A review by crickety
Welcome to Night Vale by Jeffrey Cranor, Joseph Fink

funny mysterious

4.5

 In this book based on a podcast we follow a PTA mom and a perpetual teen as they try to understand why their lives are being unravelled. I listened religiously to the podcast when it was running and its uniqueness stands the test of time. I’m not sure how Nightvale is perceived if encountering it first in bookform but as a listener this was such a comfort to read. I’ve missed Cecil’s phrases and idiosyncrasies and it was nice hearing him in this form. Nightvale succeeds exceptionally well in its worldbuilding, and they keep this up in this novel. While there is an inherent chaos, unpredictability, and mystery surrounding the town – the underlying logic of how things work is solid. 

 

Humor often comes from the unexpected, through surprising and subverting our cultural concepts and connections. This is definitely the case with Nightvale. The contrast between the understandable workings of a small town and the absolute insanity which follows, as a matter of normal life, gives it a dark humor. It's how we get woman considering whether a door is push or pull, only to discover it’s a typical bleed door.  At some point Diane says that her town is comforting nonsense, and that is how I also see it. While calamity befalls every citizen, the constancy of the town itself and of course Cecil makes it soothing to me. 

 

The story of Diane and Jackie is well structured. We follow them separately investigating, and their internal struggles. Then as we progress, they make common cause and the mystery is developed well. There are A LOT of callbacks to the show which were fun. I also like the idea to explore one of the many side-events Cecil mentions so casually. For every Valentine day’s mayhem, there are citizens caught in the middle. It’s a very charming book that made we want to re-binge the series.