Lord of the Barnyard: Killing the Fatted Calf and Arming the Aware in the Cornbelt Book

One of my favorite books of all time. Inventive, literary; a truly mythic read. Had Mr. Egolf not committed suicide only a few years after Barnyard was written I have no doubt he would be listed with David Foster Wallace (who sadly also committed suicide) as one the of brightest and most accomplished writers of his generation. To my mind Barnyard is one of the great American novels of the past 20 years. It should be on every readers reading list. One of few novels I have re-read several times just for pure enjoyment. RIP Mr. Egolf.
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Re-read #3 Review. My first read of Barnyard was shortly after publication in 2000. I read it a second time ca. 2007 when I (belatedly) heard of his suicide in May 2005. And now in 2021. It remains a favorite, but reading it at a diffrent ages has altered my perspective. When I first read it I loved its riotous over the top almost biblical tall tale, energetic pacing, and Egolf's expansive use of language. A tour de force for an author only twenty-seven with little to no formal training. The second time I was again dazzled, but also saw hints of Egolf's internal demons. In this read the demons are more clear. For all its dizzying energy, Lord of the Barnyard is a dark and mean send up of rural America- an America that Egolf lived in for a time and appears to have had little respect for. Baker and the Baker Lay are a spiteful and vengeful lot. Most of the cast are described as witches, trolls and goblins, racist, frequently drunk and violent. The lead, John Kaltenbrunner, has clear ties to Egolf himself - both raised by a single mother, fiercely intelligent, self-taught, angry, with an absent mysterious father who is at first idolized and later found to be toxic. With this context one begins to wonder if Kaltenbrunner's attempts to rise above his humble beginnings and the constant (literal) beating back of his ambitions was a mirror for Egolf's struggles to be heard. Was Barnyard Egolf's attempt to exorcise an unhappy past? We'll never know. What's clear is that with Egolf's death the world lost an exceeding talented young author just as he was finding his voice. Reviews of Barnyard compare Egolf to Twain, Steinbeck, and John Kennedy O'Toole. To these I would add David Foster Wallace who like Egolf also tragically killed himself. RIP Mr. Egolf.

An interesting article on Egolf for the curious. His life was a bit like a tall tale.