Unimaginable Zero Summer

UZS

My good pal Leslie Stella has written another great book - Unimaginable Zero Summer. The story revolves around a bunch of 30-somethings in Chicago preparing for a high school reunion at Downers Grove South High School.

You may have heard of Leslie's first two books - the subvert-from-within classic debut Fat Bald Jeff, and her hilarious tribute to lowering the upper class by bringing a bit of Bridgeport to the Gold Coast- The Easy Hour.

I think with UZS, Stella really shows how much she honed her craft. Her dialogue has always been "laugh out loud" funny, and it is here as well, but the sentences are even tighter. She tells a great story at a perfect pace. In UZS, she creates her most interesting characters to date.

A lot of her content is familiar stuff, as she weaves music and pop culture into Chicago area settings. Among the long forgotten bands she mentions are the Psychedelic Furs, Ulravox, the Young Fresh Fellows, the Replacements...

Here's a sample of some of the commentary, out of context of course, from one of the book's best characters, a bitter Vietnam vet bookstore clerk named Bob:

On Dr. Phil: "I'd like to kick that mustache into the back of his skull."

On 'Chicken Soup For the Soul': "I'd like to take a pot of boiling chicken soup and shove it down his fucking throat."

Another character, Charlie, taking about his haunted apartment in Rogers Park: "Did you ever think a three-flat in Rogers Park would be the afterlife? How depressing. But I guess its better than haunting the south side. Can you imagine spending eternity in Bridgeport? Your soul would be floating around 35th street thinking 'Oh my God! I've been sent to hell."

Some more great quotes:

"I'm not broke just because I'm Polish and grew up in Westmont."

"Are you getting 'mommy urges'?"
"Does craving alchohol count?"

"...he found he could not forgive her for liking the Dave Matthews Band."

"I'm not ready for the Cubs and Red Sox to face off in the World Series. I have a lot of things I want to do before toads rain upon the land and the earth spins into the sun."

"She had not drunk like this in years. Her stockpile of 'I was so wasted' stories remained archived and smoldering, a black box recording retrived from a wreckage of shame."

"Downers Grove may suck, but its almost like home to me."

Leslie will be reading from Unimaginable Zero Summer this saturday, May 21 at her old stompin grounds, Quimby's at 1854 W. North Avenue, at 7 pm.