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pkiwi's review against another edition
4.0
The premise is interesting, the humor is incredibly fun, the scope is not too big (as it can quickly get in post-apocalyptic narratives) and there is some actually interesting commentary on the way people behave in a sudden crisis. Although Croshaw has the tendency to write samey characters in every book (especially women, there's the nerd, the scarily competent one and then the quirky one) their interactions still felt genuine and they were generally compelling. It loses some of its page-turner qualities halfway, hence the 4 out of 5.
Easy summer reading for a couple of fun afternoons (and you'll never look at jam the same again).
Easy summer reading for a couple of fun afternoons (and you'll never look at jam the same again).
sgp_dalliance's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant! Thrilling, exciting and hysterical. I wish they would make this into a movie.
kitsuneheart's review against another edition
5.0
THIS BOOK IS SO WEIRD, I LOVE IT!
Everything that happens in this novel seems straight out of a comedy skit, or a bad science fiction movie, but with the characters taking everything 100% seriously and the author taking things 0% seriously, it ends up being genuinely funny.
The book opens with Brisbane, Australia suddenly covered in jam. Malicious jam. It eats anything organic, and it seems to have some control over its form, rising up and overturning structures to get at the last human survivors. Travis, the narrator, must find a way to survive and discover the source of the jam, with one small complication: Travis is stupid. Like. He makes every wrong choice. At the worst possible time. And then can only act defensive when he's called out on his errors. Despite his main character trait being something you'd find infuriating in real life, readers are forced to like the guy simply because every other character in the book is an even worse person. All in their own unique ways!
Highly recommended. And the audiobook, read by Yahtzee himself? So good! Only problem: you've got to listen to it at 2.5x speed for the real Yahtzee effect.
...seriously. That's how I listened, it was amazing.
Everything that happens in this novel seems straight out of a comedy skit, or a bad science fiction movie, but with the characters taking everything 100% seriously and the author taking things 0% seriously, it ends up being genuinely funny.
The book opens with Brisbane, Australia suddenly covered in jam. Malicious jam. It eats anything organic, and it seems to have some control over its form, rising up and overturning structures to get at the last human survivors. Travis, the narrator, must find a way to survive and discover the source of the jam, with one small complication: Travis is stupid. Like. He makes every wrong choice. At the worst possible time. And then can only act defensive when he's called out on his errors. Despite his main character trait being something you'd find infuriating in real life, readers are forced to like the guy simply because every other character in the book is an even worse person. All in their own unique ways!
Highly recommended. And the audiobook, read by Yahtzee himself? So good! Only problem: you've got to listen to it at 2.5x speed for the real Yahtzee effect.
...seriously. That's how I listened, it was amazing.
isabellesbooks's review against another edition
5.0
As soon as I let my dad know that I started this weird book found in our shared Audible account, he started gushing about his love for Yahtzee Croshaw, and shortly after I found an email with one of his YouTube videos in my inbox. Soon I found out why.
This book was not only genuinely, laugh-out-loud hilarious, but also had a thorough plot that I would have been invested in regardless. The writing was also fantastic and I kept noting some of the greatest similes I’ve ever heard. It had a good narrative flow, making it hard to put down, and I’d bet if this book was actually about zombies rather than flesh-eating strawberry jam it would be far more popular. But seriously, why would you not want to read about the jam instead?
To make my personal experience more amazing, I had the pleasure of listening to the author himself narrate it, which added another dimension I’m not sure would exist on a written page. To hear the true interpretation and tone of each character (like only speaking monotone, or ending every sentence like a question?) made this far funnier than it would have been otherwise. I noticed the fantastic narration right from the start, before I realized who it even was. It was only when I thought “dang, this guy is good” and went to see who he was (and thus what other narrations he did) when I saw the name.
I will definitely be reading more of his works now, but I am so impressed that I honestly don’t think this can be beat.
This book was not only genuinely, laugh-out-loud hilarious, but also had a thorough plot that I would have been invested in regardless. The writing was also fantastic and I kept noting some of the greatest similes I’ve ever heard. It had a good narrative flow, making it hard to put down, and I’d bet if this book was actually about zombies rather than flesh-eating strawberry jam it would be far more popular. But seriously, why would you not want to read about the jam instead?
To make my personal experience more amazing, I had the pleasure of listening to the author himself narrate it, which added another dimension I’m not sure would exist on a written page. To hear the true interpretation and tone of each character (like only speaking monotone, or ending every sentence like a question?) made this far funnier than it would have been otherwise. I noticed the fantastic narration right from the start, before I realized who it even was. It was only when I thought “dang, this guy is good” and went to see who he was (and thus what other narrations he did) when I saw the name.
I will definitely be reading more of his works now, but I am so impressed that I honestly don’t think this can be beat.
jon288's review against another edition
4.0
Similar in some ways to John Dies at the End. A fun technological doomsday adventure
nyarasha's review against another edition
2.0
The plot is an interesting idea. Unfortunately, it gets old pretty quickly. I feel like the whole story could have been told in 100 pages, at least. The resolution was unsatisfying and the whole thing lacked emotional resonance, which seems strange in an apocalyptic situation. The humor was silly, which gained a couple stars.
ladykitsugo's review against another edition
3.0
DNF
Interesting premise but not my cup of tea overall
Interesting premise but not my cup of tea overall
kirstenmeek's review against another edition
5.0
Sweet mercy this book was so great. Like the blurb says, it's the apocalypse that no one expected. No zombies, no aliens, no drastic climate change, no lava or brimstone....Jam. Sticky, carnivorous, strawberry jam. I think it's so preposterous that is just had to work. No. Scratch that. It's so preposterous that it took a master to make it work. Yahtzee does an amazing job of being patently ridiculous with his characters and the situations they find themselves in, while simultaneously making the jampocalypse very real and serious. The book kind of reminded me of the tone in "John Dies at the End" and "This Book is Full of Spiders" by David Wong in that it dealt with horror in a way that is really pretty damn funny. I don't know what else to say, really, other than that I recommend this book very highly. Just read it. You'll like it.