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Extinction Journals
As of 2021 this early/insane JRJ novella appears in the collection ALL THE WRONG IDEAS!
"Jeremy Robert Johnson's novella of the apocalypse is a supremely weird reading experience, sitting somewhere between Chuck Palahniuk and John Wyndham. Extinction Journals is a hybrid, a mutant child of 1950's paranoia and contemporary dystopia. Bleak, funny, apocalyptic and affecting, it stays with you long after you've finished it."-- THE ZONE (UK)
You can survive a nuclear blast.
All you need is some luck, and maybe a customized business suit coated in cockroaches. It could work. At least that's what Dean believed before the bombs actually dropped and his suit led him to murder a Very Important Man at the foot of a blackened obelisk.
Now D.C. is looking awfully empty. Life on Earth is pretty much coming to an end. All of which leaves Dean with a single question--"What now?" The answerto that question will take him on an uncanny voyage across a newly nuclear America where he must confront the problems associated with loneliness, radiation, love, and an ever-evolving cockroach suit with a mind of its own.
Dean's bizarre adventures mark the last chronicle of human existence, the final entries in our species' own...
EXTINCTION JOURNALS
"Jeremy Robert Johnson's novella of the apocalypse is a supremely weird reading experience, sitting somewhere between Chuck Palahniuk and John Wyndham. Extinction Journals is a hybrid, a mutant child of 1950's paranoia and contemporary dystopia. Bleak, funny, apocalyptic and affecting, it stays with you long after you've finished it."-- THE ZONE (UK)
You can survive a nuclear blast.
All you need is some luck, and maybe a customized business suit coated in cockroaches. It could work. At least that's what Dean believed before the bombs actually dropped and his suit led him to murder a Very Important Man at the foot of a blackened obelisk.
Now D.C. is looking awfully empty. Life on Earth is pretty much coming to an end. All of which leaves Dean with a single question--"What now?" The answerto that question will take him on an uncanny voyage across a newly nuclear America where he must confront the problems associated with loneliness, radiation, love, and an ever-evolving cockroach suit with a mind of its own.
Dean's bizarre adventures mark the last chronicle of human existence, the final entries in our species' own...
EXTINCTION JOURNALS
84 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
August 22, 2017
3,5 αστέρια. Πολύ ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο, αστείο, λυπηρό, τρελό. Διαβάζεται εύκολα και γρήγορα και το διήγημα που έχει στο τέλος (από το οποίο είχε ξεκινήσει ο συγγραφέας να "μπαίνει" στην ιστορία τουι Ντην), μπορεί κάποιος να το διαβάσει και στην αρχή, ώστε να μπει στο νόημα της ιστορίας ομαλά. Μπορείτε να διαβάσετε περισσότερα για το βιβλίο στο άρθρο .
December 10, 2010
Jeremy Robert Johnson's Extinction Journals begins with a true bizarro scenario: a man in a suit made of cockroaches accidentally devours the president, who is dressed in a suit made of twinkies. But by the end of the book, being dressed in a suit of cockroaches almost seems normal.
As the protagonist wanders through the bizarre, surreal landscape of post-apocalyptic America, he encounters other "survivors," other people who saw what was coming and prepared: a woman in steel-toed boots and an iron apron, a man encased in cement, a man wearing his neighbor's skin. The images in the book are sometimes serene, and other times haunting and nightmarish.
Its only fallback: the end of the book seems very rushed. It feels like a lot more should have been discussed, that there was a longer life to the story than is written. But despite the odd pacing, Johnson's prose is graceful and clear and the book, up to the sweet, hopeful ending, is a brilliant read and well worth your time.
As the protagonist wanders through the bizarre, surreal landscape of post-apocalyptic America, he encounters other "survivors," other people who saw what was coming and prepared: a woman in steel-toed boots and an iron apron, a man encased in cement, a man wearing his neighbor's skin. The images in the book are sometimes serene, and other times haunting and nightmarish.
Its only fallback: the end of the book seems very rushed. It feels like a lot more should have been discussed, that there was a longer life to the story than is written. But despite the odd pacing, Johnson's prose is graceful and clear and the book, up to the sweet, hopeful ending, is a brilliant read and well worth your time.
April 6, 2020
I haven’t really been reading much lately, mostly just idly refreshing my phone scrolling twitter being overwhelmed by the world. Read a few short stories, some poetry, some philosophy, like 25% of a shitty horror book before I admitted to myself I didn’t like it. Mostly just can’t seem to finish anything.
This was short and weird though, so I managed to string some small amount of time together across three nights and actually finish something. Yay.
This book features a guy in a suit made out of roaches surviving in a immediately-post-nuclear US; it started a bit weird/bizarro but actually branched a bit into the Jeff VanderMeer-Eco-Weird space by the end, which was nice.
More like 3 1/2 stars, not quite enough to bump it to 4 though.
Be well friends.
This was short and weird though, so I managed to string some small amount of time together across three nights and actually finish something. Yay.
This book features a guy in a suit made out of roaches surviving in a immediately-post-nuclear US; it started a bit weird/bizarro but actually branched a bit into the Jeff VanderMeer-Eco-Weird space by the end, which was nice.
More like 3 1/2 stars, not quite enough to bump it to 4 though.
Be well friends.
January 4, 2018
Πρώτο βιβλίο, διήγημα καλύτερα, για το 2018, το Ημερολόγιο Αφανισμού είναι ένα σουρεαλιστικό και αλλόκοτο κείμενο μεταφυσικού περιεχομένου για έναν κόσμο όπου ο πρωταγωνιστής επιζών σώζεται λόγω της οξυδέρκειάς του να σκεφτεί πως οι κατσαρίδες είναι ο μοναδικός οργανισμός που θα επιβιώσει της πυρηνικής καταστροφής.
Και το χειρότερο από όλα; Για έναν ανεξήγητο λόγο, μοιάζει πιό επίκαιρο παρά ποτέ.
Και ναι, εννοείται, αν σιχαίνεστε τις κατσαρίδες, απλά προχωράτε στο επόμενο.
Και το χειρότερο από όλα; Για έναν ανεξήγητο λόγο, μοιάζει πιό επίκαιρο παρά ποτέ.
Και ναι, εννοείται, αν σιχαίνεστε τις κατσαρίδες, απλά προχωράτε στο επόμενο.
April 10, 2022
A novella about nuclear destruction in the USA and one guy who survived because he made a suit with live cockroaches. He starts wandering around Washington, trying to survive but also feed the cockroaches.
As you can imagine from the description, the book has a sense of humour and of course it is not scientifically valid. There are other things happening but I don't want to spoil.
I can't say it is a super wow book, but it was pleasant. I am torn between 3 and 4 stars, but let's support and give 4, it is an interesting idea anyway :)
As you can imagine from the description, the book has a sense of humour and of course it is not scientifically valid. There are other things happening but I don't want to spoil.
I can't say it is a super wow book, but it was pleasant. I am torn between 3 and 4 stars, but let's support and give 4, it is an interesting idea anyway :)
January 15, 2015
A gigantic radioactive-soot-covered WTF! in the best way possible. I read this book on the plane from Greece to Germany, and still, I'm fairly certain, I couldn't have been high as the author while he was writing this.
People who like post-apocalyptic scenes and let's call it "lighthearted horror" will definitely enjoy this.
Kudos to Nick Roussos for the exemplary Greek translation.
People who like post-apocalyptic scenes and let's call it "lighthearted horror" will definitely enjoy this.
Kudos to Nick Roussos for the exemplary Greek translation.
July 3, 2019
Αρκετά ενδιαφέρον και ευκολοδιάβαστο βιβλιαράκι. Η δεύτερη ιστορία, το διήγημα από το οποίο προήλθε η πρώτη νουβέλα, μου άρεσε λιγάκι πιο πολύ. Έχει πλάκα, σε βάζει σε σκέψεις, είναι σίγουρα ένα πρωτότυπο και ευφάνταστο ανάγνωσμα
February 11, 2017
You've got to enjoy this for the wildness of the cockroach suit alone, if nothing else, though there's still plenty else to dig. It's a good story, and it's wild. Definitely worth a read.
February 18, 2019
Like the greatest 70s cult sci-fi movie that was never made. A little bit of Salad Fingers by way of Zardoz.
August 20, 2011
Extinction Journals picks up where the "The Sharp Dressed Man At the End of the Line" leaves off. For those of you unfamiliar with that story, it can be found in Mr. Johnson's short story collection, Angel Dust Apocalypse. Without giving too much away, we meet Dean in the last days before World War III, a young man who believes that he can survive the aftermath of a nuclear war if he's wearing a suit made of cockroaches. As the story ends, Dean is proved correct.
Extinction Journals follows Dean around as he makes his way through the nuclear bomb ravaged wasteland of what was once the USA. He struggles to find food and water, all the while wondering if his "suit" will, out of desperation and hunger, turn on him. Along the way, he meets a new god, borne out of mankind's collective unconscious. Neither Dean nor the reader is sure whether or not he's hallucinating, but considering he just survived a nuclear war we have to give him some leeway.
Ultimately, Dean meets other entomologically enlightened individuals who are struggling to put some sense to this brave new world. At that point, they must decide how life will exist, post-humanity, or if it will exist at all.
JRJ has a knack for characterization, even if those characters are a bit twisted. Dean is a nice enough guy, but one has to really be out there to conceive of fashioning a suit out of cockroaches in order to survive a nuclear war. And his descriptions of the nuclear wasteland are convincingly real, making you shudder (and question Dean's desire to live to see it).
The story was way too short. While readers don't need to be familiar with the short story that preceded this novella, it definitely helps. Adding it as a preface, while driving up the publishing costs, would have enhanced the reading experience for new readers of JRJ's work.
I also had a feeling of repetition between Dean's encounters. It was as if he were stumbling upon the same old irradiated buildings he wandered into earlier.
Lastly, I was hoping for more of an exploration of the relationship between Dean and his suit. I really couldn't get the sense that the symbiosis between man and roach was evolving until the very end. Maybe evolution itself works like that. Rather than gradual changes, we get abrupt "do or die" situations.
While I enjoyed this book, I feel that, for the reasons stated above, it falls short of JRJ's previous works. Newcomers should pick up his earlier works first before coming here. Fans of JRJ's work will still want to add this to their collections.
Extinction Journals follows Dean around as he makes his way through the nuclear bomb ravaged wasteland of what was once the USA. He struggles to find food and water, all the while wondering if his "suit" will, out of desperation and hunger, turn on him. Along the way, he meets a new god, borne out of mankind's collective unconscious. Neither Dean nor the reader is sure whether or not he's hallucinating, but considering he just survived a nuclear war we have to give him some leeway.
Ultimately, Dean meets other entomologically enlightened individuals who are struggling to put some sense to this brave new world. At that point, they must decide how life will exist, post-humanity, or if it will exist at all.
JRJ has a knack for characterization, even if those characters are a bit twisted. Dean is a nice enough guy, but one has to really be out there to conceive of fashioning a suit out of cockroaches in order to survive a nuclear war. And his descriptions of the nuclear wasteland are convincingly real, making you shudder (and question Dean's desire to live to see it).
The story was way too short. While readers don't need to be familiar with the short story that preceded this novella, it definitely helps. Adding it as a preface, while driving up the publishing costs, would have enhanced the reading experience for new readers of JRJ's work.
I also had a feeling of repetition between Dean's encounters. It was as if he were stumbling upon the same old irradiated buildings he wandered into earlier.
Lastly, I was hoping for more of an exploration of the relationship between Dean and his suit. I really couldn't get the sense that the symbiosis between man and roach was evolving until the very end. Maybe evolution itself works like that. Rather than gradual changes, we get abrupt "do or die" situations.
While I enjoyed this book, I feel that, for the reasons stated above, it falls short of JRJ's previous works. Newcomers should pick up his earlier works first before coming here. Fans of JRJ's work will still want to add this to their collections.
March 2, 2010
Jeremy Robert Johnson seems to pride himself very much on how esteemed author Chuck Palahniuk spoke of him and his collection "Angel Dust Apocalypse": "A dazzling writer. Seriously amazing short stories - and I love short stories. Like the best of Tobias Wolff. While I read them, they made time stand still. That's great." I myself have never read anything from Palahniuk, nor have I been exposed to the short story within "Angel Dust Apocalypse" which apparently precedes the plot of this novella, but regardless, I am thoroughly impressed with Johnson's writing ability and with "Extinction Journals."
The post-apocalyptic survival scenario is always so fascinating because of how broad, how devastating, how wonderful the storytelling experience is. It is a situation that usually begins (or...ends) very similarly, then continues completely upon the author's individual imagination. The settings of most bizarro fiction pieces have a tone teetering on the brink of an apocalyptic nightmare, but tend to keep a steady course of otherworldly dystopia. (See "Ass Goblins of Auschwitz," "The Baby Jesus Butt Plug," etc.) What makes "Extinction Journals" so much more extraordinary than some other bizarro novellas is the balance of realism in spite of the necessity for weirdness. Yes, Dean does live day by day wearing a suit constructed of live cockroaches, but his personality and his strive for survival in a meaningless wasteland and his doubting the value of bothering to continue on are all immensely relatable to the modern pre-apocalyptic human condition. "Extinction Journals" manages to not only entertain with moderated absurdity but also attach the reader to an adventure not far off from those of our own. So quote Palahniuk as much as you'd like, Johnson, because I will gladly keep reading as long as you keep writing.
The post-apocalyptic survival scenario is always so fascinating because of how broad, how devastating, how wonderful the storytelling experience is. It is a situation that usually begins (or...ends) very similarly, then continues completely upon the author's individual imagination. The settings of most bizarro fiction pieces have a tone teetering on the brink of an apocalyptic nightmare, but tend to keep a steady course of otherworldly dystopia. (See "Ass Goblins of Auschwitz," "The Baby Jesus Butt Plug," etc.) What makes "Extinction Journals" so much more extraordinary than some other bizarro novellas is the balance of realism in spite of the necessity for weirdness. Yes, Dean does live day by day wearing a suit constructed of live cockroaches, but his personality and his strive for survival in a meaningless wasteland and his doubting the value of bothering to continue on are all immensely relatable to the modern pre-apocalyptic human condition. "Extinction Journals" manages to not only entertain with moderated absurdity but also attach the reader to an adventure not far off from those of our own. So quote Palahniuk as much as you'd like, Johnson, because I will gladly keep reading as long as you keep writing.
December 28, 2013
This book is a creative and interesting conclusion to "The Sharp Dressed Man At the End of the Line" from Angel Dust Apocalypse. Just like the latter, the author does a great job building a world that instantly immersed me. The imagination involved in creating the story is off the charts. I read this nonstop, as it flowed with no effort on my part. I will be reading "We Live Inside You" very soon.
January 4, 2019
3.5 stars.
October 1, 2015
A beautifully grotesque novella.
May 20, 2019
This was a fun, fast read about a man who navigates a nuclear-blasted wasteland in a suit he put together from cockroaches. You know you're in for some heavy duty absurdity and satire when the story starts off with the hero running into the President of the United States in a suit made of Twinkies. One of the steady pleasures of this book is encountering the various doomed, grotesque ways people have tried to survive the nuclear war they saw coming. What really drives the story though is Dean, the main character, his inner even more than his outer conflicts as he comes to grips with his situation and his emerging place in a wasted world. His interior monologues are dark and often hilarious. I loved the ending and what it reveals about the narrator. I also really enjoyed the notes, here and there, of Kurt Vonnegut.
August 15, 2017
WELL...that was something.
March 13, 2015
Το τέλος του κόσμου ήρθε με πυρηνικά. Ο πρωταγωνιστής μας περιφέρεται σε μια κατεστραμμένη Ουάσινγκτον, φορώντας ένα κοστούμι καλυμμένο από ζωντανές κατσαρίδες, το οποίο είναι απαραίτητο για την επιβίωση του. Οι κατσαρίδες μπορούν να επιβιώσουν μετά από μια πυρηνική έκρηξη, σωστά; Είναι ανεκτικές στην ραδιενέργεια. Γι'αυτό και ο τρελός μας πρωταγωνιστής, ονόματι Ντην, έφτιαξε ένα τέτοιο κοστούμι, λίγο πριν σκάσουν οι μπόμπες. Και τώρα, σε μια μεταπυρηνική Αμερική, αντιμέτωπος με την μοναξιά και την ραδιενέργεια, προσπαθεί να επιβιώσει. Από κει και πέρα αρχίζουν κάποια ακόμα πιο τρελά πράγματα, που πρέπει να διαβάσετε το βιβλίο για να τα δείτε.
Κακά τα ψέματα, το βιβλίο είναι αρκετά τρελό και σε σημεία σουρεαλιστικό για να το πάρει κανείς στα σοβαρά. Όμως είναι άκρως ψυχαγωγικό και ενδιαφέρον, ιδιαίτερα καλογραμμένο και ευκολοδιάβαστο, που διαβάζεται απνευστί. Βοηθάει φυσικά το μικρό μέγεθος, αλλά το κύριον προσόν του είναι ότι τραβάει την προσοχή του αναγνώστη από την πρώτη πρόταση (χωρίς υπερβολή!).
Η ελληνική έκδοση της Jemma Press, με το πολύ όμορφο εξώφυλλο του Χρήστου Μαρτίνη και την ιδιαίτερα προσεγμένη μετάφραση του Νίκου Ρούσσου, περιέχει και το διήγημα Ο καλοντυμένος άντρας στο τέλος της γραμμής, που μπορεί ουσιαστικά να λειτουργήσει σαν πρίκουελ της νουβέλας, μιας και γνωρίζουμε για πρώτη φορά τον Ντην τον κατσαριδάκια.
Ίσως να μην είναι για όλα τα γούστα, αλλά θα το πρότεινα σε αυτούς που θέλουν να διαβάσουν μια διαφορετική, μια πιο τρελή μετά-αποκαλυπτική ιστορία τρόμου.
Κακά τα ψέματα, το βιβλίο είναι αρκετά τρελό και σε σημεία σουρεαλιστικό για να το πάρει κανείς στα σοβαρά. Όμως είναι άκρως ψυχαγωγικό και ενδιαφέρον, ιδιαίτερα καλογραμμένο και ευκολοδιάβαστο, που διαβάζεται απνευστί. Βοηθάει φυσικά το μικρό μέγεθος, αλλά το κύριον προσόν του είναι ότι τραβάει την προσοχή του αναγνώστη από την πρώτη πρόταση (χωρίς υπερβολή!).
Η ελληνική έκδοση της Jemma Press, με το πολύ όμορφο εξώφυλλο του Χρήστου Μαρτίνη και την ιδιαίτερα προσεγμένη μετάφραση του Νίκου Ρούσσου, περιέχει και το διήγημα Ο καλοντυμένος άντρας στο τέλος της γραμμής, που μπορεί ουσιαστικά να λειτουργήσει σαν πρίκουελ της νουβέλας, μιας και γνωρίζουμε για πρώτη φορά τον Ντην τον κατσαριδάκια.
Ίσως να μην είναι για όλα τα γούστα, αλλά θα το πρότεινα σε αυτούς που θέλουν να διαβάσουν μια διαφορετική, μια πιο τρελή μετά-αποκαλυπτική ιστορία τρόμου.
September 21, 2010
I pulled this book off a re-shelving cart at the Copley BPL, and I'll admit, I did so entirely because the cover and the title looked cool.
Certainly Johnson delivers on bizarro thrills, and if what you crave in your apocalyptic-sci-fi world is just a little more human-insect sex, then you'll be on the right track when you pick up this book.
There are some haunting and surreal ideas, to be sure, but it stretches on a while too long. I felt as though the whole thing would have made a really taut short-story, and indeed, it was originally. As a story I hope that the density of strangeness would give it some added gravitas. As a novel, or maybe "novella" would be more accurate, it never gets beyond surface level strangeness.
Certainly Johnson delivers on bizarro thrills, and if what you crave in your apocalyptic-sci-fi world is just a little more human-insect sex, then you'll be on the right track when you pick up this book.
There are some haunting and surreal ideas, to be sure, but it stretches on a while too long. I felt as though the whole thing would have made a really taut short-story, and indeed, it was originally. As a story I hope that the density of strangeness would give it some added gravitas. As a novel, or maybe "novella" would be more accurate, it never gets beyond surface level strangeness.
September 4, 2016
Possibly the worst book I have ever read. The best part was when I fell asleep reading and had a horrible nightmare that my entire family was slipping one by one down a drain ditch that led to a 1000 foot fall and certain death. I woke up with a start as I fell into the abyss trying to save Betty only to have this wretched tale lying on my chest alongside my purple reading glasses. I finished reading it just to forget about the nightmare. I would describe this book the exact same way my pessimistic baby describes kindergarten, "tewwrible".
March 20, 2014
Impressively bonkers stuff.
February 8, 2017
Παραξενο,ιδιαιτερο,τρελλο!Ωραια γραφη εξυπνη ιδεα,αρκετο χιουμορ και splatterpunk σκηνες.Το συστηνω.
July 30, 2010
Very unique, interesting and engaging story. Cockroaches can indeed survive anything!
March 24, 2018
Have you ever wondered how it would be to wear a customized business suit coated in living cockroaches on the eve of nuclear destruction?
No?
Bizarre...
A man who anticipates a nuclear war designs a suit made of cockroaches (70% of them being unkillable Blattella germanica). It's perfectly logical, isn't it? They say that only cockroaches can survive the atomic blast.
Dean meets the President clothed in Twinkie suit. Twinkies are tasty so his living coat eats the President and his Twinkie suit. Later on he meets a god-like creature who has come back for mankind only to find a few men left on devastated Earth.
The book follows Dean's journey after food and water. He meets few other survivors and finds love.
I have a regime - one bizarro book per month. I like to discover what sits on the fringe of a normal storytelling and I like to challenge my imagination.
While I appreciate some ideas and imagery conveyed in this one I didn't like it. I didn't expect to relate to a guy who walks through a post-apocalyptic earth in a suit made of cockroaches who may, eventually, eat him. However, I expected a bit more development in the story. There was very little of it.
It's short. It was cool to read it. But truth be told, I didn't like this one.
December 15, 2021
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
This book raises the question of what can survive an all out nuclear holocaust. The answer is clearly cockroaches and tTwinkies The other answer is ants, which you don’t find out until closer to the end of the book.
The main character plans his apocalypse surviving outfit out in advance. He tries out a few different models and settles on a suit from J. C. Penney with cockroaches sewn on in a way where they don’t eat each other. After everything happens, the way he had made the suit actually makes it so he can sleep and still travel because the cockroaches walk for him.
He runs into the president who survived with a Twinkie suit. The cockroaches eat him. That is seriously the best part. The man watches in horror as the president is eaten inches from his flesh. So graphic and cool.
This is the longer version of a story found in Angel Dust Apocalypse. Both books are fantastic. They are both quick reads and should be read in one sitting so you are forced to live through it all at once which makes it even more powerful.
This book raises the question of what can survive an all out nuclear holocaust. The answer is clearly cockroaches and tTwinkies The other answer is ants, which you don’t find out until closer to the end of the book.
The main character plans his apocalypse surviving outfit out in advance. He tries out a few different models and settles on a suit from J. C. Penney with cockroaches sewn on in a way where they don’t eat each other. After everything happens, the way he had made the suit actually makes it so he can sleep and still travel because the cockroaches walk for him.
He runs into the president who survived with a Twinkie suit. The cockroaches eat him. That is seriously the best part. The man watches in horror as the president is eaten inches from his flesh. So graphic and cool.
This is the longer version of a story found in Angel Dust Apocalypse. Both books are fantastic. They are both quick reads and should be read in one sitting so you are forced to live through it all at once which makes it even more powerful.
October 22, 2017
A dude named Dean survives the nuclear holocause with a suit made of live cockroaches, and the story opens up with the suit eating a freshly dead, twinkie-suit-wearing George W. Bush. So, right off the bat, you know you're dealing with a JRJ production. The story continues much in that same vein, with each new scene trying to gross you out more than the one before. After being contacted by some otherworldly "collective energy," or something like that, by the name of Yahmuhwesu who endows Dean with the ability to communicate and coordinate with his huit. They travel into the country to find food and other ingredients for survival, and Dean comes a cross a few survivors that are all disgusting in their own right. There was a good bit of humor sprinkled throughout the story; the Dean - Yahmuchwesu interaction was particularly funny. The one reason I'm not giving it a 5/5 is that I don't really think it was quite good enough for me to consider reading again.
January 19, 2020
Ένα ακόμη βιβλίο για μια πυρηνική καταστροφή και τους ανθρώπους που επιβιώνουν την αποκάλυψη. Μόλις η ιστορία αρχίζει όμως παρατηρείς πως κάτι διαφέρει σε αυτήν εδώ. Μια παράξενη ιδέα-ενα κοστούμι από κατσαρίδες-και ο άνθρωπος που κατάφερε να επιβιώσει από τον βέβαιο θάνατο με μόνο του όπλο την παράνοια και την εμμονή του με τον φόβο του θανάτου.
Είναι σκοτεινή, φρέσκια με πολύ γρήγορους ρυθμούς. Το ύφος πολλές φορές ωμό και σαρκαστικό, με λίγα λόγια θα σε κάνει να γυρίσεις γρήγορα τις σελίδες μέχρι το τέλος.
Το τέλος όμως το βρήκα λίγο απογοητευτικο. Ενώ ήταν μέσα στο θέμα της ιστορίας και ήταν συνεπές με το όλο νόημα του χαρακτήρα, δηλαδή την άνευ όρων προσκόλληση του με την ζωή, το βρήκα λίγο αδιάφορο και προβλέψιμο. Όλη η ιστορία με προετοίμαζε για κάτι εξίσου φρέσκο, εντυπωσιακό και καινοτόμο αλλά εν τέλει δεν μου φάνηκε πως απέδωσε. Παρόλα αυτά θα έλεγα ήταν ευχάριστο βιβλίο που είχε οπωσδήποτε τις καλές στιγμές του.
Είναι σκοτεινή, φρέσκια με πολύ γρήγορους ρυθμούς. Το ύφος πολλές φορές ωμό και σαρκαστικό, με λίγα λόγια θα σε κάνει να γυρίσεις γρήγορα τις σελίδες μέχρι το τέλος.
Το τέλος όμως το βρήκα λίγο απογοητευτικο. Ενώ ήταν μέσα στο θέμα της ιστορίας και ήταν συνεπές με το όλο νόημα του χαρακτήρα, δηλαδή την άνευ όρων προσκόλληση του με την ζωή, το βρήκα λίγο αδιάφορο και προβλέψιμο. Όλη η ιστορία με προετοίμαζε για κάτι εξίσου φρέσκο, εντυπωσιακό και καινοτόμο αλλά εν τέλει δεν μου φάνηκε πως απέδωσε. Παρόλα αυτά θα έλεγα ήταν ευχάριστο βιβλίο που είχε οπωσδήποτε τις καλές στιγμές του.
March 12, 2018
Jeremy Robert Johnson is widely revered in the Bizarro community for his superior writing chops.
Unfortunately, I’m woefully behind the times. I’ve read a few of his short stories, I’ve got a few of his books just hanging around, but this is the first full work of his I’ve read. I love the concept. Absolutely love it. I’ve been meaning to read this one for quite a long time. The execution is strange and fantastic, and Johnson’s attention to detail is delightfully disturbing. This little book is wildly entertaining and surprisingly heartfelt, and I think it’s the perfect gateway drug to Johnson’s body of work. It’s a little surreal, but mostly it happens in the moment and it’s raw and real and strangely human despite its absurdity. I think I’ll have to tackle Skullcrack City next, which I believe is an entirely different monster, but I can’t wait to dive into more of his writing.
Unfortunately, I’m woefully behind the times. I’ve read a few of his short stories, I’ve got a few of his books just hanging around, but this is the first full work of his I’ve read. I love the concept. Absolutely love it. I’ve been meaning to read this one for quite a long time. The execution is strange and fantastic, and Johnson’s attention to detail is delightfully disturbing. This little book is wildly entertaining and surprisingly heartfelt, and I think it’s the perfect gateway drug to Johnson’s body of work. It’s a little surreal, but mostly it happens in the moment and it’s raw and real and strangely human despite its absurdity. I think I’ll have to tackle Skullcrack City next, which I believe is an entirely different monster, but I can’t wait to dive into more of his writing.
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December 13, 2022Cockroaches will survive the apocalypse, so a cockroach suit will protect you. If you disregard that idea as foolish then you will not like the book.
Still here ? Good, you made the right choice. You're in for a buddy road trip, where one of the buddies is a low form of intelligence struggling to survive.
The other one, is cockroaches.
And then, it starts to become weird.
Still here ? Good, you made the right choice. You're in for a buddy road trip, where one of the buddies is a low form of intelligence struggling to survive.
The other one, is cockroaches.
And then, it starts to become weird.
June 19, 2019
Weirdest post-apocalyptic story I’ve ever read. Starts with a man’s suit made of cockroaches eating the president (and his suit made of Twinkies) and just gets stranger. Up to par with the rest of Jeremy Robert Johnson’s work.
April 18, 2020
+ I like the way he writes (sometimes using more phrases/words in a sentence like this)
+ Funny in a weird way
+ I loved the main character
- waaaayyy too short
- Would have liked to read the story before, how did it get to this point
- no dragons
+ Funny in a weird way
+ I loved the main character
- waaaayyy too short
- Would have liked to read the story before, how did it get to this point
- no dragons
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