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othellonyc's review against another edition
5.0
It's as funny as I expected, and well written enough, but what impressed me was that, instead of making the horror funny, it just described horrible things in a hilarious way.
ms_wilson_33's review against another edition
4.0
The 4 stars is for John’s 1-liners, which kept me laughing. Otherwise, I had to struggle through this one at times.
If you like the TV show Supernatural but wish it were written by H. P. Lovecraft while on acid this may be the book for you.
If you like the TV show Supernatural but wish it were written by H. P. Lovecraft while on acid this may be the book for you.
canuck35's review against another edition
3.0
Decent book but it couldn't possibly live up to the hype. I probably would have scored it higher if I had started this book with no expectations at all. A fairly enjoyable, weird read with a few interesting twists.
rosepage's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
danielle_riha's review against another edition
3.0
One of the most bizarre books I've read in a long time. I almost put this one down multiple times, but then kept reading out of morbid curiosity of what might happen next. It was subtly funny and a very clever concept, but I was ultimately not pleased enough with the conclusion to invest any more time in this world or characters in subsequent books. It was just too dry and too sci-fi for my taste.
charles__'s review against another edition
2.0
This book was recommended to me by a friend. She insisted I keep an open mind when I started it. That's never a good sign. I did find this book to be entertaining. Although it is not particularly deep or destined to be epic. In addition, its the first book in a three (3) book series.
I had previously seen the movie (2012). Frankly, I can could only recall the scenes with Paul Giamatti. However, if you saw the movie, you won't know much about the book.
First, when you start reading this book, you must do so knowing the author’s tongue was firmly in cheek. It also contains a lot of circa 2010’s popular culture and some scatologically and bawdy humorous scenes and language.
Secondly, the book reminds me very much of [b:Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency|365|Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dirk Gently #1)|Douglas Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1404697381s/365.jpg|1042123] by the late [a:Douglas Adams|4|Douglas Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1189120061p2/4.jpg]. I can also see some of [a:William S. Burroughs'|4462369|William S. Burroughs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1459243207p2/4462369.jpg] book [b:Naked Lunch|7437|Naked Lunch|William S. Burroughs|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407330990s/7437.jpg|4055] at work.
Despite the headgames of an unreliable narrator, the author is playing with the reader, its well written. I particularly liked his use of similes in the descriptive prose. Dialog is likewise good. Hyperbole is well exercised. However, while always clever a couple of hundred pages into the story the flippery begins to wear thin.
Characters are few. There is Dave and John. I assume Dave makes the novel semi-autobiographical. John is a bit of a stoner-Jesus. He's blessed. The other characters, either demons or humans are a bit thin, having been seen before. Female characters get short shrift in this book.
Plot is an issue. At heart, I suspect the author wanted to write a humorous existential novel of horror. It goes against grain in that the main characters have more than a human's limited visibility and the known afterlife is Hell. What the book really feels like to me is several interwoven short stories in a series with Destination Unknown. (The movie was just one of these 'sections'.)
World building is good, and shows a lot of imagination with the obvious influence of Lovecraftian horror. A problem I have is that the book dates itself terribly with its slacker cliché. Nobody works in a Video Store any longer. Do they even exist in the second decade of the western New Millennium?
If you have no knowledge of slackers, are repelled by excrement and other excretions, don't like bawdy badinage, hate the use and abuse of serendipity, and didn’t read Naked Lunch or anything by [a:H. P. Lovecraft|17276170|H. P. Lovecraft|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] you’ll hate this book. (You won't get the joke.)
I was merely disappointed. The story was one long, comedic routine. I thought the badinage was amusing, the horror quirky and imaginative. However, there was no real sense of where the story was going-- except toward more hip dialog. I imagine, I'm supposed to buy [b:This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It|17286949|This Book Is Full of Spiders Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It|David Wong|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1375931965s/17286949.jpg|18079704]. I'm not seriously (Dude!) inclined to do so.
I had previously seen the movie (2012). Frankly, I can could only recall the scenes with Paul Giamatti. However, if you saw the movie, you won't know much about the book.
First, when you start reading this book, you must do so knowing the author’s tongue was firmly in cheek. It also contains a lot of circa 2010’s popular culture and some scatologically and bawdy humorous scenes and language.
Secondly, the book reminds me very much of [b:Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency|365|Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dirk Gently #1)|Douglas Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1404697381s/365.jpg|1042123] by the late [a:Douglas Adams|4|Douglas Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1189120061p2/4.jpg]. I can also see some of [a:William S. Burroughs'|4462369|William S. Burroughs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1459243207p2/4462369.jpg] book [b:Naked Lunch|7437|Naked Lunch|William S. Burroughs|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407330990s/7437.jpg|4055] at work.
Despite the headgames of an unreliable narrator, the author is playing with the reader, its well written. I particularly liked his use of similes in the descriptive prose. Dialog is likewise good. Hyperbole is well exercised. However, while always clever a couple of hundred pages into the story the flippery begins to wear thin.
Characters are few. There is Dave and John. I assume Dave makes the novel semi-autobiographical. John is a bit of a stoner-Jesus. He's blessed. The other characters, either demons or humans are a bit thin, having been seen before. Female characters get short shrift in this book.
Plot is an issue. At heart, I suspect the author wanted to write a humorous existential novel of horror. It goes against grain in that the main characters have more than a human's limited visibility and the known afterlife is Hell. What the book really feels like to me is several interwoven short stories in a series with Destination Unknown. (The movie was just one of these 'sections'.)
World building is good, and shows a lot of imagination with the obvious influence of Lovecraftian horror. A problem I have is that the book dates itself terribly with its slacker cliché. Nobody works in a Video Store any longer. Do they even exist in the second decade of the western New Millennium?
If you have no knowledge of slackers, are repelled by excrement and other excretions, don't like bawdy badinage, hate the use and abuse of serendipity, and didn’t read Naked Lunch or anything by [a:H. P. Lovecraft|17276170|H. P. Lovecraft|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] you’ll hate this book. (You won't get the joke.)
I was merely disappointed. The story was one long, comedic routine. I thought the badinage was amusing, the horror quirky and imaginative. However, there was no real sense of where the story was going-- except toward more hip dialog. I imagine, I'm supposed to buy [b:This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It|17286949|This Book Is Full of Spiders Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It|David Wong|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1375931965s/17286949.jpg|18079704]. I'm not seriously (Dude!) inclined to do so.
nomit's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Man, I don't know how to rate this book. It's certainly a trip - and the author himself acknowledge the "fever-induced acid trip" quality of this work (quoting from memory) in a later edition.
It's certainly unlike anything else I've read. It's kind of the narrative equivalent of one of those dreams where you ride an impossible rollercoaster, but this time it also moves in the fifth dimension and you're stoned out of your mind.
Which is to say: some parts of this were really hard to get through, because I just couldn't figure out what was going on and I felt like the floor had dropped out from under the narrative universe. Other parts however were very cohesive and just plain hilarious and exciting.
This ... duality? might be due to the book's original publication as several more-or-less-disjointed blog entries.
It's certainly unlike anything else I've read. It's kind of the narrative equivalent of one of those dreams where you ride an impossible rollercoaster, but this time it also moves in the fifth dimension and you're stoned out of your mind.
Which is to say: some parts of this were really hard to get through, because I just couldn't figure out what was going on and I felt like the floor had dropped out from under the narrative universe. Other parts however were very cohesive and just plain hilarious and exciting.
This ... duality? might be due to the book's original publication as several more-or-less-disjointed blog entries.