John Dies at the End

This is one of my favorite books, so it's hard for me to review it without just glowing about it and generally writing "If this sounds remotely entertaining, READ IT IMMEDIATELY!!!" I'll try to say something useful and not simply fawn. The most important thing to point out is that this book works extremely well on two levels: it is a horror story, and a very effective one. I'm a horror fan, and it is rare to find a book or movie this genuinely creepy. However, it's also some of the best humor I've ever read. Not just any comedy though - EXTREMELY bizarre and nerdy comedy. It's the kind of book where you can't help but laugh out loud at lines like this: "That ability to see the right choice, but not until several hours have passed since making the wrong one? That's what makes a person a dumbass, folks." "Welcome to freakdom, Dave. It'll be time to start a website soon, where you'll type out everything in one huge paragraph. It was like dying." Sooooooooo quotable... Don't get me started on the lines about Anne Rice, the Grapes of Wrath, plum-flavored liquor from the Czech Republic... ("like the juice from a single plum was squeezed into a fifty-five gallon drum of paint thinner". I drank this stuff in Prague!! Except it was a single pear instead of a plum.) Our two heroes, John and Dave, are brilliant and lovable deadbeats. As a graduate of a large state university with a lot of fantastically smart people who aren't doing a whole lot with their lives, Dave and John are laugh-out-loud familiar. If the book has any flaw, it's that it's a little disjointed. Once you finish the book on the Kindle version, there's a brief essay from the author about how the book actually came about, which is that it was originally separate stories he published on the internet that are loosely connected in a single universe by the main characters. The different parts in the book are related, but they feel a bit like seasons on a TV show at times. All of the plots are interesting and the writing is consistently funny and inventive throughout. However, some might object to the way the story jumps. It didn't bother me. Anyways, back to my original point. If the summary sounds even slightly interesting... If you enjoy horror movies... If you enjoy intelligent nerdy comedy... Better yet, if you loved movies like "The Cabin in the Woods", don't think twice. Just buy. It's fantastic.

I've structured this review in a PROS/CONS format, with a final verdict afterwards. Where applicable, I will use [SPOILER][/SPOILER] tags. Throughout, I will abbreviate "John Dies at the End" as JDATE and I will refer to the author by his pseudonym, David Wong. If necessary, I will differentiate between the pseudonym David Wong and the character David Wong with either a (p) or (c) suffixing the name, although context should determine the differentiation. PROS Energetic Writing Style: While I wouldn't call Wong's writing style prolific, it certainly is inlaid with momentum and energy, leading JDATE to be one of those books where I kept saying, "just one more page, just one more chapter." The writing style makes sense given that JDATE was first released as a web serial, but I think it works (for the most part) for the full-length release. Rarely did I feel Wong was dragging his feet with description or details that needed to be edited out. Wild Imagery: Whether or not you agree with me will likely depend on the genres you read the most, but I found much of Wong's imagery to be fresh and unique, with only the occasional over-the-top tidbit here or there. By using a casual, comedic tone, Wong is able to draw comparisons between the images in the story to facets of our everyday lives that a more "academic" writer might avoid. Narration Voice: As mentioned above, the voice Wong uses is casual and comedic, with some healthy sarcasm and self-deprecation thrown in. In many ways it's a suitable voice for those of Wong's generation and for the off-the-wall story of JDATE, it's a perfect fit. After reading JDATE, you'll feel as if you know both Wong(c) and Wong(p) personally and I wouldn't be surprised to find that Wong's(p) personal communications have a very similar voice. Twists: There are twists. I won't mention them here, but there are a good number of them. Considering how M. Night Shyamalan really neutered the idea of the twist, I was relieved to see Wong do a decent job with them. Thankfully the twists don't define the story and even without them, JDATE would be an enjoyable read. CONS Construction Overuse: About halfway through I began noticing a few sentence constructions used over and over -- certain similes constructions, double negatives spring to mind immediately. In a web serial format, this is excusable but I'm not sure how I feel about it in the full-length release. On the one hand, I like the idea of reading the original (although I'm sure some editing happened) but on the other, I think Wong missed an opportunity to tighten up his writing. Sloppy Middle: From the halfway mark through the 80% mark or so, the story really began to drag. My motivation to keep turning pages shifted from the energetic writing to a desire to rediscover "the good stuff". And that's the problem -- some of Wong's best stuff is in the first leg of the story and it's *so* good that it makes later chapters look weak in comparison. Once again, I wonder if massive edits would've been appropriate or if some better approach to the partitioning of the story could've prevented comparing later chapters with earlier ones in an unfavorable way. Twists: Yes, I mentioned 'Twists' as a PRO above but they were also a bit of a CON. Wong takes some healthy risks with his twists, but in doing so treads *very* closely to rewriting earlier parts of the story by using a "It really happened like this" type approach. I enjoyed the rest of the book so I'm able to excuse these revisionist twists, but other readers may find themselves frustrated by feeling like they aren't being told the entire story (a.k.a. What's the point of reading if it's essential a lie?). [SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!] Uneven Resolution: I wasn't crazy about the ending. It felt pretty flat and non-committal, not to mention that I kept expecting John to die. And, from what I can tell, he did not. Which either makes the book's title a playful joke (everyone does die... eventually) or a cheap trick. I'm still searching online for some other thoughts on this because I *want* to believe it's the former, but at the moment I'm feeling more of the latter. Beyond that though, the end of JDATE simply sputtered out without making good on the stakes raised throughout the story. My guess is that because Wong(p) is planning to write more, there wasn't a need for a full on ending but regardless, it was disappointing. [/SPOILERS OVER!] FINAL VERDICT JDATE is a blend of comedy and horror (as is JDate, incidentally), though I did find that the comedy weakened the horror. That being said, the comedy is great (if somewhat immature at times) and while I didn't quite laugh out loud like other reviewers, I did snicker to myself quite a bit. In general, I thought JDATE needed to be a little shorter. The energy and comedy would've had more impact and there wouldn't have been as much an issue with the plot dragging or the overuse of certain sentence constructions. That being said, I enjoyed it quite a bit regardless and would recommend it to others (if you're on the fence try a sample first). At best, you'll get a great, unique story and at worst you'll have supported a true indie project.

This book isn't for everyone. Let's get that out of the way first. The next thing that I usually get to is what I like, so that the author doesn't go out and find me in order to enact some bloody revenge. Plot: David Wong talks to a reporter about the strange things that happen around him. The book is broken up into several novellas that are strung together into proper novel to give a type of origin story. The first story gives a basic description of his life and the types of people that he has to deal with. The story picks up on his friend, John delving into a new drug called soy sauce and the story quickly goes from 2 to 11 on the weird scale. Monsters appear, we meet some new characters and we get the first hand look of the coming of the shadow men, a recurring monster. This is only part one of the book and it is difficult to not give the story away without discussing the other two stories or the ending. Characters: David Wong is pretty average American living in one of the most haunted towns in the world. To explain his character in a nut shell, reluctant hero. He wants a normal life, he is a cynic, and has bad decision making skills. John: John is that eternal college party guy. The type of person who lives the life that people think rock stars have, if they were poor. He functions as the comic relief but also the person who pushes the plot on. Style: First perspective narrative. The comedy in the book is a little hit or miss but for me I found myself openly laughing several times. It isn't the kind of book that you can read through in one go. The book takes a modern day go at the Lovecraft style of horror with cosmic beings that either don't like us or see us as cattle. The writer does make an assortment of interesting original monsters and creatures with different powers, but the characters also try to make light of the situation, mostly because they don't know what they are doing or they are frightened. What I like: I think that there are good parts to this book with interesting characters, interesting monsters, and some mystery thrown in. If you like horror and comedy I would suggest that you read it. What I don't like: Is this book going to change you life? No. To me it felt like a one off read, but I also don't regret buying it. What I don't like is that this book isn't on audible despite that the sequels are.

Um dos melhores livros de ficção que já li, mesmo com alguns problemas (vou tratar abaixo). A prosa é muito envolvente, com boas técnicas de prender a atenção e dificultar que você largue a leitura — e isso vindo de alguém que só tem conseguido ler raramente, por cansaço mental de trabalhar com leitura e escrita. Além disso, a mescla de um estilo de comédia absurda e esperta estilo Douglas Adams, uma marca própria de terror cósmico que vai para muito além de uma simples paródia de Lovecraft, e o suspense psicológico que lembra Stephen King (com um pouco mais de conteúdo "quinta-série" politicamente incorreto) geram uma obra muito diversa, que te faz gargalhar alto e logo depois cravar as unhas na pele por alguma descrição grotesca ou sanguinolenta. Os pontos negativos que eu destacaria são principalmente o humor politicamente incorreto que comentei acima. O livro foi escrito no início dos anos 2000, e a quantidade de termos ofensivos incomoda um tanto quase 25 anos depois. Apesar disso, o livro tem momentos de vulnerabilidade emocional dos mesmos personagens responsáveis pelas piadas e comentários horrorosos (John e David), o que indica que talvez o coração deles (e do autor da obra) esteja "num lugar certo". Boa parte do conteúdo mais "mundo real" do livro está focado em condenar preconceitos e conservadorismo incoerente, então creio que a linguagem odiosa não venha de uma mente alinhada com discursos de ódio. Ainda assim, é difícil recomendar a leitura pra pessoas mais sensíveis a esse tipo de """piada""", o que fica ainda mais difícil ao levar em conta que quase nenhuma personagem feminina no livro tem alguma profundidade (mas a Amy é muito bem escrita, apesar de mais rasa do que os dois principais). Outro ponto fraco é que, por se tratar de uma história publicada serialmente ao longo de vários anos, a coesão do texto não é exatamente um primor. Mas, ainda assim, os três arcos de história funcionam muito bem, e o livro atiça a curiosidade de saber o que virá nas continuações, que foram escritas de forma mais convencional. Eu adoraria que esse livro e suas continuações tivessem uma versão em Português, pois isso facilitaria recomendar / presentear amizades que poderiam gostar do livro, mas têm uma barreira linguística total ou parcial (entendem o idioma, mas se cansam bem mais rápido da leitura). A ponto de que, mesmo com os problemas, eu penso que seria um trabalho de ouro fazer a tradução destas obras eu mesmo, caso alguma editora se interessasse (XD). Aguardando as próximas férias do trabalho para continuar essa tetralogia.

Una specie di stoner horror-comedy misto SciFy. Il libro è in Inglese. Ci hanno tratto un film fantastico con Paul Giamatti, presentato al Sundance Festival e uscito nel 2013. Se leggete questo, leggerete anche il libro successivo, che riprende la storia alla fine di questo. Consigliatissimo, inoltre al solito Amazon Prime è ineccepibile, il libro mi è arrivato dall'Inghilterra dopo nemmeno 3 giorni.

I cannot describe the feeling you have when you read this book... Just give it a try read it please !

This book is a trip. Is it well-written? No. Does it have a cohesive and meaningful plot? No. Is it entertaining? Oh, yeah. Written as an online serial by a guy who wrote at work in his spare time in a cubicle at an insurance company, the story is inventive and fresh and it will spin your head around. Not a great book. Not a work of literature. Not something that's going to be bound in leather and stamped in gold and treasured. But it's worth a read. Read it at night ... alone ... in the dark.