Begin to Exit Here: A Novel of the Wayward Press - Hardcover

Welter, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0945575513 ISBN 13: 9780945575511

Publisher: Algonquin Books, 1992

Synopsis

Kurt Clausen has been fired from several newspapers already. He always gets into trouble--always. It isn't that Kurt can't write; quite the contrary. It's just that much of what gets into newspapers is stupid, and Kurt can't keep his mouth shut about it. Begin to Exit Here, John Welter's first novel, offers us a comic look at the wayward press from the inside. Now in its twentieth year, this novel remains as timely as ever.

About this title

About the Author

John Welter began his writing career as a newspaper copy boy, buying cigarettes for the city editor. Since then he has worked as a reporter at newspapers in the Midwest and the South and published humor sketches in The Atlantic. His first book, Begin to Exit Here: A Novel of the Wayward Press, was widely praised and selected by Library Journal as a "Word of Mouth" recommendation for 1991. He lives in North Carolina, where he writes a humor column for The Chapel Hill Herald and is a manager for a mail-order company. He has never been a Secret Service agent, but sometimes wears dark glasses.

Reviews

Humorist Welter's laugh-out-loud first novel looks at the pain of life and the absurdity of journalism through the eyes of a (chronologically) grown-up Holden Caulfield. Kurt Clausen gets by in North Carolina on one-liners and routines; in his company, other people join in the irreverent, wacky mood, but the offbeat humor that makes him initially attractive to women and editors soon palls: Kurt keeps getting fired, and women keep leaving him. He's a vulnerable, brokenhearted, unemployed journalist who's recently acknowledged his alcoholism when he meets Janice. Soon he's deeply in love and in a new job, taking a blithely unconventional approach to the news stories that come his way: a KKK march, a gay police-chief, a kindergarten teacher accused of making a violent threat. Behind the upbeat account of a bright romance and the often hilariously on- target gibes at journalistic practice, it's clear that Kurt is headed for trouble again: he rattles on with goofy humor even when Janice is trying to articulate her confusion about life; his reporting begins to border on the glib and callous. What has seemed like Kurt's poignant and legitimate protest against contemporary values begins to look like the sneering of a troubled outsider, oblivious to the way he reduces all concerns to an amusing game for himself. Welter admirably balances humor with serious feeling, while Kurt--who sees both clearly and not at all--is maddening, lovable, and possibly capable of change. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Kurt Clausen is a reporter with a talent for antagonizing editors. A wisecracking recovering alcoholic with an inability to take anything seriously, Kurt is on a quixotic crusade against journalism-as-usual that has cost him several jobs. As the book opens, he has been fired yet again. Things soon look up, however. He finds a new girlfriend, Janice Galassi, who sees the kind heart beneath his sarcastic exterior. Then he is offered another reporter's job. But true to form, his refusal to heed journalism's sacred tenets quickly gets him in trouble, offending the paper's straitlaced executive editor. Tensions increase, until a story about Janice's employer leads to a climactic confrontation with journalism and his personal demons. A cast of sympathetic characters and nearly nonstop wisecracks and one-liners highlight this spirited and appealing first novel.
- Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0945575513
• ISBN 13: 9780945575511
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304