Book Review: The Adventures of Slim & Howdy by Brooks & Dunn

Brooks & Dunn’s first novel, The Adventures of Slim & Howdy, chronicles the chance meeting of their alter-egos and the ensuing series of misadventures in comic crime novel fashion. Slim and Howdy, born in the short stories written in the liner notes of Brooks & Dunn’s albums, are a couple of gun slingin’ singers who always seem to find trouble and have a knack for getting out unscathed.

It’s Wild West meets modern day Texas and comes off as unrealistic from the start, although that’s probably an unrealistic complaint for a comic crime novel. The women Slim and Howdy meet are either good for a poke or gettin’ in trouble and require the assistance of the heroic protagonists to help them out in either case. The book is a quick read with a new chapter every few pages, 63 in all, out of 251 pages.

The book suffers from the overuse of certain literary devices, with more hackneyed and cliche sayings than you can shake a stick at, forced metaphors (”leaning out the window like he was trying to keep a catamaran from capsizing“), and irrelevant allusions for the sake of inclusion (Augustus McCrae, Mordor, YouTube). In addition, names of country music singers are worked into every nook and cranny they could possibly be forced; I counted 15 before I quit counting. That’s not to mention the obligatory Paris Hilton mention, no less than three separate potshots at senators, the stereotypical scummy lawyer, or the cheesy dialog.

One conversation between Slim and Howdy did stick out as particularly noteworthy, though. Howdy, in his never ending quest to make the perfect Margarita, purposefully makes an average drink and asks Slim what he thinks.

Slim tastes his. “Yeah, that’s not very inspiring,” he said. “About a C-minus.”

“Exactly.” Howdy tasted his again before dumping the remainders from both glasses into the sink. “It’s not awful,” Howdy shrugged. “It won’t kill you to drink a few, but that’s the best you can say for it.” Howdy rinsed the shaker and added a new scoop of ice. “But people settle for it every day, like that’s as good as it gets.”

He was making a different point and goes on to further relate it to life, but how apt of a description is that for much of the country music being released today?

Of course the book ends with a twist, but it–like everything else–is poorly executed and leaves a feeling of manipulation rather than bewilderment. It’s the kind of book I might have enjoyed in middle school, but it’s probably a little too explicit to let the youngins’ read, so unless you have a couple of bucks and a few hours to burn, I’d recommend passing this one up.

Bonus Song

Tucked in the back cover of the book is an exclusive bonus song called “Gotta Get Me One Of Those,” which was probably a cut that didn’t make one of their albums. Rather than cutting something of high quality, similar to Alan Jackson’s material for the release of his wife’s book, Brooks & Dunn seem to have been content including a mediocre song that’s unrelated to the book itself, unless it’s actually Slim singing–I didn’t hear Howdy. The song has a funky groove to it and Ronnie Dunn’s vocals are stellar as usual, but the hook, “Gotta get me one of those,” applies to a new pickup, a stress free job, and a good woman. Geez, I need me a good margarita after listening to that a few times.