In the tradition of John Jeremiah Sullivan and David Foster Wallace, Cheston Knappâs Up Up, Down Down âis an always smart, often hilarious, and ultimately transcendent essay collectionâ (Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot See) that brilliantly explores authenticity and the nature of identity.
Daring and wise, hilarious and tender, Cheston Knappâs âglitteringâ (Leslie Jamison) collection of seven linked essays tackles the Big Questions through seemingly unlikely avenues. In his dexterous hands, an examination of a local professional wrestling promotion becomes a meditation on pain and his relationship with his father. A profile of UFO enthusiasts ends up probing his history in the church and, more broadly, the nature and limits of faith itself. Attending an adult skateboarding camp launches him into a virtuosic analysis of nostalgia. And the shocking murder of a neighbor expands into an interrogation of our cultureâs prevailing ideas about community. Even more remarkable, perhaps, is the way he manages to find humanity in a damp basement full of frat boys.
Taken together, the essays in Up Up, Down Down amount to a chronicle of Knappâs coming-of-age, a young manâs journey into adulthood, late-onset as it might appear. He presents us with formative experiences from his childhood to marriage that echo throughout the collection, and ultimately tilts at what may be the Biggest Q of them all: what are the hazards of becoming who you are?
With âa firmly tongue-in-cheek approach to the existential crises of male maturity for the millennial generationâŠKnappâs intelligent take on coming-of-age deserves to be widely readâ (Publishers Weekly). âCompellingâŠPrecise and laugh-inducingâ (The New York Times Book Review), Up Up, Down Down signals the arrival of a truly one-of-a-kind voice.