Louis C.K. Wrote a Debut Novel. Unfortunately, It Reads Like One.

"It's also a bit of a mess. Narrated by the title character-described by C.K. as a "simple but eloquent country boy"- Ingram relates the wanderings of a 9-year-old with zero experience of the world through a hardscrabble East Texas landscape. At the beginning of the book, Ingram explains that he spent his early childhood on an isolated farm, sitting in the dirt, watching his family's pigs, dogs, chickens, and other animals."

"marking the first time Ingram-who for some reason is brought to this meeting barefoot-has ever left the family property. School never happens because "they don't have a bus that come here." The farm is repossessed; Ingram's abusive, alcoholic father vanishes; and his mother sends him out onto the road alone, telling the child, "There's no home or family here now. Your luck and lot are worse here than anywhere else in the world." All this by Page 7."

Ingram follows a nine-year-old named Ingram who wanders a hardscrabble East Texas landscape after his farm is repossessed and his abusive, alcoholic father disappears. The boy spent early childhood isolated on the family farm, observing animals and never attending school. His mother sends him onto the road, declaring there is no home or family and that his luck is worse than anywhere. The narrative voice is described as a "simple but eloquent country boy." Temporal markers conflict: elements suggest the Great Depression, segregation-era race relations, and modern traffic, creating persistent ambiguity and inconsistency.

Read at Slate Magazine