Misfits United; A Review of The Freak Table by Gavin Hignight

I chose to review this Novel published by my friend [(?) or Acquaintance... eh..what's the proper adjective? I don't know Gav. What title do I give myself other than fellow club goer? ]



I know, I know, you are saying to yourself (meaning you the reader of the review.)

" How the hell can you even be honest when writing a review about a novel written by a friend?"


The Answer-Trust me. I can. I can also be impartial too. (I mean the Man never calls. Never writes. Not one Christmas card. No flipping Oreo cookies... Nothing.)  Actually, when it comes to Gavin, I don't owe him anything except my brutal honesty.

I've got to say I was mildly shocked when I first began reading the novel at oh about 12:30 p.m. E.S.T. today. (I finished at 7:30 even with small print) I expected simple reminisces of Downtown when we were a little younger. Around the time I spent at Ground Zero. What I remember leaving behind in Colorado when I moved out East.

Imagine my surprise when I pick up the book and start reading about Gavin and a buddy getting jumped not more than three blocks away from My Uncle's Bowling Alley at Lakeside Amusement Park. That's how the novel starts. He was jumped simply for the fact that they were skating. And Gavin isn't even out of high school yet. In fact he's just about to begin. But the images Gavin creates so eloquently, pop sharply into view. For anyone who lives or has lived in Denver and the surrounding area, especially in the late eighties to early nineties (which is the time frame of the Novel) there is no mistaking where you are. And what exactly you are seeing. Gavin has the talent of being very visual with his words. He put's you there. When he's being jumped, you are seeing it happen. You can almost feel the impact of every visceral blow that rocks his body over the coarse of the Novel.

 As you are reading about the exploits of Gavin, and the buddies he makes along the way, you are left with the feeling that you are a fly on the wall. It's so voyeuristic sometimes you sometimes feel guilty when you read the pain and frustration Gav is going through. Even more so if you allow yourself to feel it. And when he's being harassed by a Jock named Brad Thompson, you are there as well for every painful moment.  For me, it hit a little too close to home. I experienced some of the same scenarios.  Different suburb, yet going through a similar set of challenges, and cultural changes that were sweeping across America. Some that ironically parallels Gavin's journey, and some that were occurring while I was getting to know Gavin and others during my years at Ground Zero. Two years before the senseless Death of Brian Deneke. Ten years before Sophie Lancaster. We still haven't learned a fucking thing about what it means to be tolerant. Or human. And this was while Gavin was nothing more than a Skater Punk, riding a borrowed board and reading Thrasher Magazine.

The Novel's title get's it name from the corner cafeteria table that Gavin was introduced to by a fellow skater and poignant friend named Phil. It is where he will eventually meet his closest friends and allies- Rob and his sister Rachel, Sarah, and Toad providing somewhat of an unique support system. It is also here where quite a few conflicts involving the tight knit group happen. But as Gavin points out in the chapters that follow as time goes on there really is no safe place where he can find solace and solitude. The animosity will not let up. What complicates things is that the friend that got him into skating in the first place is now a Jock. I had to admit, when he was describing the school, or people it made curious as to where exactly he went. For some reason I pictured Thomas Jefferson in Arvada. But I was probably way off. I had also hoped, somewhat naively that other cities around Denver, students were more tolerant and accepting of people. I figured that the reason the intolerance happened in Lakewood had more to do with Economics, and the attitudes of those in the Upper middle class. I was blinded to the fact it was worse in Denver, Arvada, or Aurora. Maybe it's the old saying "The grass is always greener on the other side."

Complicating Gavin's journey is Elizabeth, a girl Gavin ends up pursuing through out the coarse of the novel whom he meets in his art class. All of these people you meet in the novel are real, though names may have been changed. Some I might even venture to  say I swear I've met. At least a couple of them. So for me things have a little bit more of an impact and hit me a little harder, than the average reader who has never met him, and I imagine it was probably the same for others who also personally know Gavin. I must say again that the visual cues Gavin creates are so three dimensional and so palpable that you can't help but to feel you are going through every little pain, every little nuance, every little insecurity, every punishment that Gavin and his friends endure through the coarse of the novel. He manages to counter balance his plight with visions of true good memories and special times usually connected to music or places of interests. Familiar places. Even places I've stepped in a time or two. I think everyone in life has had an Elizabeth, or at least someone like the person Gavin masterfully describes in the pages. Her impact on him is clear from the opening paragraphs he uses to describe her. Whether he is talking to her, or dealing with something else, her presence is felt through the entire book.

What makes the novel so incredibly frustrating is You see Gav's pain, and you are hoping that some how some way he's going to get a reprieve of the Bullshit that keeps coming his way. When Gav ends up vindicating himself, there is always something waiting like an angry rabid dog just around the corner. My Best Friend Jasen Sean, or Spade as he was known in his punk days once dubbed me "the weirdness magnet". After reading I have to be honest and say I have nothing on Gavin when it comes to strange bullshit happening. And sometimes it just keeps coming where you the reader are just going," If there's a Deity up there, show some mercy for Christ's Sake." And there were more than a few instances where I thought things were going to go one way, and they end up doing a 180. I have to give Gav, and his friends a lot of credit, three things were instrumental to making me throw my hands in the air and saying "Fuck this I'm out of here." when I left school But for Gav, once he is pushed there is no give, no compromise. An admirable, if not somewhat self destructive quality. And there are various instances in the Book you are completely rooting for him. That's not to say he always loses, quite the contrary. But I couldn't help but to think of the Tale of 300 and the Spartans in the Battle of Thermopylae. Too Epic? No. Just honest.

In the latter parts of the Novel specifically the Chapters "Downtown", "The Third Sweater Party", and "Return of the Combat Boots" I began to truly understand the Gavin Hignight I met in Boulder, and would later associate with either in Boulder, or on the odd occasions when I ran into him downtown. My first impressions meeting him at Ground Zero, when he came up to the Dee Jay booth and requested New Order were that he was "Aloof" with a hint of superiority. ( Alright, I thought he was stuck up when I first met him!) Initially it bugged me but as I spent more time around him, and as we talked more about common interests he was more personable, and approachable. If anything can be said more clear about The Freak Table was the man I would meet in Boulder, was definitely shaped by those events that occurred in the pages of The Freak Table. There is one part of the book, where he specifically talks about his thoughts, and the anger he felt which prompted him to return to wearing the steel toe boots, that definitely was shared by me in the years 94-96. Not his boots mind you, but the anger. It gave me a deeper appreciation, of not only Gavin, but others I made friendships with on Black Mondays when I drove up to Boulder. He also perfectly captures the turmoil that was happening in not only what Grunge did to Metal and the metal scene, but what Grunge did to other musical movements as well. As well as illustrating the growing clashes within the respected subcultures, including the subcultures that still bug me a little even today, and it's been twenty years. Let's Face it the 90's sucked.

While not a perfect Novel, it is a true expressive Novel, an honest Novel. I can only hope one day when I publish mine, it will be as much as an attention grabber, and leaves as much of an impact on my readers, as his memoir left on me.

Good Job Man...Sorry it took me almost as long to type this out as it did to read it.