What do you think?
Rate this book
Burnside
Not yet published
Expected 4 Aug 26A Lynchian, absurdist debut novel for fans of Alexandra Tanner and Emma Cline about two disaffected young women and the local homeless man they become obsessed with.
The Bowl is a strange surrounded by abandoned almond orchards filled with feral children and neighboring towns that keep burning down, the polluted, riverside city has a decades-old web of serial killers and missing people.
Our unnamed narrator, a bookseller at a used bookstore, and her roommate September, a waitress at a cowgirl-themed breasturant, spend their days avoiding their deadbeat boyfriends, commuting to class on the raccoon-infested ‘rat bus,’ and hanging out at wine bars with their friend Claudia Thursday. But after September has an encounter with a local homeless man named Burnside, she becomes terrified that he’s stalking her. Soon, the entire town has turned on Burnside, convinced that he is responsible for the violence, precarity, and wildfires that surround them.
Burnside builds a dreamlike yet utterly propulsive tapestry of brilliant, flawed, and dangerous characters. A commentary on victimhood and safety, both real and imagined, the precarity of late-stage capitalism and climate disaster, and a portrait of a community in a world seemingly right next to our own, Burnside is a singular, epic, and wonderfully strange debut.
The Bowl is a strange surrounded by abandoned almond orchards filled with feral children and neighboring towns that keep burning down, the polluted, riverside city has a decades-old web of serial killers and missing people.
Our unnamed narrator, a bookseller at a used bookstore, and her roommate September, a waitress at a cowgirl-themed breasturant, spend their days avoiding their deadbeat boyfriends, commuting to class on the raccoon-infested ‘rat bus,’ and hanging out at wine bars with their friend Claudia Thursday. But after September has an encounter with a local homeless man named Burnside, she becomes terrified that he’s stalking her. Soon, the entire town has turned on Burnside, convinced that he is responsible for the violence, precarity, and wildfires that surround them.
Burnside builds a dreamlike yet utterly propulsive tapestry of brilliant, flawed, and dangerous characters. A commentary on victimhood and safety, both real and imagined, the precarity of late-stage capitalism and climate disaster, and a portrait of a community in a world seemingly right next to our own, Burnside is a singular, epic, and wonderfully strange debut.
- GenresLiterary Fiction
Kindle Edition
Expected publication August 4, 2026
5 people are currently reading
184 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Want to read
February 25, 2026Omg. I need my hands on this STAT
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
You mention alexandra tanner and i am expecting wit and humor, which I could barely find in this. It leans more towards the emma cline comparison. Not a serious criticism but I hated the name September. I also kept thinking “why do we care about September?” It’s a well-written novel that just wasn’t for me.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Now THIS is a debut. Surreal and literary. Left me stained with a substance I don’t recognize in a town I don’t recall. Bravo..
Read
March 16, 2026a fever dream with some of the best writing I’ve ever encountered - RTC!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews