things.

The one figure that stands out in this narrative is the father of the main character, who is profound and hysterical at the same time. Also his advice is quite good, considering that he sees the world in a very specific light. The relationship between son and father is pretty solid, but of course there are many bumps on the road that disrupts the two. Jarett Kobek previous two books "If You Won't Read, Then Why Should I Write?" and "ATTA" were major reads for me this year, and "BTW" easily follows in that grouping. Ah good times.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

While ATTA seemed written by an observer possessed of some spectral intelligence, this dense sliver of now is the book folks could have been talking about most of the season had Taipei not arrived early at the buffet. Khadija Sarwar.

[Beau · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would love to meet someone so cluelessly referential to Victorian literature in his daily conversations as this book's main character.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read. Interesting ideas about chronic pain/Fibromyalgia and childhood trauma.

[nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

BTW (2013) by Jarett Kobek is one of those novels that feels right when you read it at the right time. It’s one of those tragic twentysomething story plotted in LA, and everything felt just as it was, unmoving, current, and fitting. I’m probably biased because I am twentysomething, but, I will admit, I finished it like a silver tequila shot.