Lisa
Well... more like a 3.5.
As other reviewers have stated... we get it, your dad sucked. The balance on father issues was a little too weighted where at times it felt a wee bit, get on with your life.
That being said, the main character is 17 and if you haven't hung out with a 17 year old lately, they are pretty much all about themselves. It tracks.
But what I really loved about this book was listening to it 20 minutes at a time before bed. Many sections of it were edge of your seat and as his air levels decreased in his tanks you felt the tension rising. Also did you know you could use a jellyfish as a nightlight? Very cool.
What pulls it to a 3.5 for me was it could have been cut by 40-50 pages, because at a certain point I was just ready for him to die already.
Since I'm not a jerk I won't spoil the ending, but there is a 50 / 50 outcome and I'm pretty sure you can guess what happens before cracking the book and be right.
I honestly didn't expect to like this book very much and it really surprised me. Any book that can make me laugh out loud multiple times while addressing something as painful as the last weeks of dying parent's life is a win.
Parents getting old sucks and this book showed that there can be joyous moments. It also elegantly depicted the importance of placing your ego aside and accepting that parents are also just humans trying their best.
DNF
This book had an interesting premise, but once several of the main characters find themselves in a “ghetto” it gets beyond racist. At first I skipped over sentences and soon it became chunks. I was trying to make the book still work, meaning was the story lost if I wasn't reading these parts? And while the plot worked just fine using this technique, I realized I didn't even want the book on my bedside table.
I'm not even going to give Carrion Comfort the old, it was written in the 80's excuse. Dan Simmons is clearly a racist, it wouldn't come to him to write this way if he wasn't.
If I could give it zero stars I would.
Spoiler and violence alert...
Call me old fashioned but when an author makes the choice to have a female character's hands tied together with a telephone cord and then a gun shoved in her mouth, I'm out.
Oh yeah and the real winner character who shoved said gun in her mouth is also described as having a golden dick, of which this poor woman will no longer have a chance of getting a piece of.
I mean really, just what is the point, Barbara?
How this book could have such high ratings is really disappointing to me.
Solid 3.5 - certain sections were more effective than others. The concept itself is very interesting - what happens in the same home years and year on, while certain ghostly residents never leave. Made me think of the graphic novel (but more on the graphics side than novel side) by Richard McGuire. Time to pull it off the shelf and enjoy it again.
3.5
I have mixed feeling on this one. I loved some of the ideas and characters but at certain points I felt like too much was being tossed in plot wise. Sometimes less is more and I think this book could have used less plot lines or more depth in the development of certain characters. Would have loved more of the mom with the 4 blind sons- very interesting villains
I really like S.A. Crosby's work. It has an interesting noir feel to it. There are also ways laugh out loud moments and allusions to pop culture that make you chuckle.
The only thing I don't care for is cringy descriptions of women and sexual encounters. For me, these situations don't push the plot forward or develop more nuanced characters. But hey - maybe his male readers vibe on this?
It's for this reason I'm more in the three on this one, but I really loved Blacktop Wasteland.
I wanted to learn more about the author part way through listening to this audiobook because I was really enjoying the pacing and tone. I loved the sense of humor and how well the novel flowed with authentic portrayal of the roller coaster of adolescence. Then, I came across something that tanked my enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, Alexie has admitted to allegations that were brought from several women who were sexually assaulted by him. It's really sad to think of not only the impact on these women, but also on his family.
I'm sure there are people out there who have no problem separating his behavior from his writing, I'm just not one of them. This will be the only book of his I'll read.
