Helpful Score: 8
I really wanted to like this book. I had never heard of the web comics that the book was based off of, but was drawn to it because of the cover image and title. I read the description on the back of the book and thought is sounded great. Did you read the above description? How awesome does this book sound!?! Maybe it just wasn't for me, but I was disappointed. I found myself struggling to finish the book only to be rewarded with a so-so ending that wasn't a surprise at all. I'm a huge fan of comedy and horror, but this comedy/horror book was lacking in both. Actually, I take that back. If you find jokes and situations about poop funny, this may be the book for you. The writer tried to scare the reader, but the attempts come off as juvenile and cliche. In general, it's just a really poorly written book.
If you want to read this book, please borrow it from a friend or a local library. Don't waste your money like I did.
If you want to read this book, please borrow it from a friend or a local library. Don't waste your money like I did.
Helpful Score: 5
Sometimes, I think authors try too hard to be weird and quirky and memorable. And sadly, that was my overall impression of David Wong as I trudged through John Dies at the End, his first novel.
John Dies at the End was initially a wildly popular online story that took on a viral life of its own, and recently got published. It has quickly gained a cult following for its mixed bag of gruesome horror, tongue-in-cheek humor and, well, ridiculousness.
Let me give you a for-instance: in the first few chapters of the book alone, the author David and its namesake, his friend and business partner, John, are trapped in a basement flooding with supernatural excrement, battle a demon made of animated meat products (kielbasas, a turkey, etc.) and play modern-day ghostbusters.
It's good that Wong doesn't try to pull a bait-and-switch on readers. If you don't like the initial chapters, you won't like the book. It's full of the same silliness, gross-out shocks and wry humor. I'm among the apparent minority of readers that just didn't enjoy the story or its telling -- the book has gotten generally good reviews from critics and everyday readers alike.
For that reason, I won't spoil the plot (which is a doozy, you can be sure), but I will say this -- Wong's writing is a little rough, but shows promise. His dialogue is the best thing about John Dies in the End. It's witty and unexpected, and kept me reading even while I rolled my eyes at the goofier story sequences. And in my humble opinion, the funniest line in the whole book can be found on the last page. I laughed out loud, which is never a bad way to end a story.
John Dies at the End was initially a wildly popular online story that took on a viral life of its own, and recently got published. It has quickly gained a cult following for its mixed bag of gruesome horror, tongue-in-cheek humor and, well, ridiculousness.
Let me give you a for-instance: in the first few chapters of the book alone, the author David and its namesake, his friend and business partner, John, are trapped in a basement flooding with supernatural excrement, battle a demon made of animated meat products (kielbasas, a turkey, etc.) and play modern-day ghostbusters.
It's good that Wong doesn't try to pull a bait-and-switch on readers. If you don't like the initial chapters, you won't like the book. It's full of the same silliness, gross-out shocks and wry humor. I'm among the apparent minority of readers that just didn't enjoy the story or its telling -- the book has gotten generally good reviews from critics and everyday readers alike.
For that reason, I won't spoil the plot (which is a doozy, you can be sure), but I will say this -- Wong's writing is a little rough, but shows promise. His dialogue is the best thing about John Dies in the End. It's witty and unexpected, and kept me reading even while I rolled my eyes at the goofier story sequences. And in my humble opinion, the funniest line in the whole book can be found on the last page. I laughed out loud, which is never a bad way to end a story.
Helpful Score: 4
Take a good bite out of this goodness right here. Chew slowly, savor the flavor. This novel is a mindbending, horror and gore filled tale. Also hilarious. A real good blend of horror and comedy that feels totally natural. A truly original novel with a warped plot. I garuntee you that you've never, ever read anything like it. Keep your eyes on the shadows and read it or die.
Helpful Score: 3
One of the DUMBEST BOOKS I have ever tried to read! EVER! Way too weird for me and I did not find it to be funny at all. Some reviewer said there is something funny on just about every page. I tried flipping through it randomly and sadly found it not to be the case.
I love end of the world, horror, monster and zombie books and wrongly assumed this would be similar but it is not at all.
I really wanted to like the book and have been on a wish list for ages. But sadly somethings are just not worth waiting for. This book is one of those things. I know a lot of people will insist on finding this out for themselves, but just a preview of the first 20 pages was all I could get through. And on those pages: a girl breaks into snakes, which later become a monster created of various meats (sausage, a turkey, venison tongue, etc) , a door knob transforms into a flaccid penis, a basement that fills with poop, and a boombox that plays "Here I Go Again", by Whitesnake is the stopping power. If this sounds hilarious to you, by all means rush out and get the book. If it sounds stupid, save yourself the time, money and hassle.
For such a highly followed internet sensation I was greatly disappointed in it and suprised that so many people could find this quality reading material.
I love end of the world, horror, monster and zombie books and wrongly assumed this would be similar but it is not at all.
I really wanted to like the book and have been on a wish list for ages. But sadly somethings are just not worth waiting for. This book is one of those things. I know a lot of people will insist on finding this out for themselves, but just a preview of the first 20 pages was all I could get through. And on those pages: a girl breaks into snakes, which later become a monster created of various meats (sausage, a turkey, venison tongue, etc) , a door knob transforms into a flaccid penis, a basement that fills with poop, and a boombox that plays "Here I Go Again", by Whitesnake is the stopping power. If this sounds hilarious to you, by all means rush out and get the book. If it sounds stupid, save yourself the time, money and hassle.
For such a highly followed internet sensation I was greatly disappointed in it and suprised that so many people could find this quality reading material.
Helpful Score: 1
this book needs help...like serious help.
i was not impressed with it in the least. i am almost sorry i bought it. i have never been so disappointed in a book like i am...i won't spoil it for anybody but when i finished it i was like "huh?"
i was not impressed with it in the least. i am almost sorry i bought it. i have never been so disappointed in a book like i am...i won't spoil it for anybody but when i finished it i was like "huh?"
Helpful Score: 1
Fun, creepy, DEFINITELY ridiculous, and one of the more satisfying endings that I've read in a while. Lots of one-liners, some of them pretty terrible, but hey, that's how I like it. The second half of the book is a bit more dark and justifies the 'horror' classification, but also really ties the novel's individual tales together.
One of the DUMBEST BOOKS I have ever tried to read! EVER! Way too weird for me and I did not find it to be funny at all. Some reviewer said there is something funny on just about every page. I tried flipping through it randomly and sadly found it not to be the case.
I love end of the world, horror, monster and zombie books and wrongly assumed this would be similar but it is not at all.
I really wanted to like the book and have been on a wish list for ages. But sadly somethings are just not worth waiting for. This book is one of those things. I know a lot of people will insist on finding this out for themselves, but just a preview of the first 20 pages was all I could get through. And on those pages: a girl breaks into snakes, which later become a monster created of various meats (sausage, a turkey, venison tongue, etc) , a door knob transforms into a flaccid penis, a basement that fills with poop, and a boombox that plays "Here I Go Again", by Whitesnake is the stopping power. If this sounds hilarious to you, by all means rush out and get the book. If it sounds stupid, save yourself the time, money and hassle.
For such a highly followed internet sensation I was greatly disappointed in it and suprised that so many people could find this quality reading material.
I love end of the world, horror, monster and zombie books and wrongly assumed this would be similar but it is not at all.
I really wanted to like the book and have been on a wish list for ages. But sadly somethings are just not worth waiting for. This book is one of those things. I know a lot of people will insist on finding this out for themselves, but just a preview of the first 20 pages was all I could get through. And on those pages: a girl breaks into snakes, which later become a monster created of various meats (sausage, a turkey, venison tongue, etc) , a door knob transforms into a flaccid penis, a basement that fills with poop, and a boombox that plays "Here I Go Again", by Whitesnake is the stopping power. If this sounds hilarious to you, by all means rush out and get the book. If it sounds stupid, save yourself the time, money and hassle.
For such a highly followed internet sensation I was greatly disappointed in it and suprised that so many people could find this quality reading material.
This is one strange story, and I will definitely read the next book in the series!
Irreverent and brilliant. Lots of salty language but always interesting.
Loved it!
Loved it!
I think this is probably one of those either OR books. You'll either LOVE it or HATE it.
I haven't done so much inappropriate laughing in decades.
I rated it 3.5 stars because there were some pretty big hurdles for me. The story is hard to follow and Really Really gross. And if I'm being completely honest there were two places I'd almost had enough and quit reading. So you might ask 'Why didn't I quit reading at either of those places? Because I bloody well couldn't that's why. Each time I got tired of more and more weirdness Wong steered the story to a conundrum I absolutely had to have the answer to. Why did I read the whole encyclopedia sized tome in less than 3 days? Because the writing is Excellent, it is brain-bitingly funny and hidden underneath all the gross stuff are moments of sheer genius.
I haven't done so much inappropriate laughing in decades.
I rated it 3.5 stars because there were some pretty big hurdles for me. The story is hard to follow and Really Really gross. And if I'm being completely honest there were two places I'd almost had enough and quit reading. So you might ask 'Why didn't I quit reading at either of those places? Because I bloody well couldn't that's why. Each time I got tired of more and more weirdness Wong steered the story to a conundrum I absolutely had to have the answer to. Why did I read the whole encyclopedia sized tome in less than 3 days? Because the writing is Excellent, it is brain-bitingly funny and hidden underneath all the gross stuff are moments of sheer genius.
This book was an exercise in insanity! This is not the first time I've said this about a book, and considering there are two sequels to this, it won't be the last!
Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm too generous with my book ratings, or if I just have superb taste and amazing luck at picking great ones. I'd like to believe it's the latter...so I will.
My hubby and I, on a late night Netflix binge, saw this movie and were intrigued by the title--hello, spoilers! So we watched knowing it would be my kind of flick. It was bizarre and yet good. Bizarrely good. Horror/comedy with a bit of camp. Everything you need to make a future cult classic. And of course the moment I found out it was based on a book, it went on my wishlist. And let me tell you, it is surprisingly hard to get a used copy of this book! (I was on a budget and trying not to give Amazon any more of my money.)
And after I finally got a copy, I didn't read it right away. Big mistake! Huge! If I could kick my own butt for waiting so long, I would.
The whole thing is told from David Wong's point of view (yes the author is also a character). I normally hate first person stories, but this was great. It's about David and John and their ridiculous shenanigans. It's like they get into the kind of situations that you just can't make up. I had a friend like that once. She would get into the craziest stuff, and I was there half the time, so I know she wasn't making it up.
In the story there's this drug called 'soy sauce' and it's pretty much a gateway to hell--or so Dave and John think. Crazy things happen when you're on the sauce, a whole new part of your mind is opened up to you. And once it's opened, there's no closing it!
John takes it on purpose, and Dave is accidentially stabbed by the needle he confiscated from John. Now they are seeing things they would have never wanted in a million years, ever wanted to see. And they're able to do things--almost supernatural type things. They get caught up in some serious mess all because of this 'soy sauce', and no matter how hard Dave tries to pull them out, John keeps dragging them in deeper. It's almost like their [undisclosed] town is situated on a hellmouth! And John and Dave are the 'slayers' poised to save the world.
Everything in this book is just insane. It's the right amount of dark, creepy, crazy and funny. It's like Evil Dead with two good Ashes. I loved every minute of it. And now I'm about to dive into the sequel as soon as I post this.
...Why does it always have to be spiders?!
Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm too generous with my book ratings, or if I just have superb taste and amazing luck at picking great ones. I'd like to believe it's the latter...so I will.
My hubby and I, on a late night Netflix binge, saw this movie and were intrigued by the title--hello, spoilers! So we watched knowing it would be my kind of flick. It was bizarre and yet good. Bizarrely good. Horror/comedy with a bit of camp. Everything you need to make a future cult classic. And of course the moment I found out it was based on a book, it went on my wishlist. And let me tell you, it is surprisingly hard to get a used copy of this book! (I was on a budget and trying not to give Amazon any more of my money.)
And after I finally got a copy, I didn't read it right away. Big mistake! Huge! If I could kick my own butt for waiting so long, I would.
The whole thing is told from David Wong's point of view (yes the author is also a character). I normally hate first person stories, but this was great. It's about David and John and their ridiculous shenanigans. It's like they get into the kind of situations that you just can't make up. I had a friend like that once. She would get into the craziest stuff, and I was there half the time, so I know she wasn't making it up.
In the story there's this drug called 'soy sauce' and it's pretty much a gateway to hell--or so Dave and John think. Crazy things happen when you're on the sauce, a whole new part of your mind is opened up to you. And once it's opened, there's no closing it!
John takes it on purpose, and Dave is accidentially stabbed by the needle he confiscated from John. Now they are seeing things they would have never wanted in a million years, ever wanted to see. And they're able to do things--almost supernatural type things. They get caught up in some serious mess all because of this 'soy sauce', and no matter how hard Dave tries to pull them out, John keeps dragging them in deeper. It's almost like their [undisclosed] town is situated on a hellmouth! And John and Dave are the 'slayers' poised to save the world.
Everything in this book is just insane. It's the right amount of dark, creepy, crazy and funny. It's like Evil Dead with two good Ashes. I loved every minute of it. And now I'm about to dive into the sequel as soon as I post this.
...Why does it always have to be spiders?!
One of the DUMBEST BOOKS I have ever tried to read! EVER! Way too weird for me and I did not find it to be funny at all. Some reviewer said there is something funny on just about every page. I tried flipping through it randomly and sadly found it not to be the case.
I love end of the world, horror, monster and zombie books and wrongly assumed this would be similar but it is not at all.
I really wanted to like the book and have been on a wish list for ages. But sadly somethings are just not worth waiting for. This book is one of those things. I know a lot of people will insist on finding this out for themselves, but just a preview of the first 20 pages was all I could get through. And on those pages: a girl breaks into snakes, which later become a monster created of various meats (sausage, a turkey, venison tongue, etc) , a door knob transforms into a flaccid penis, a basement that fills with poop, and a boombox that plays "Here I Go Again", by Whitesnake is the stopping power. If this sounds hilarious to you, by all means rush out and get the book. If it sounds stupid, save yourself the time, money and hassle.
For such a highly followed internet sensation I was greatly disappointed in it and suprised that so many people could find this quality reading material.
I love end of the world, horror, monster and zombie books and wrongly assumed this would be similar but it is not at all.
I really wanted to like the book and have been on a wish list for ages. But sadly somethings are just not worth waiting for. This book is one of those things. I know a lot of people will insist on finding this out for themselves, but just a preview of the first 20 pages was all I could get through. And on those pages: a girl breaks into snakes, which later become a monster created of various meats (sausage, a turkey, venison tongue, etc) , a door knob transforms into a flaccid penis, a basement that fills with poop, and a boombox that plays "Here I Go Again", by Whitesnake is the stopping power. If this sounds hilarious to you, by all means rush out and get the book. If it sounds stupid, save yourself the time, money and hassle.
For such a highly followed internet sensation I was greatly disappointed in it and suprised that so many people could find this quality reading material.
