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A review by screamdogreads
Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella
3.0
"Brian sits at the end of the bar, waiting for his final customers to leave and trying not to go so heavy on himself for last night's homicide. Is it even murder, he thinks to himself, if he's technically not a human when he commits it?"
Bored Gay Werewolf is the exact definition of writing and reading for pleasure. It is pure, unbridled, unadulterated, unrestrained fun. It's goofy as hell, entertaining, hilarious, just absolutely brilliant. Packed to the brim with snarky wit, and told with some real heart, Bored Gay Werewolf is a joy of a novel to experience, one that's so easily consumable in one sitting. It's one of those novels that, despite being rammed full of difficult to navigate topics, never seems to take itself too seriously, even when delving into the darker, much heavier of themes, it still manages to keep its light, airy and jolly tone.
Picture, if you will, a queer werewolf hustle-culture fight club for the modern ages with a splash of American Psycho inspiration. It's a little weird to imagine at first, but, that is, entirely, this book. For all of the strangeness in this novel, it's really rather charming, opting for a quiet and calming kind of plot that simmers along, rather than something that explodes in your face. It's all very dude-bro, and not at all what you'd expect from a werewolf novel, but, that makes it surprisingly enjoyable. Bored Gay Werewolf is a very weird novel, but, whenever has weirdness been a bad thing? In fact here, this book's eccentricity is its most fantastic feature.
Bored Gay Werewolf is the exact definition of writing and reading for pleasure. It is pure, unbridled, unadulterated, unrestrained fun. It's goofy as hell, entertaining, hilarious, just absolutely brilliant. Packed to the brim with snarky wit, and told with some real heart, Bored Gay Werewolf is a joy of a novel to experience, one that's so easily consumable in one sitting. It's one of those novels that, despite being rammed full of difficult to navigate topics, never seems to take itself too seriously, even when delving into the darker, much heavier of themes, it still manages to keep its light, airy and jolly tone.
Picture, if you will, a queer werewolf hustle-culture fight club for the modern ages with a splash of American Psycho inspiration. It's a little weird to imagine at first, but, that is, entirely, this book. For all of the strangeness in this novel, it's really rather charming, opting for a quiet and calming kind of plot that simmers along, rather than something that explodes in your face. It's all very dude-bro, and not at all what you'd expect from a werewolf novel, but, that makes it surprisingly enjoyable. Bored Gay Werewolf is a very weird novel, but, whenever has weirdness been a bad thing? In fact here, this book's eccentricity is its most fantastic feature.
"Brain is thankful for the silence. He has noticed the slow encroachment of his signature nihilism. It has taken considerably more effort to keep his sarcasm at bay, especially when Tyler and Mark are such easy targets, like the time Mark thought if we all just opened our doors, we could solve global warming with eight billion air conditioners. It's wild how they think that whatever shit comes out their mouths has intrinsic value, as if their focus on being mean inoculates them against any kind of introspection."
Novels with characters this ignorant, this detached from reality are a rather niche enjoyment of mine. Most of us have probably worked with, or at the very least, interacted with some form of dude-bro, tech-lover, hustle-culture, instagram-esque motivational speaker at one point in our lives, which, I think, heightens this novel's magic. By no means, is this an earth-shattering book, but, it's a good, entertaining, blisteringly fun read. It knows what it is, it knows what it set out to do. Bored Gay Werewolf is a palate cleanser in a world full of heavy tomes we must scour for information. Sometimes, all you need is an easy read, something to break up the drab world around you. Bored Gay Werewolf is the novel that achieves just that.
The end of the novel hints at some kind of sequel, or some potential other book set in this world. Now, I'm not entirely sure if I'd continue on with a second book. I feel that, as a standalone, as a one-shot story, this book is perfectly fine as it is.
"As the bathroom fogs up, he slows his breath, taking in the steam and humidity in deep, cleansing inhales. Everything is fine. After finally gathering his composure, he asks the age-old question: after committing homicide, do you do your entire skin care routine? The answer, of course, being yes."