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This Book Is Not for You

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This Book Is Not for You

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Overview

Utilizing an innovative mashup of genres, ranging from pulp fiction, dark comedy, and metafiction, This Book Is Not for You charts the actions of nineteen-year-old Neptune, a misfit and punk haunted by the death of his parents. Having fallen in with an anarchist group determined to blow up a university building, he steals the dynamite instead, igniting an entirely different brand of trouble: the murder of his mentor; a three-way manhunt; and the mystery of the Ghost Machine, a walkman that replays snippets from his own twisted past. Told in a nonstop chain of Chapter Ones, Daniel A. Hoyt’s debut novel explores the clash between chaos and calm, the instinct for self-destruction and the longing for redemption.

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ISBN-13:	9781945814341
Publisher:	Dzanc Books
Publication date:	11/07/2017
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Daniel A. Hoyt is an associate professor at Kansas State University. His first story collection, Then We Saw the Flames, won the Juniper Prize for Fiction and was published by the University of Massachusetts Press. His recent work has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Missouri Review, The Sun, and other magazines. He lives in Manhattan, Kansas, with his wife and son.

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Editorial Reviews

09/25/2017
The snarky, experimental first novel by Hoyt (author of the story collection Then We Saw the Flames) consists of one “Chapter One” after another narrated by an abrasive young man who calls himself Neptune. After leaving the University of Kansas, he falls in with a group of anarchists and, on a whim, takes off with their supply of dynamite to thwart their plan to blow up a building. On the run, he arrives at the apartment of his favorite professor, only to find that her head has been bashed in, and she now appears to him as a silent ghost, accompanying him wherever he goes. The narrator, quite conscious that he is a voice in a book, frequently addresses the reader directly and belligerently. “You hate me already, I can tell,” reads one chapter in its entirety; “You still there?” reads another. While the series of first chapters might suggest a time loop, in fact the novel moves along linearly, with a few flashbacks. Frequent references to The Catcher in the Rye and Huck Finn suggest that Hoyt is aiming for a contemporary version of those tales, with an extra helping of profanity and violence. Though Neptune’s story might not be for all readers, some may be carried away by the momentum of his sharp voice. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for This Book Is Not For You

"If a book can be punk rock, Daniel A. Hoyt has written it."

—Manhattan Mercury

“Told in a nonstop chain of Chapter Ones, Daniel Hoyt’s debut novel explores the clash between chaos and calm, the instinct for self-destruction and the longing for redemption.”

—Entropy

“I have a soft spot for aggressive, unreliable narrators. The energy carried me through many pages, until I finally realized I was reading at a pace I never do and panting at that. A page-turner experimental novel is just the thing to get everyone on board with literary fiction.”

—Carmiel Banasky, author of The Suicide of Claire Bishop

“This is not a confession, but a caustic blend of pulp and metafiction that surrounds a haunted Walkman, a murder, wishful anarchists and a constant reset for the reader. Every chapter is chapter one, but Hoyt knows just how to pull the strings and keep you waiting for a revelation that may never arrive at all.”
—Andrew Sullivan, author of Waste

“Actually, this book is for me. I could (and did) stay up all night listening to Neptune, the narrator—part Holden Caulfield, part Huck Finn, part someone I've never met anywhere. Sharp-edged, defiant, profane, and brutally funny, he got to me in spite of himself.”
—Kim Church, author of Byrd

“This Book Is Not For You introduces the world to Neptune—a self-destructive and overly self-aware hero for our times. Neptune’s misadventures are funny, harrowing, thrilling, and sweet, and the novel’s recurring Chapter Ones give a fresh start to the story on each page. Neptune’s bad decisions might make you cringe, but you’ll cheer for him.... An exciting and inventive novel.”

— Craig Finn of The Hold Steady

Praise for Then We Saw the Flames

“Sharp, daring, and shot with moments of rare beauty, these stories grab you by the collar and refuse to let you go. Daniel Hoyt tears away the layers of our shared human experience to reveal the raw emotional truth at the core, and at the same time he uncovers the searing loneliness and desire that bind us together. This is a fearless and unforgettable book.”
—Julie Orringer, author of How to Breathe Underwater

“A wonderful book that brings together thirteen stories that are odd bedfellows—now realist, now magical, now minimalist, now not. To read them is to wander untethered through Daniel Hoyt’s highly developed imagination and to come away sometimes stunned, often thrilled, always amused, constantly surprised, and, from time to time, comforted. In a way, reading this collection is like changing channels on a very peculiar TV: the programs look different each from the next, but soon you realize that someone is controlling all of the programming, there are common threads running through every show.”

—Frederick Barthelme, author of Elroy Nights and Bob the Gambler

“Variety is the spice of life, and Daniel A. Hoyt has a lot of spice. Then We Saw the Flames is a collection of short stories from one Daniel Hoyt, as he presents a fine compilation of short stories that go into a variety of topics, with the overlying themes of the challenges that everyone faces in their life. With plenty of entertainment crammed between the covers, Then We Saw the Flames is a great short fiction pick.”

—Midwest Book Review, Fiction Shelf

“Hoyt is a brave and capable writer and his collection provides an entertaining and exciting read.”

—North Dakota Quarterly

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