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wendigo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
2.0
zoe_e_w's review against another edition
3.0
Mix Alice in Wonderland with mutants and Nazis, and you get Adolf in Wonderland, a Bizarro book with interesting visuals, but little else to offer.
The main problem of the book is also what should be the "point" of the story, in that it repetitiously goes over the same lines repeatedly:
"I am looking for an imperfect man."
"Imperfect? In what way?"
"I do do not know, because I do not remember. I must..." And here, we get a long recap every few pages that reminds me vaguely of the song "There's a Hole in My Bucket."
Or perhaps, "I Know an Old Lady" is a more apt comparison, since each episode within the book keeps adding new, more ridiculous stipulations to what "Adolph" must do before he can find the imperfect man. When it got to the point that Adolph had to become a conjoined mutant just to get into the ball in the sewer, I was shaking my head and checking to see how many pages I had left to get through.
The line on the last page helps to explain some of the redundancy, but getting there felt like a real chore, even if the visuals being described were both fascinating and perverse. But I'm not sure if it's the repetition in the dialog that hurt my enjoyment of the book, or if it was Adolph's tendency to complain about everything.
I could see why the writer chose to harp on these points, and again, much of that has to do with how the last lines go a LONG way in explaining what the point of all the preceding pages was. So, I would call this a very challenging book, with a good payoff for those patient enough to bear with the buildup of a really, REALLY long, sick joke. But if you CAN stick with it, the punch line isn't bad at all.
I would recommend this books to reader who have already taken in a few Bizarro titles. As an introduction into the genre, I think this book might have been harder to accept if I hadn't already read Punk Land.
The main problem of the book is also what should be the "point" of the story, in that it repetitiously goes over the same lines repeatedly:
"I am looking for an imperfect man."
"Imperfect? In what way?"
"I do do not know, because I do not remember. I must..." And here, we get a long recap every few pages that reminds me vaguely of the song "There's a Hole in My Bucket."
Or perhaps, "I Know an Old Lady" is a more apt comparison, since each episode within the book keeps adding new, more ridiculous stipulations to what "Adolph" must do before he can find the imperfect man. When it got to the point that Adolph had to become a conjoined mutant just to get into the ball in the sewer, I was shaking my head and checking to see how many pages I had left to get through.
The line on the last page helps to explain some of the redundancy, but getting there felt like a real chore, even if the visuals being described were both fascinating and perverse. But I'm not sure if it's the repetition in the dialog that hurt my enjoyment of the book, or if it was Adolph's tendency to complain about everything.
I could see why the writer chose to harp on these points, and again, much of that has to do with how the last lines go a LONG way in explaining what the point of all the preceding pages was. So, I would call this a very challenging book, with a good payoff for those patient enough to bear with the buildup of a really, REALLY long, sick joke. But if you CAN stick with it, the punch line isn't bad at all.
I would recommend this books to reader who have already taken in a few Bizarro titles. As an introduction into the genre, I think this book might have been harder to accept if I hadn't already read Punk Land.
embo970's review against another edition
2.0
My brother gave me this for Christmas (along with an OJ Simpson trial collectible POG set - very good at gift giving). I felt uncomfortable at first because of the whole Nazi thing, but I finally decided to go through a few pages before getting rid of it.
I read it all, not to say that it's a good book or anything. The writing is absolutely terrible. It doesn't really go into if the Nazis won the war, it's a wacky dreamlike story about an SS guy trying to find the last imperfect guy and exterminate him and of course a lot of bizarro imperfect scenes come up. It is written like the guy was high and half asleep, scrawling into his journal on the nightstand.
I read it all, not to say that it's a good book or anything. The writing is absolutely terrible. It doesn't really go into if the Nazis won the war, it's a wacky dreamlike story about an SS guy trying to find the last imperfect guy and exterminate him and of course a lot of bizarro imperfect scenes come up. It is written like the guy was high and half asleep, scrawling into his journal on the nightstand.
acknud's review
2.0
What can I say. Pretty nonsensical. Mellick is hit or miss for me. This was pretty much a miss. Then again, I didn't care for Alice in Wonderland either.
cp_frey's review
1.0
I tried to get into the head of “bizarro” but this should not have been my starting point. It moved way too fast, but dragged on somehow. There were a lot of easy outs, for example, he just wakes up at the bar in this town? Oh yeah, what is the name of the town and city and castle? Why is there an underscore where a name should be? Was that a mistake as there were MULTIPLE grammatical errors throughout the book. So much bouncing around and not a lot of depth.
Not sure what I was hoping for. But this wasn’t it.
That said- I bought a more promising Bizarro book by Mellick and I look forward to it.
Not sure what I was hoping for. But this wasn’t it.
That said- I bought a more promising Bizarro book by Mellick and I look forward to it.
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