“The Number 1 Blaylock oil rig, drilling in the south extension of the Five Trees field, blew out at 2:30 P.M. on November 15, 1930.”
Jerry is channeling his inner journalist with this lead for chapter 14. Did you say, as I did, “Wait, what? This takes place in 1930?” The date was mentioned once on the first page, but it’s been a while since I read that. I suppose all those references to antiquated oil drilling technology should have tipped me off.
These last few chapters on “the DTs and Why We Drink: The Evils of Liquor” could have been written for a 1930’s temperance group, while chapter 14 is written for my 1980’s dorm mates who liked to play “I Was So Drunk That …”
So we interrupt what little plot there is to have a blowout of an oil well and then a bonus-funded blowout of a bachelor party.
It has a troubling number of typos. Here I give you text verbatim, from a scene when the elder oilman, Preacher, presides over a mock trial of the groom-to-be:
“Silence!” Preacher boomed, “or I’ll ahve y’all shot.” That was met by Christ [sic] of “shame,” “hang the bastard,” and “naw, hagnings too good for him.” “What od you wnat,” Preacher Demanded.
(You can’t even blame autocorrect for the “Christ” above. He typed that on a manual typewriter, and had he not written “Cries” in pen above it I would have been confused. He didn’t correct anything else.)
Our Hero Joe appears at the end when the groom-to-be urges him to propose to Plucky Girlfriend Mary.
I can only guess Jerry wrote this novel while drying out, reached the stage of sobriety when he notices he had a lot more fun when drunk, and decided to get drunk and do some typing.