If I told you "Stop Me If You've Heard This One" is about a clown, would that keep you from reading the book, not to mention this review?

If the answer is in the affirmative, you wouldn't be alone. A lot of people hate clowns. I hate clowns. I mean, come on. Sad clowns? What's the point?

Now, what if I told you a magician graces these pages, too …?

You'll find both in Kristen Arnett's latest novel, but keep reading! "Stop Me" is definitely worth your time.

Arnett is fully aware of the revulsion inspired by clowns, and her protagonist, Cherry Hendricks, is aware, too. Cherry loves being a clown anyway, "the swagger of it, the slyness, the bold colors and absurd shapes my body makes," even though "for some [those are] the exact behaviors that fuel their nightmares."

She has lost girlfriends and friends over being a clown, and her mother is no fan, either: "You need very thick skin. Clowning requires a kind of steeliness that I associate with my coming-out process: the knowledge that there will always be people in life who will hate you for who and what you love."

Stop Me If You've Heard This One

It doesn't help that Cherry lives in Orlando. Florida isn't exactly known for its tolerance of any kind of difference.

Despite it all, she perseveres, but eight years into clowning, the grind of never having enough money is getting to her. No matter how she runs the numbers, there is no way to make a living from it.

Cherry supplements with part-time work at Aquarium Select III (to give you an idea of what kind of place this is, there's an Aquarium Select II but no I), but that adds to the hopelessness. Then the sophisticated Margot the Magnificent sweeps into her life. Maybe, just maybe, with the help of the renowned magician, Cherry will finally find a way to make her art pay off.

Arnett explores the politics of Cherry's situation, including what it's like being gay in a state where politicians are actively working against queer existence (at one point, men in tactical gear invade a kids' festival where Cherry is performing). But instead of using "clown" as a symbolic stand-in, "Stop Me" focuses on the creative process, the effort that goes into the art form, the headaches and heartaches and whether, ultimately, art should be a job at all.

That Arnett picks clowning — and extreme reactions to it — as the art form to write about speaks to the novel's originality, with offbeat choices becoming something of a career path for her. Her first novel, "Mostly Dead Things," is about taxidermy and the death by suicide of the main character's father. "Stop Me" has a similar dynamic in its treatment of Cherry's older brother, who has been dead for five years. In her work, Arnett seems to have found the sweet spot between heartbreak and humor.

Even for me. I might dislike clowns, but I do love bad jokes, and there are plenty of those in "Stop Me." In fact, here's a bonus one: Knock, knock./Who's there?/Water./Water, who?/Water you waiting for! Read this book.

Stop Me If You've Heard This One

By: Kristen Arnett.

Publisher: Riverhead Books, 272 pages, $28.