A review by minimicropup
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is a diary and interview style survival thriller that felt real. It was creepy, tense, and the audio really helped to build the growing dread. Another perfect spooky pick for my snowy commuteโ€ฆI wanted to get there slower to keep listening.
 
Energy: Uncertain. Foreboding. Instinctive.
 
๐Ÿ• Howls: The ending is open, we get very little resolution, but for me that made it feel more like something that really happened. If you hate diary entries that start to read like novels, this has that to a certain extent (like, she must have had a lot of time to write and really strong wrists!).
 
๐Ÿฉ Tail Wags: How I felt the tension of being trapped and cut off from the world. Wondering how and when things will go horribly wrong. That itโ€™s told mostly through diary entries. The slice-of-life peek into a remote eco-community. Getting the day-to-day insights as characters adapted to an off-the-grid lifestyle, while ominous threats loomed in the background. The full cast audio. Showing how the different personalities cope under pressure and switch from being successful in modern life to struggling when their safety net is gone (and vice versa). The focus on the creeping dread.
 
Scene: ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Greenloop Community near Mount Rainier, Washington, USA
Perspective: Epistolary. The diary entries of an individual who is staying in her uncleโ€™s house for a bit with their partner. NPR style radio/podcast interviews with the community founder. Author introduction and interviews with surviving family members.
Timeline: 2010s. September, October. Mostly linear.
๐Ÿ”ฅ Fuel: What happened to the Greenloops community? How will they survive after the eruption? How will the community dynamics change as things get more dire? What is in the woods entering the community at night?
๐Ÿ“– Cred: Realistic
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Volcanic eruption. Drone-deliveries. Eggs and garbage. Deer and rabbits. Car radio. Solar panels. Bamboo spikes. Common house.
  • Metafiction being told a story, reading through stream of consciousness diary entries and interviews
  • Casual, immersive, intimate, journalistic writing
  • Slowly evolving mini-apocalyptic situations
  • Missing 411 stay-out-of-the-woods energy
  • Exploration of entitlement, preparation, humans as animals, ignorance, instinct, cultural perspectives, and how anxiety serves us
  • Man vs nature survival thriller
  • The follies of romanticizing nature
  • Likeable, relatable, sympathetic, and annoying characters
  • Eco community gone wrong
  • Primal rage action-adventure
  • Things that go bump in the night cryptids
  • Desperate measures, dropping like flies
  • Isolated, remote tech setting
  • Power dynamics, psychological mind games with the enemy
  • Theme of redemption, purpose, sacrifice, vengeance, and worth
 
Content Heads-Up: Animal attacks (fatal). Animal death (hunting, defense). Community/societal collapse. Corpses (discovery, handling of). Cultural appropriation. Heart issues. Loss of loved ones. Natural disasters (earthquake, volcanic eruption). War, starvation (discussed; implied; brief memories).
 
Rep: American. Bangladeshi American. Serbian American (I think?). Jewish American. Cis. Hetero. Lesbian. Olive and pale skin tones.
 
๐Ÿ“š Format: Audible + Kindle
 
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