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shane_tiernan's review against another edition
4.0
Probably closer to 3.5 because, of Carbuncle's books this is probably my least favorite, but still a whole helluvalota fun. If you're into the absurd, if you find characters quoting song lyrics as if they're mystical wisdom hilarious, and if you're not easily made queasy, you need to hop on the icky train, just remember to bring a towel.
This was a crazy, almost fantasy story, some of the jokes got a little repetitious, but for some reason I laughed every time. I was a little confused by the ending, but not enough to ruin the story. Also very curious where the name Android Lovethorn came from.
This was a crazy, almost fantasy story, some of the jokes got a little repetitious, but for some reason I laughed every time. I was a little confused by the ending, but not enough to ruin the story. Also very curious where the name Android Lovethorn came from.
mrfrank's review against another edition
5.0
If Stephen King's DARK TOWER SERIES made sweet funky love to Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD the bastard child that results would be Lance Carbuncle's SLOUGHING OFF THE ROT. Don't let the comparisons fool you though, this book is a very unique spirit. Carbuncle weaves horror, fairy tale, comedy and pop culture into a story about rehabilitation.
The writer has a knack for storytelling. This story depends on hiding the true intents of plot elements. I find a lot of stories can lose me when they try this tactic but this story keeps drawing you along while keeping you in the dark. The result is a wonderful and perfect ending.
This book also contains a villain who should be recognized as one of the all-time greats. Android Lovethorn rivals Darth Vader, Lord Voldemort or Randall Flagg as one bad mutha. Read this story for him alone.
If The Wizard of Oz got darker it would have become SLOUGHING OFF THE ROT. This story id a little bit of everything that most can relate too. It is above all smart and you can never go wrong with smart.
This book was reviewed on Books, Beer and Bullshit Podcast. Check out Episode 15 for an interview with Lance Carbuncle and further insights into the story
Http://booksbeerbullshit.podbean.com
The writer has a knack for storytelling. This story depends on hiding the true intents of plot elements. I find a lot of stories can lose me when they try this tactic but this story keeps drawing you along while keeping you in the dark. The result is a wonderful and perfect ending.
This book also contains a villain who should be recognized as one of the all-time greats. Android Lovethorn rivals Darth Vader, Lord Voldemort or Randall Flagg as one bad mutha. Read this story for him alone.
If The Wizard of Oz got darker it would have become SLOUGHING OFF THE ROT. This story id a little bit of everything that most can relate too. It is above all smart and you can never go wrong with smart.
This book was reviewed on Books, Beer and Bullshit Podcast. Check out Episode 15 for an interview with Lance Carbuncle and further insights into the story
Http://booksbeerbullshit.podbean.com
daviddavidkatzman's review against another edition
5.0
I read Lance's pre-release manuscript. He writes what he wants and doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks. I stand by my blurb, as follows:
Carbuncle is a writer who gets you in the gut. He writes with a raw energy that tells it like it is, warts and all. In Sloughing Off the Rot, Carbuncle has conjured a fascinating vision, an epic, Biblical quest for identity and meaning. His books are obsessed with our physical, bodily nature, but here he’s managed to fuse the physical with the spiritual, seeking out answers to the big questions. His journey is worth taking.
Carbuncle is a writer who gets you in the gut. He writes with a raw energy that tells it like it is, warts and all. In Sloughing Off the Rot, Carbuncle has conjured a fascinating vision, an epic, Biblical quest for identity and meaning. His books are obsessed with our physical, bodily nature, but here he’s managed to fuse the physical with the spiritual, seeking out answers to the big questions. His journey is worth taking.
wwtpeng's review against another edition
3.0
This book was ok. There were some really funny things like flumpkins, nitsiks, and cheliveks. There were also some memorable characters, the whole three tooth group, jod, and alf. None of those were named John the lead character.
Could be some spoilers below.
I just didn't buy the John character. Do-gooder in this life and terrible person in another. I didn't see any bad in the character and was hoping for a link to the other John. I feel the book could've benefited from the link.
I will say that I listened to the audiobook version and the narration of John fell way flat. Also the deliver of the narrative was a bit choppy. That shouldn't discount the fantastic character acting by the narrator, which really made the book fun and easy to listen to.
All and all it was a silly, queasy, fun book to listen to.
Could be some spoilers below.
I just didn't buy the John character. Do-gooder in this life and terrible person in another. I didn't see any bad in the character and was hoping for a link to the other John. I feel the book could've benefited from the link.
I will say that I listened to the audiobook version and the narration of John fell way flat. Also the deliver of the narrative was a bit choppy. That shouldn't discount the fantastic character acting by the narrator, which really made the book fun and easy to listen to.
All and all it was a silly, queasy, fun book to listen to.
xterminal's review
4.0
Lance Carbuncle, Sloughing Off the Rot (Vicious Galoot Books, 2012)
When I was about thirty pages into Sloughing Off the Rot, Lance Carbuncle's third and (conditionally) best-so-far novel, he and I (we've known each other since he emailed me out of the blue asking me to review Smashed, Squashed, Splattered, Chewed, Chunked, and Spewed six long years ago now) had a brief conversation about whether his work fits in the bizarro category. Lance doesn't think so. In general, I agree, though when one of the first people you thank on your acknowledgements page is bizarro icon Andersen Prunty, you've gotta figure that the influence is rubbing off at least a bit. But—and this is a very odd thing to say about a book that takes place entirely in a dreamlike alternate universe, to be sure—Carbuncle's work has always seemed a little more rooted in reality than most of the bizarro stuff I've read. In this case, “rooted in reality” includes a number of gratuitous musical references and a very strong Biblical parallel, both things which pretty much guarantee this book is bound to offend pretty much everyone you know—and if that's not more than enough reason to read it, for the love of carrot sticks, what is?
Plot: a guy named John, who adopts the name John the Revelator after a conversation with a burning bush (see where this is going?), loses consciousness one night in the real world and wakes up in a cave, dressed like Jesus in any number of cast-of-thousands Hollywood Biblical epics (including having linens that seemingly cannot be stained). After said burning-bush conversation and meeting up with a slightly (okay, more than slightly) crazy sidekick named Santiago, John starts off on a journey to redeem himself of the sins he committed in the real world. John, you see, is not a nice guy. At all. But, rather like Douglas Quail in Philip K. Dick's Total Recall, John discovers that his actual personality is, well, a pretty nice guy, and he wants to help people. HELLO, DIVINE PLAN! But how to reconcile these two halves of John's personality? For that, he learns, he must confront the Boss Monster in this world—the right reverend Androind Lovethorn, whom John must convince to send him back to the real world of his (Lovethorn's) own free will...
It's a classic quest/redemption tale, made even more classic by the strong Biblical parallels I mentioned before, which include Carbuncle's writing style, which consciously echoes the Old Testament in a number of places. Rather than making this like the unreadable dreck that is the Old Testament, it lends the book a certain gravitas that it might not otherwise have, as long as injecting it with an extra layer of humor if you happened to grow up subjected to the strictures of Mother Church. There are some bits that I found, shall we say, unsettling (going into them in any detail would be a bit of a spoiler, but let's say I found the blumpkins and niksiks to be... objectifying...), but your mileage may vary, and even if it doesn't, I would not in any way say the ultimately minor problems I had with the book should stop you from going and grabbing a copy posthaste. If you are not yet familiar with the wonderfully wacky world of Lance Carbuncle, this is as good a place to start as any—but you can grab any of his three (so far) novels and you will find yourself with a helluva good time on your hands. *** ½
When I was about thirty pages into Sloughing Off the Rot, Lance Carbuncle's third and (conditionally) best-so-far novel, he and I (we've known each other since he emailed me out of the blue asking me to review Smashed, Squashed, Splattered, Chewed, Chunked, and Spewed six long years ago now) had a brief conversation about whether his work fits in the bizarro category. Lance doesn't think so. In general, I agree, though when one of the first people you thank on your acknowledgements page is bizarro icon Andersen Prunty, you've gotta figure that the influence is rubbing off at least a bit. But—and this is a very odd thing to say about a book that takes place entirely in a dreamlike alternate universe, to be sure—Carbuncle's work has always seemed a little more rooted in reality than most of the bizarro stuff I've read. In this case, “rooted in reality” includes a number of gratuitous musical references and a very strong Biblical parallel, both things which pretty much guarantee this book is bound to offend pretty much everyone you know—and if that's not more than enough reason to read it, for the love of carrot sticks, what is?
Plot: a guy named John, who adopts the name John the Revelator after a conversation with a burning bush (see where this is going?), loses consciousness one night in the real world and wakes up in a cave, dressed like Jesus in any number of cast-of-thousands Hollywood Biblical epics (including having linens that seemingly cannot be stained). After said burning-bush conversation and meeting up with a slightly (okay, more than slightly) crazy sidekick named Santiago, John starts off on a journey to redeem himself of the sins he committed in the real world. John, you see, is not a nice guy. At all. But, rather like Douglas Quail in Philip K. Dick's Total Recall, John discovers that his actual personality is, well, a pretty nice guy, and he wants to help people. HELLO, DIVINE PLAN! But how to reconcile these two halves of John's personality? For that, he learns, he must confront the Boss Monster in this world—the right reverend Androind Lovethorn, whom John must convince to send him back to the real world of his (Lovethorn's) own free will...
It's a classic quest/redemption tale, made even more classic by the strong Biblical parallels I mentioned before, which include Carbuncle's writing style, which consciously echoes the Old Testament in a number of places. Rather than making this like the unreadable dreck that is the Old Testament, it lends the book a certain gravitas that it might not otherwise have, as long as injecting it with an extra layer of humor if you happened to grow up subjected to the strictures of Mother Church. There are some bits that I found, shall we say, unsettling (going into them in any detail would be a bit of a spoiler, but let's say I found the blumpkins and niksiks to be... objectifying...), but your mileage may vary, and even if it doesn't, I would not in any way say the ultimately minor problems I had with the book should stop you from going and grabbing a copy posthaste. If you are not yet familiar with the wonderfully wacky world of Lance Carbuncle, this is as good a place to start as any—but you can grab any of his three (so far) novels and you will find yourself with a helluva good time on your hands. *** ½
wart's review
4.0
I feel like if you gave Douglas Adams and Stephen King the Sauce from [b:John Dies at the End|1857440|John Dies at the End (John Dies at the End, #1)|David Wong|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1189289716s/1857440.jpg|1858059] and asked them to co-write their own version of the Wizard of Oz, you would get the disturbing, irreverent spiritual journey that is Sloughing off the Rot.
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not even sure I know where to start with this.
John the Revelator wakes up in a cave with no idea where he is. He starts down El Camino de La Muerte, a red brick road that leads across a strange desert land. On his journey he meets a colorful cast of characters that range from disturbing to creepy to voices of reason.
And as he goes he learns that he is only the best of himself, separated from the rest to grow in goodness so that he will be a better person when he returns to his dying body. He must, in essence, slough off the rot of the life he cannot remember.
But as the journey progresses, John grows to like himself, the world, and the people he has met and is no longer sure he wants to go back.
Equal parts intriguing, disturbing, irreverent, and spiritual, Sloughing off the Rot was quite the journey and I am glad Lance Carbuncle invited me to take it.
4/5 stars.
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not even sure I know where to start with this.
John the Revelator wakes up in a cave with no idea where he is. He starts down El Camino de La Muerte, a red brick road that leads across a strange desert land. On his journey he meets a colorful cast of characters that range from disturbing to creepy to voices of reason.
And as he goes he learns that he is only the best of himself, separated from the rest to grow in goodness so that he will be a better person when he returns to his dying body. He must, in essence, slough off the rot of the life he cannot remember.
But as the journey progresses, John grows to like himself, the world, and the people he has met and is no longer sure he wants to go back.
Equal parts intriguing, disturbing, irreverent, and spiritual, Sloughing off the Rot was quite the journey and I am glad Lance Carbuncle invited me to take it.
4/5 stars.
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