Locust House
Adam Gnade
Three One G / Pioneer Press
This one is short, immersive, dense, turbulent and poignant.
A novella-length rumination on a time, a place, and a culture.
Less a story and more of an experience – the literary equivalent of an intense, noisy and hectic live show that catapults one back to something that feels universal - a rite of passage that despite the confusion it brings, forms an integral part of one’s upbringing and DNA as it is essentially uniquely yours like few other things later on in life.
An ode to San Diego’s envelope pushing noise punk fringe music scene, circa 2002, embodied by a home-turned –concert venue, which is orbited by a cast of misfit characters.
Alienation, frustration, rebellion, existential angst, half-baked political convictions, relationships on shaky grounds and the desire for something real, raw and unfabricated in a post-9/11 brave new world.
Adam Gnade paces Locust House accordingly: It feels like one shot, one big breath and the fact that it can be easily read in one sitting adds to it.
A collaborative release by Three One G and Pioneers Press, this is a novella that will resonate with anyone who found his / her way to punk rock as an escapism from a world that denies.
