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A review by micaelabrody
The Making of Zombie Wars by Aleksandar Hemon
3.0
I'll admit I am conflicted about this book. I loved the other books by Aleksander Hemon I've read (Nowhere Man, The Lazarus Project) but this one didn't quite measure up for me. A lot of stuff definitely works really well: the characters are mostly sharp, there's definitely a lot of comedy (which I'm dubbing "nightmare slapstick"), the threads of war and violence are effective.
It just didn't thrill me. It might be because the plot of "average joe gets mixed up in weird shit and he and his life spin out of control" is getting a little old for me (though of course I can't think off the top of my head about other books that fit that description...*), and it might be because I just don't love reading comedies and/or wasn't expecting one like this from Hemon (not a judgment of value), but regardless the book took me a while to finish and I never really felt drawn in.
*EDIT June 2017: Wonder Boys is actually a perfect example of this genre.
I think the humor just didn't land for me. The script excerpts just sounded awful, and not funny-awful. To me. I sure hope this was intentional, but whether it was or not, every time a new piece of the script showed up I found myself rolling my eyes a little. The Script Ideas got similarly old.
Joshua also felt like a passive observer for most of the book - again, fine in theory but it played as if he was supposed to be active and just... wasn't. I understand suspension of disbelief and am fine with it (like the underwear-sniffing scene; I would hope there is no one passive enough to not just call the damn cops, but whatever it's a book) but it felt more like Joshua was watching his life get more insane and not even engaging emotionally with that. I'm not being clear but essentially the one place it worked well for me wasin Esko's house as Joshua needed to pee , which essentially forced both Joshua's focus and the reader's on this minor thing in the face of bigger events. Elsewhere it doesn't have that contrast or that focus so it just feels a little lost.
All this said most of my issues are with my personal taste rather than objective flaws, so this is a classic ymmv three star rating. I'll definitely read another book by Hemon; this one just wasn't up my alley. And I'm solidly neutral here: there was a lot I think I liked and which I'm sure others definitely would as well.
It just didn't thrill me. It might be because the plot of "average joe gets mixed up in weird shit and he and his life spin out of control" is getting a little old for me (though of course I can't think off the top of my head about other books that fit that description...*), and it might be because I just don't love reading comedies and/or wasn't expecting one like this from Hemon (not a judgment of value), but regardless the book took me a while to finish and I never really felt drawn in.
*EDIT June 2017: Wonder Boys is actually a perfect example of this genre.
I think the humor just didn't land for me. The script excerpts just sounded awful, and not funny-awful. To me. I sure hope this was intentional, but whether it was or not, every time a new piece of the script showed up I found myself rolling my eyes a little. The Script Ideas got similarly old.
Joshua also felt like a passive observer for most of the book - again, fine in theory but it played as if he was supposed to be active and just... wasn't. I understand suspension of disbelief and am fine with it (like the underwear-sniffing scene; I would hope there is no one passive enough to not just call the damn cops, but whatever it's a book) but it felt more like Joshua was watching his life get more insane and not even engaging emotionally with that. I'm not being clear but essentially the one place it worked well for me was
All this said most of my issues are with my personal taste rather than objective flaws, so this is a classic ymmv three star rating. I'll definitely read another book by Hemon; this one just wasn't up my alley. And I'm solidly neutral here: there was a lot I think I liked and which I'm sure others definitely would as well.