BOOK REVIEW: Pookoo by D.L. Shiloh

First novel is a cautionary tale for those drawn to the limelight

Pookoo is a phenomenal first novel from author D.L. Shiloh (www.dlshiloh.com), a former Chicagoan who now lives in Rockford, Illinois. He grew up in Cedar Falls, Iowa and southern Wisconsin and brings that Midwestern sensibility to the page. He comes from a lineage that counts Thomas Paine (of Revolutionary War Common Sense fame) and William Bradford (one of the first Pilgrims), along with Cherokee Native American blood. Pookoo a brilliantly written satirical look at our society's celebrity obsession.

It is a strange and powerful blend of sports, celebrity and pop culture guruism that when boiled down is a cautionary tale to individuals, especially those drawn to the limelight.

"Literary agents were mystified by it because it wasn't a sports novel," Shiloh said in an e-mail interview. "No more than Field of Dreams or Rollerball. That's just the backdrop. It's much more about celebrity and what we think is golden. Everybody in the book has some grasp at what they think is the real deal and they find out otherwise."

Pookoo takes place in 1991, when down-sizing was the rule, but before the economic boom of the 90's. Laid off, the narrator becomes a theater usher in his local Chicago neighborhood. He meets an old college acquaintance – Katlin Hillmacher, a former Olympian. The Elysium movie theater, on the north side of Chicago where much of the story takes place, evokes images of a sort of creative hell. A place where out of work writers, faded celebrities and wannabe actors go to die.

"Chicago was a metaphor for Hell," said Shiloh. "There are fires burning up, everything's run-down – Katlin's girlfriend, who's from small town Michigan, even shows up to a Halloween party dressed as Joan of Arc. She's in love with this famous athlete whom you could argue is just using her, that she's just one more in a long line. There's a boomtown effect where the lights of the big city are dazzling but they're cold and no warmth to it. You can be in a big city of 3 million people and yet be so lonely in it."

The latter concept...loneliness...is something that really stood out for me the first time I read Pookoo. The narrator, Pete, is very much in that state...Julie is in that state. Katlin is the biggest thing in their worlds...and despite the chaos of his life, both characters seem to need him there in order to define themselves. I think that's something a lot of people will be able to relate to.

Personally, maybe this is what really connected me to Pookoo. In the late 90's, I was in Chicago...living in Rogers Park, going to school...trying to write...trying to be creative...having some health issues...had just met my wife at a party...but before we'd started dating...and I remember, I felt so completely alone and unloved at that time in that place...

Pookoo is an exquisitely visual novel, each and every scene crafted to play with cinematic perfection on the big screen of the imagination.

Quite honestly, I couldn't put it down.

Shiloh is Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five, Sirens of Titans) for a new generation in his comedic, twisted view of this world. A skilled storyteller on the level of Tom Robbins (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues), Vonnegut, with a dash of Ernest Hemingway. In my opinion, this is the next big thing.

This is a book that is definitely worth your time to check it out. It can be found at Amazon.com for a mere $10 and is even available as a free download in pdf form at the author's websites, www.dlshiloh.com or www.pookoo.net.

(note: I've been raving about this book to anyone who will listen since the second I set it down. A review seemed like the next logical step to help bring this brilliant writer to the masses...be well kids...there's more to come...j)