On my shelf since:
As many people know — and my kids think is embarrassing — I’m a fan of the podcast Dear Hank and John (the Green Brothers). John Green loves The Mountain Goats and the author of this book is The Mountain Goats guy. As a fan of a fan, I bought this book and also tried listening to his music around 2018, but neither stuck at the time.
My copy’s origin story:
(Paperback, 2017) The price tag says it cost $9.98 at Powell’s City of Books in Portland, so presumably I bought this on one of any number of trips down there.
Why not until now:
I did! I got all the way to page 147 before giving up last time. That’s not nothing!
Review:
I’m just figuring out that writing about books I have enjoyed reading is much more difficult than complaining about the ones I didn’t like at all. When I’m complaining, I’m much less worried about conveying nuance and am instead just trying to be entertaining. But with this book I want to do it justice and possibly even make you want to read it. Here goes…
Reading Universal Harvester wasn’t so much of a roller coaster ride where you can see what’s coming, as it was one of those amusement park drop towers where you never know what’s going to happen next. There’s such a pervasive sense of dread and concern for the characters with no sense of how anything was going to get resolved — and, full disclosure, many things don’t. Full of suspense, ambiguity — and some might say plot holes — Universal Harvester is all about place (Iowa) and vibes and parents. Weirdly not unlike The Brothers K (intense religious devotion and all!) but thankfully so much shorter.
It’s dark, often literally, and sinister and slow, and also the opposite: insightful and loving, a tiny bit hopeful, and full of surprising details that kept my brain on alert. Reminds me of that Velazquez painting — the one from that book group book I never finished — where you’ve been looking at it wondering if this was the behind-the-scenes for every royal portrait, and then you’re like, wait, there’s a whole extra shadowy person talking to the nun in the corner and also a little person kicking the poor dog?
So there you go. I’ve said only good things about this book and given away nothing. Your takeaway: if you like unpredictable rides with clever details, you should read this book. Wait, you need actual information in order to make an informed decision? Okay, so it starts off about this guy Jeremy who works in a video store — remember those? (Sorry, Scarecrow Video) — and people start returning videos saying there are weird bits edited into them. Jeremy and a friend start looking into what might be going on, and get caught up in a probably — but kinda hard to tell exactly — disturbing situation that opens up a whole backstory can-of-worms.
Bears repeating: many of the plot points don’t get very satisfyingly (or at all) cleared up, but the author and I warned you of that early on, so it’s your own fault if you feel betrayed. Still, the writing and overall craft made reading Universal Harvester worthwhile and engaging for me. And what I’ve recently and begrudgingly learned from the author of Audition: apparently not every novel is a puzzle to be solved. (Finished reading the book March 24, 2026)
“He quickly put on his disguise, the one he’d been born with” (p. 156)
Payoff (pages I read per stars I gave):
214/4 = 43 page/stars
Misc Ratings (Out of 5):
- Steep slopes: 4
- Soft landings: 1
- Eddies: 3
Bechdel Test: Pass – Finally! (Alison Bechdel never said that the two women talking about something other than a dude had to be sane)
(Only one more book to go until I get to the next non-dude writer!)
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