This is the weirdest book I’ve ever read. Luckily, it’s supposed to be weird. I’ve never read anything like it, which ensures that it’s unforgettable. Although I can’t say that I loved The Exploding Book, I will say that I found the writing style, structure and concept impressive. A great deal of thought has gone into crafting this strange piece of literary art.
The setting of the story is Gladeville, a sinister village where everyone is under the influence of the Dark Book. People seem distant and efficient, with no understanding of love and death. The library explodes and that’s what kicks off the villagers’ investigation into the realities of their enclosed world. So far, so strange. By the end of the story I was laughing in amazement at what the author decided to do with this text. One of the merits of the book is that after the halfway point, it’s not at all predictable. This kept me reading on, to see what bizarre thing was going to happen next. I never would’ve guessed. I did like the over-the-top weirdness. It was also interesting that the narrative was mainly second-person – ‘you’ (the reader) flying invisibly around the village spying on the characters. There are many images (or symbols) throughout, such as the yellow light bulbs, golden temple, square rooms, black print, black shoes, pink boxes, blissful expressions. It’s left for you to interpret how you will. There are a few sex scenes which are mercifully brief and described in an odd way (but of course they would be).
I found the frequent repetition of the same (or similar) phrases and sentences to be irritating. This repetition is a key element of the writing style and gives it an almost biblical tone which is exasperating unless you enjoy that kind of style. Without it, I would have enjoyed this book more.
If you like far-out concepts and plots which get increasingly odd, give The Exploding Book a try. I’m hesitating to call it a novel. It felt like a philosophy essay or maybe a hallucination.
Thank you to Jay at StrangeBooks for the review copy. This book was independently published in April and is available in both Kindle and paperback formats.
An hallucination. It has been decades since I’ve read a book that was labeled as such. That, of course, puts it on my TBR list immediately! Great review of what is obviously a very strange book.
It’s a strange book all right… I’ll be interested to hear what you think!
I would also note that it’s got no typos (that I noticed) which I find is unusual for any book these days.
Kudos to reading something different from your usual genres! I love your honest review as always. From your review of the writing style, don’t think I’d give it a go…Great review once again, NS! ❤️
Thanks Jee ? I don’t often accept books for review but this one certainly sounded different! Wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea – and I don’t think you would like it – but for readers who like far out concepts it would be ideal.
Wow, what a review! I love the title of this book and I’m very curious about all that weirdness! The explosion of the library had me cringe!!! Not a fan of repetition, but I’m really interested!
It starts off weird and just gets weirder! If you want something completely different and are open to far out ideas… ☺
Now this sounds up my alley ?? A whole lot of weirdness!?! Let’s go for it!! Fab review, I’ve never heard of this before but it’s going on the tbr ?
LOL if you want weird, this is the book for you! Thanks ?
Strange! Great review thou.
Thank you 🙂
Very strange book indeed!
Good review. I hope this didn’t post twice. That would be Strange
Thanks 😀
It only posted once. So, not particularly strange.