Written by David Wong, Narrated by Stephen R. Thorne
Reason for Reading: Real Life bookclub
Genre: Quirky adult horror
Review
This book is the king of unreliable narration. Presumably, this book is about David and John, two friends in a Midwestern town who need to fight off evil forces when a new drug (soy sauce) opens a door to a parallel universe. Although it's clear that David exaggerates a good deal for the sake of story-telling, it is up to interpretation whether David and John are really kicking the EF from PU butt, or if they're hallucinating. Either way, it's a wild, crazy, and very humorous ride. The humor is very dark, dry, and sometimes witty. It was my favorite part of the book. The plot was fairly non-existent, though. The book was more about action and weirdness - the story was just too wild to actually have a coherent plot. During the middle of the book, I was starting to regret that it was so long because I'm more of a plot-driven than situational-driven reader. But I'm glad I hung in there, because I got some great laughs and may view the world a tiny bit differently after listening to this book.
You wouldn't think this book would lend itself well to audio format, but Stephen R. Thorne did an amazing job. His delivery of the dry humor and action was spot on. I'm happy that I took the risk on audio. :)
The premise and execution of this book sound fascinating. As you describe it, a tale where the reader cannot tell reality from hallucination, as well as a not so serious atmosphere make me think of some of the works of Phillip K Dick.
ReplyDeletePerhaps. I've only read stories by Phillip K Dick, and a very long time ago. I really should pick him up again. I'm sure I'd love him!
DeleteOh dear, much as I am intrigued by the sound of this my initial thought is it will probably be too weird for my liking.
ReplyDeleteIf your instinct says it'll be too weird, I'm guessing it WILL be too weird. :)
DeleteI may have to get a copy. I'm curious how it all comes together considering the chaos.
ReplyDeleteWell, I hope you enjoy it if you ever pick it up. It's...interesting.
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