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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Far from perfect, but the impressive creativity and startlingly original ways of affecting the reader makes me push this to four rather than three stars, in the hope that other people will be interested enough to find out about the morbidly weird but familiar world Comeau conjures here. Jackie is the best character I've read in ages, and I reckon most people will be able to identify with her (and maybe Ann) on some level or another. Dark fun and tragedy.
I'd read the online excerpts but this is MUCH better, also hilarious. and sad. and gory. Joey Comeau. a softer world. go read. be happy
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Probably the weirdest book I read this year. Still not sure what to make of it. I also found it more on the gory-side rather than the horror-comedy side. Despite the ways everything tied up quite nicely (more or less) in the end, I still feel this sense of lack of something from the book.
Overall, instead of satisfying, One Bloody Thing After Another makes for a very puzzling reading experience for me.
Overall, instead of satisfying, One Bloody Thing After Another makes for a very puzzling reading experience for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Vomit
Gore, Animal Death, and Child Death: Some characters go feral & developed animal-like behaviour over the course of the story. They're craving the fresh meat of living beings. It escalates from eating small animals (kittens and a dog) to eating human (a baby and two adult human). There's also frequent description of a ghost of a bloody young girl holding their own severed head.
Violence:One of the main characters have an anger management issue. She constantly goes into a fit rage & does self-destructive violent spree in the book.
Death of Parent, Cancer, and Vomit: The main girl with anger issue struggles with griefing for her mother who die of cancer. She often flashback into the time when she would saw her mother being sick & vomitting into the toilet.
dark
medium-paced
I expected "One Bloody Thing After Another" to be a rather standard read. I expected it to take the zombies, ghosts and teen-lesbian-crushes and deliver them in a plain and only mildly-worthwhile way. But even with low expectations how could I turn all those things away?
"One Bloody Thing After Another" immediately surprised me with its weirdness. Not "oh lol look how quirky I am!" weirdness. Genuine absurdity and uniqueness that was wholly serving to the story. Normally, such a fractured narrative that jumped around like fleas on uke strings would be terribly uninviting and remove the reader from a proper mindset. Joey Comeau seems to have mastered literary rule-breaking and "quirkiness".
The characters each stand out with their very strong and interesting personalities. Especially our main character Jackie, who creates one of the most interesting, one-of-a-kind dialogues I have read.
Definetly not a book for everyone, but surely a satisfying read for people looking for something to stand out on their shelves.
"One Bloody Thing After Another" immediately surprised me with its weirdness. Not "oh lol look how quirky I am!" weirdness. Genuine absurdity and uniqueness that was wholly serving to the story. Normally, such a fractured narrative that jumped around like fleas on uke strings would be terribly uninviting and remove the reader from a proper mindset. Joey Comeau seems to have mastered literary rule-breaking and "quirkiness".
The characters each stand out with their very strong and interesting personalities. Especially our main character Jackie, who creates one of the most interesting, one-of-a-kind dialogues I have read.
Definetly not a book for everyone, but surely a satisfying read for people looking for something to stand out on their shelves.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The language is simple, not flowery, yet the descriptions of details give the characters a human pulse. Quick, short chapters that have a point and move on, making it easy to get into. I would have given this 5 stars if there had been a little more back-story, or if the story lines were tied together a bit more tidily. Fairly gruesome horror, not for the faint of heart.