A Book A Week

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” When I was four, I remember proudly answering that question with what I thought was a perfectly reasonable response: “I want to be a rodeo clown.” To me, there was no profession more noble. I had seen Texas legend Leon Coffee perform at my hometown rodeo and was in awe of how he always had a joke at the ready, right before throwing himself in front of raging bulls to protect fallen riders. It never occurred to me that this wasn’t an acceptable answer, and to my parents’ credit, they didn’t discourage the dream. As I grew, though, I came to understand the realities of being a clown, and my interests drifted elsewhere.

In her newest novel, Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before, Kristen Arnett introduces us to a woman who never outgrew that dream. She wants to be a clown, and her story is equal parts hilarious, raw, and compelling. 

Cherry is a clown, or at least, she’s trying to be. By day, she works a dead-end job at an aquarium supply store and hooks up with an older woman on the side (mommy issues, anyone?). But her real passion comes alive when she steps into character as Bunko, the rodeo clown with a fear of horses. The gigs aren’t glamorous (kids’ birthday parties, county fairs), but Cherry’s committed to the dream. She's chasing both a creative calling and the memory of her late brother, the one everyone remembered as the funniest person in the room.

When she meets Margot the Magician, an alluring, successful older woman with a flair for mixing commerce and art, Cherry thinks her luck is finally turning. The chemistry is electric, but it’s the promise of mentorship that sparks real hope. Margot might be the key to taking Cherry’s act from small-town oddity to something bigger. But as the lines between personal and professional blur, Cherry is forced to ask herself how much she’s willing to risk for Margot, for the act, and for the kind of woman she really wants to be beneath the greasepaint.

I was drawn to Kristen Arnett’s newest novel based on how much I enjoyed With Teeth, a raw and emotionally charged exploration of motherhood, queerness, and the pressure to be perceived as perfect. In Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One, Arnett brings her wit and singular perspective to a very different kind of character. She isn’t striving for perfection at all. In fact, Cherry knows she’s a screw-up, and she leans into it.

Caught between ambition, desire, and lingering trauma, Cherry is a messy, complex protagonist who often gets in her own way. She’s not easy to root for—much of her misery is self-inflicted—but Arnett’s sharp humor and deeply human writing kept me engaged. Unlike With Teeth, this novel doesn’t have a driving plot or sense of momentum. But that may be the point. Cherry is drifting, and the book serves as a lens into that aimlessness. It’s a character study above all else. I liked it, though I didn’t love it. And that’s perfectly okay. I still admire Arnett’s writing immensely and will be eager to see what she does next.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 59)