Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #294229 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
An obsession for skunk musk sends a young man on a picaresque journey in Courter's darkly comedic first novel, set in the town of New Essex that appears to be a suburb of New York City. Damien Youngquist nurtures a peculiar love for the smell of skunk, "the richest of all olfactory pleasures," by trapping the animals in the woods and forming a family of them at his home—much to the disgust of his nosy neighbor, Mrs. Endicott, and fellow employees at the law book publishing firm where he works, Grund & Greene. Then Damien meets lively, foul-mouthed Pearl, a woman who appreciates his taste for skunks like no one else. A fish fetishist, Pearl is also a marine biologist with a couple of inventions that just might solve global warming and world hunger. Courter takes his time with Damien's story, illuminating the many varieties of obsession and its strangest consequences. (June)
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About the Author

Customer Reviews

A great novel that takes the grotesque tradition in a new direction
(this review originally appeared in a slightly varying form at ThirdEyeMag[DOT]com)

Skunk: A Love Story feels familiar. I've read this before. I can smell, if you will, a trace of recognition. Our antisocial yet romantic protagonist falls in love, suffers betrayal, adopts a "simpler life equates greater happiness" mentality, and learns a few lessons along the way, all while dealing with substance addition. These broad events, I've tasted them before, but Skunk does offer something distinctive. The story of Damien Youngquist, an intelligent and socially crippled middle-aged office worker, explores themes common with addiction literature--substance abuse, relationship deterioration, relationship rebuilding--with one unique angle: Damien Youngquist is addicted to skunk musk.

Though this may initially seem like a forced concept the absurdity of Damien's addiction allows the reader to approach the situation with a near-zero level of personal baggage. Damien's story is one we can relate to but at the same time is one we can distance ourselves from judgmentally due simply to our ignorance of the specific vice. Unless of course you are a musk addict yourself, in which case you may have found your kindred with our protagonist.

Underlying every one of Damien's motives, and driving the story, is an Oedipal connection to the skunk musk:

"My mother drank quite a lot of beer when I was growing up. She always drank McDougal's--and imported brand that comes in a green bottle and has a slightly skunky aroma. This was the first scent to greet my nostrils in the morning and the last whiff I sniffed before falling asleep at night. I awoke each morning to the clinking of beer bottles as my mother opened and shut the door of the refrigerator to get out her first McDougal's before starting my breakfast" [pg. 24].

Though our narrator denies these connections ("While my mother was slow and languid, [Pearl] was quick and energetic. So I could dispense with the nagging notion that I was committing an Oedipal offense" [pg. 46]) the simple acknowledgement is enough to encourage the reader's close examination of Damien's every decision. His attraction to a specific type of woman, for example ("...gray hair, linked-chain horn rims, and floral print sundress..." [pg. 221]) oozes obsession with the motherly character. Pearl, the constant referent for all of Damien's Oedipal urges, has her own unique addiction, that being to fish--the smell, the taste, and at times, the lifestyle (in one early scene Pearl convinces Damien to swim with her in a giant aquarium in her garage). This shared love of generally off-putting smells instigates their relationship, but Damien's attraction to her motherly characteristics is the impetus to their long lasting bond. Deny it all you want Damien, but you really are just a lost little boy in need of guidance.

Damien's love of skunk musk epitomizes his role as the counterpoint to the accepted norm, a position explored consistently throughout Skunk's entire 347 pages. Where most characters are repulsed by the skunk smell and embrace the traditional goals of a culture--a nice home, a steady job, friends--Damien embraces the stench and dismisses the traditional comforts. Ultimately, after meeting Pearl's supposed fiancé (a relationship Damien never knew about) he embarks on a Thoreauean escape attempt to rural Highbridge in effort to not so much find himself but to find himself completely alone and self-sustaining because, as he says, "freedom is not to have to smell other people" [pg. 176].

The story gains momentum in the small town of Highbridge. Though Damien as a character experiences and becomes representative of many country bumpkin stereotypes during his journey into uncivilization (one Highbridge resident, Jud, Owner of the laughably named Jud's Country Store is described as sitting with "thumbs hooked in the straps of this overalls" [pg.117]) author Justin Courter is able to craft believable enough relationships with these residents which helps to drive the remaining story. Robby Krauthammer, for example, an anti-consumerism, late-breed hippy who freely expresses his dissatisfaction with the "establishment"--a term he uses liberally but doesn't quite grasp--is ultimately the keystone to the novel's courtroom climax. Robby and Damien's relationship is an interesting one of constant tension.

Unfortunately, the Damien Youngquist we know at the beginning of the novel--the stubborn, antisocial, know-it-all Damien with Oedipal issues--is the same Damien we know at the end of the novel. His attempts to be truly alone and self-sustaining are continually interrupted, and the reader is left believing that if Damien were ever to succeed in living a life of solidarity then he would be truly happy. But we never know.

Here is a Damien at his happiest. This is the Damien we want to love, but this is not the Damien we're left with:

"The night I got to the site of my future farm, I was so happy I leapt out of the car and ran to the middle of the field. The cabin, the clearing, and the surrounding woods were all mine. And best of all, there was nothing in sight that suggested the presence of human beings--nothing but the cabin, which was acceptable, since it only suggested my own presence, which though unpleasant was as close as I could hope to come to nothing. Nothing is a form of completion, I believe. And infinity can be found in a black hole" [pg. 114].

This lack of character change, however, doesn't belie the fact that Skunk: A Love Story is a worthy read. While I would not call Skunk a high-concept novel it is the concept that pulls us through. A strange addiction guarantees a strange man with a strange story.

Must read- Scented Scenes
Grab this book while it is still available. It is a quirky love story that will leave you in tears. Daiman negotiates life's troubles with a steadfast determination to overcome obstacles that keep popping up. Courter writes with breathtaking audacity and clarity.

waky,yucky, nutty...but I couldn't put it down!

Obsessions are either understood by those around us or they are not. Addictions are the same, but to love anything too much is more danger than it is worth. Not for Damien, the main man in this book, Skunk: A Love Story. Damien is unhealthily obsessed with the smell of skunks, their "musk" and anything skunk related, this novel is about how his life goes and flows because of it. A tale of life with an addiction that is not understood by anyone, and ridiculed by everyone. Witty, fun, silly and mostly just insane this is a book unlike anything I have enjoyed.

My relationship with Skunk was a stop and go type of time. I loved it, then it seemed to move too slowly, then I loved it, then I didn't then.., well you get the idea, yeah? Much of the time it felt like there was a little something missing, and I cannot put a finger on it. The voice of the narrator reminded me (for all you TV folk) of that of Dwight Schrute off of the splendid show The Office. He is similar in the way he speaks, in his weirdness and just too much to mention. I enjoyed the voice, but sometimes I felt like I needed to be told the same story from the perspective of a more balanced individual.

No matter what, this was one of the most entertaining books I have read so far this year. It held tons of laughs, tons of weirdness and the feeling of too many salami sandwiches much too late at night.