![]() ![]() The spliced movie - or movies, as it later turns out - are unsettling images of people with sacks over their heads standing on one leg, or lying in a heap, the videographer rarely shown but always present, their breath casting an eerie soundtrack to the footage. ![]() This quiet life of Jeremy’s is disturbed, however, when during one of his shifts at the store a woman returns a video, which she mentions cuts to another movie halfway through. He has a quiet life and an unassuming relationship with his dad with whom he still lives, eating tacos and chilling out with beers, comfortably watching films together. Universal Harvester follows Jeremy, a motherless 20-something guy working at a video store, with little desire to move on. It also helped that the novel is the second by John Darnielle - brainchild behind the Mountain Goats, whose work I admire - though I must confess this is my first foray into his literary work. Strangely haunting, one look saw Universal Harvester make its way onto my Amazon wishlist almost before I’d read the synopsis. ![]() There’s absolutely nothing wrong with flying in the face of the old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” in my opinion, especially when it’s for John Darnielle’s Universal Harvester, a glorious anodized looking thing which calls to mind a washed out ’70s psychedelic vibe, the colors layered over a cornfield ready to be shorn of its produce. I have to admit, I’m a sucker for a glorious cover. ![]()
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