The first thing that I knew I would love about the book even before I read it was the writing style. I've read works by David Wong before, he's one of the writers on a very funny and informative website called Cracked.com. Most of the publicity for the book was done on that site and that site is the reason I picked the book in the first place. I figured that if the book was written in a similar style to the site that I would love it, and boy was I right. David uses a potent yet balanced mix of humor and horror, knowing how to really make you laugh as well as really make you want to throw up. The way he describes events, objects, and people are stunning and you can always relate to the description. He doesn't describe things in a boring way nor does he use an extensive vocabulary that makes things difficult to understand. One of my favorite scenes is when David realizes something strange about the cop watching him in the room and as soon as he realizes it he is attacked by said cop:
<< 'A jolt of pain shot up my thigh, like I had kneed over a pile of cinder blocks. But I felt him give, pushed back by the force. The mustache bat flittered over to my ear and clamped down, feeling like somebody doing five piercings at once. I slapped at it again, suddenly realized the cop had reeled back and fallen to a knee on the floor. I should have been free of him but the hand was still around my face.
Ah, look at that. His arm came off.' >> pg. 66
The style in which everything was described is just so intriguing that it's hard not to keep reading. Another good thing about the writing of the book is the dialogue. When people talk to each other, you can just feel the emotions dripping off of every word. The way they speak is easy to imagine and it's just so natural that you'd think the conversations actually happened. David Wong also worked on making the dialogue very humorous and his hard work payed off. In various scenes, the most 'riveting' from when Dave is talking with John, the dialogue made me laugh out loud. David did quite an amazing job with really dragging you into the world that he's created.
It's a very difficult thing to pick a single of my favorite characters so i've decided to talk about the two main characters, Dave and John. John is the more... eccentric of the two, providing endless humor in dire situations. In one situation, the group of teenagers (including Dave and John) are attacked by hideous monsters that dig their scorpion-like tails into unsuspecting people. It sounds like a very gruesome scene and it was, at first; John, however, lightened the mood completely by spouting puns whenever he killed one of the monsters using a chair. By saying things like 'You've been sentenced to the chair!' and so forth, John almost makes you forget about how serious of a situation he's in. I believe that's what the character himself was trying to do as well, distract himself from the things at hand. Dave takes notice of this too and often comments on how stupid John is and how immature he's acting. John also likes to over-exaggerate things as well, saying that a certain thing happened when something entirely different is what actually occurred. One of the best examples of this is too long to cite, but it involves John's recollection of events; the story that he tells is completely insane and hilarious but it's obvious that it didn't happen at all. At the end of the story that John says, David notes what possibly (and probably) occurred.
That brings me to David, the main protagonist of the book. David is the level-headed one and often maintains a stern and kind of depressing personality towards events. Although he can be very humorous at times, his mood is usually crushed by something within the next few moments. At one point David tries to say a pun after killing a creature but is interrupted by a loud noise, a satirization of how John's puns lightened the mood. The way that his mood is crushed is always ironic though, providing a kind of 'sadistic' humor. David always knows the right way to think and has the same kind of thoughts about something that an average person would have, allowing for a much better connection between reader and character. Most people are like, or know someone like David; someone who's always killing the mood but can have a light side as well. Because of the way that he treats all of the situations he's in, the story becomes very realistic and allows you to really challenge what you believe is real or not. I believe that was the overall goal of the whole book though, to make you really think about the perspective of reality.
That's all I really have to say about the book, those two aspects of it are really what gives it that extra PUNCH that all books should have. Overall it's an amazing book, the plot is magnificent and very original and the characters are fleshed out beautifully; though things might get confusing at times, it all evens out once you get to the end of the book. David Wong did a fantastic job with this book and all of his hard work payed off. I most definitely recommend this book to all of my friends and family, anyone that can withstand a fair amount of dark humor as well as some grotesque imaging. I intend on reading this book more than four times throughout my life because I just have this gut feeling that it gets better with every read.
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