Return of the Rogue Readers discussion

Sorry guys, I left the door unlocked and a couple of bickering school-children got in and made a mess of the discussion. I deleted the vandalism, so now we can have our nice, friendly discussion of John Dies at the End!

I will start. In the first chapter or two I had a few moments where I feared I was reading one of those stories where the author will weave a stinky web of increasingly absurd and unpalatable nonsense in a juvenile attempt to be shocking and funny. A foul stew of toilet humor and cheap jokes brewed up by a man who simultaneously screams "Look at me! Look at me! I am funny and brave!" while also expecting to be taken seriously as an artist.

That was not the case in this book. There were a few cringe moments for me, some things felt like low-hanging fruit or the sort of jokes where someone told the author to pump up the Family Guy-ness, but overall I enjoyed it. I found it was just crazy enough to keep me guessing while also keeping me interested. Once the story picked up there were fewer and fewer of those cringe moments and by the end of the book I was almost completely into it, which is rare when it comes to things that humans find funny.

I enjoyed the mix of horror, humor, and the vague pop-culture references. I felt the story needed another round of editing, though. There were some inconsistencies that brought me out of the zone from time to time, but overall it was a positive experience.

I agree with almost everything you say. For me, the first appearance of the "wig monsters" almost made me quit reading completely the first time I read it. Overall, though, the humor does seem more detracting at the beginning as opposed to perhaps getting used to the style in order to appreciate it later on. I'm a huge fan of Lovecraft and found that general type of horror-creatures and stretched theme greatly enjoyable. I'm not sure if I could ever hang out with Dave and John, but I definitely enjoyed being on the journey with them and will anticipate reading the sequel sooner than later.

I felt the same way about the characters. I don't really like either of them, but I liked reading about them.

Also, the shadow men reminded me of the hunger birds from "The Ocean at the End of the Lane"

I can see that comparison. I liked the idea of them as entities as they were in this universe, mixing in common myth and legend into that reality.

You mentioned the inconsistencies and it reminded me that Dave actually mentions his story containing such elements. Some of them were explained nearing the end but I wonder if he was sort of lazy in his writing and didn't want to deal with fixing errors after writing the novel. Kind of a half-assed work ethic that makes me upset if true.