Synopses & Reviews
With a chirp, a smirk, and a nod, Kent Russell crisscrosses the country, seeking immersive experiences and revelations on society’s ragged edge. He pitches a tent among the Insane Clown Posse’s fans, known as Juggalos, treks to the end of the continent to find out how a legendary hockey enforcer is preparing for his own death, and explores the Amish obsession with baseball as well as his own obsession with horror, blood, and guts. Between these reports from the world at large, Russell introduces us to his raging and inimitable forebears—above all, his large-living, volatile, hard-as-nails dad.
I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son is a haunting and howling portrait of America—and American manhood—and the introduction of a ferociously brilliant new voice navigating the junctures between savagery and civilization within himself.
Review
“Lovely and bruising.... The essays have more than a little in common with the work of David Foster Wallace.” The New York Times Book Review
Review
“Kent Russell is one of the most excitingly gifted young nonfiction writers to have appeared in recent memory.” John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead
Review
“A surprising, beautiful book, at once tough and tender, hilarious and dark, and above all, deeply original.” NPR.org
About the Author
Kent Russell's writing has appeared in The New Republic, Harper's, GQ, n+1, The Believer, and Grantland.