Lord of the Barnyard: Killing the Fatted Calf and Arming the Aware in the Corn Belt

by Tristan Egolf

Book Overview

A literary sensation published to outstanding accolades in America and around the world, Lord of the Barnyard was one of the most auspicious fiction debuts of recent years. Now available in paperback,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802116418
• ISBN13: 9780802116413
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Grove/Atlantic
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Outrageously Funny

A great read that, in this day and age of copy-cat fiction and stamped-out thrillers, Lord of the Barnyard is unique and very entertaining. It's style isn't for everyone, but if you consider yourself a die-hard book lover and fiction fan, this book will be one of your ten best.

original and exceptional

This was just such an unusual and strange book. I liked how Egolf expects the reader to be intelligent and I loved how dark his comedy could get. This book was so enjoyable to me because I got to see John Kaltenbrunner dish out revenge on all of those who put him down throughout his life. It was cathartic. One of the best books I've read in my lifetime, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

something good to read

unfortunately, this book will never get into the hands of those who most need to read it. Coming from the abouts the same area that egolf based this book, i can attest that he did not have to strain to hard to make any of the characters in this book. The book is about injustice and its pent up rage that can only be contained for so long, and how it finally explodes in rage, that the coasts can only shake their heads in complete misunderstanding (the school shootings, the postals), and i doubt very few people outside of the midwest will *get* this book, because the midwest is an entirely different country for them.if you've noitced that im avoiding talking about the plot of the book, that's correct. im trying to tell you what the books about.but like i said, this book will be wasted on many, and the those that can profit from it, will never get their hands on it. I wonder if the author knew this when he wrote it.

Kaltenbrunner vs. the Baker Lay. So absurd, it's credible.

I discovered this tome during a rather miserable trip to tropical, sunny Cairns (Australia). It was about the only thing that stopped me from running accross the road in the middle of the night, setting free all the poultry farm chickens, then running back to peel all the lizards off the exterior wall and drowning them in the pool.In Lord of the Barnyard, Egolf weaves a tale of misfortune, destruction, putrification and assertion so involving, intense, and breathless (as much from the narrative as trying to read the free-flowing, pin-wheeling, and exceedingly wordy sentences aloud to my sister) that you can't help but be drawn in. I don't see it as highly likely that even, or especially, John Kaltenbrunner's early exploits would ever be possible, but somehow, it just seems perfecly reasonable.Explaining this book is as impossible as any of John's deeds. I suppose it's fitting that it has yet to be released in the country in which it's set.A book for thinking people who relish the self-mocking edge of post-modernism. But if you're into the surprise twist at the ending thing, or you need to be able to identify with the book's main character/hero, look elsewhere. You have been warned...

The novel of the year, any year

This book was my favorite novel of 1998. Before it hits the american market, the book is already out in dutch translation.Lord of the Barnyard is hard to describe. It is a demolition derby of the soul, a guided tour of hell (no giftshop) and immensely sensitive at that.As every good writer, Egolf has the power to infect you with his worldview. Makes it unescapable. After putting the novel away the world looks like a desolate place. Egolf writes like Marquez on bad acid, or Hunter S. Thompson going cold turkey. Long, weird sentences, summing up years of misery in a couple of strange images. The plot is fascinating albeit incidental, its not the point of this novel. This novel is about the power of writing, about taking the world by its balls and yanking them until it vomits. Dirty, beautiful and unforgettable. Hard to believe this is the first work of a young writer.Buy it, and be amazed. Think the novel as an artform is dead? Think again.