All around us, there are cornfield oceans, long straight roads, farmhouses and grain silos, and hills “too low to give a name to.” It is a landscape bewitching in its uniformity and one which will be familiar to anyone who has spent any time in this region of the United States specifically in Iowa. For this book, Darnielle places us in the midst of a vast, rolling expanse, his prose competently evoking the undulating, monochrome textures of the Midwest. Next came “difficult second novel” Universal Harvester – released in February of this year. Several years later, in 2014, Darnielle released his debut novel, Wolf in White Van, which was shortlisted for The National Book Award. Wolf in White Van by John DarnielleIt’s been almost ten years since his first book hit the shelves Darnielle’s 2008 contribution to the 331/3 series of extended essays on classic albums was the genre-bending Black Sabbath: Master of Reality, which took the reader on a journey which was more fiction than fact.

There are pages upon pages of writing on the subject of The Mountain Goats already, and Darnielle has proved himself to be a serious literary talent worthy of examination. The Mountain Goats’ songs tackle big themes, they are linked together in tracks and cycles, and, frequently, they feature a heavy literary bent.īut we’re not here to talk about the music. As frontman and creative driving force for alt-rock cult figures The Mountain Goats, Darnielle has been crafting beguiling pop lyrics for approaching three decades, garnering major praise for the depth and deftness of his song-writing. John Darnielle is already something of a big deal.

Universal harvester review