Summer Rain

by Jon Konrath

John Conner has lost his girlfriend, his job, a scholarship, and has been kicked out of college. Instead of retreating back to his parents' basement and a life of mediocrity and factory labor, he decides to stay the summer in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana. On the lazy Indiana University campus, Connor explores the worlds of death metal, zines, no-budget radio, and slackerdom while trying to learn about women, deal with depression, and get his life back on course. While he works telemarketing jobs and hawks glowsticks as a street vendor in order to survive, he learns who his friends are in the strange mix of people left at the college for the summer. The atmospheric and descriptive narration weaves the hidden beauty of the Midwest and the crossroads of the early Nineties into a timeless story of the follies of youth. Conner's ramblings through the desolation of an empty campus parallel the meaningless jobs he must take to scrape by while he decides whether to remain sequestered in the relative comfort of college living or leap into an unstable world fueled only by his own creativity.

660 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

Jon Konrath is an American author born in 1971. He grew up in Indiana and studied computer science and English at Indiana University. After college, he worked as a software developer and technical writer, but eventually turned his attention to writing fiction.

Konrath is the author of several books, including "Rumored to Exist," "Thunderbird," and "The Earworm Inception." His writing is known for its unique blend of humor, absurdism, and surrealism, often blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.

In addition to writing, Konrath is also an accomplished photographer. He currently resides in California.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being familiar with Konrath's writing, this book was really a surprise for me. It has nothing of the bizarro craziness that I've come to associate with Konrath. But, don't take that to mean that I didn't like the book. The reverse is actually the case. It just seems strange that it was written by the same author. Really, it demonstrates that Konrath has a much greater range than I'd previously understood. I mean, this is realism...well written, emotional, character-driven realism. I've never seen Konrath do that before, but he does it well. I'd seen a few nasty comments about this book, but I think I can understand. Some fans just can't accept that writers sometimes write very different things. I've never been one for that, taking each work on it's own, but I know some people just can't get away from that hang up. Really, this is a good, emotional book. Anyone who has ever had their life run aground at some point will find this to strike some eerily familiar, if not sometimes uncomfortable, chords. Regardless, this is some of the most honest (in the way that honesty may or may not bear any kind of relation to factual happenings), moving writing I've seen from Konrath. In short, I dug it.

[Jennifer Warf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice glimpse back at the weird people I met when I was in Bloomington. I always loved my computer geeks, and this book recounts the VAX culture that encircled campus during those early 90's years at IU... and before the internet. Of course, some recognition for the CREATOR of the fountain gathering (Me) should have been noted in the inscriptions, but I will let that one slide. Love Jon and his peculiar views on life. Check him out!