John Dies At The End

I recently finished reading John Dies at the End By: David Wong.  I first stumbled upon it last year in a Korean bookstore near my office in midtown. I picked it up, thought it looked intriguing and made a note to myself to purchase and read said book at a less-expensive establishment. Fast-forward to February 2012: I was at a friend's house and saw the book on his bookshelf, I asked him if he liked it since I was considering reading it, he said he liked it and asked, "You know they're making a movie of it, right? It looks awesome." He showed me and Boyfriend the trailer and I promptly went to the online bookseller of my choice and ordered my very own copy.

The prologue is like a stand-alone short story in itself, but it does exactly as it should: it sets up the rest of the story and sucks you in, even while at first the book is sort of difficult to wrap your head around. If you've read any of David Wong's hilarious prose on Cracked it still won't quite prepare you the brain-fuck (the good kind...I think) that is this book. I wouldn't even know how to outline the plot in the book to someone who has not read it without explaining the entire thing, and thus ruining it because my words cannot do it justice. It's a dark comedy horror novel, filled with dick jokes and the stuff narcotic induced nightmares are made of that I would strongly recommend only to people I know really well. If I advised a co-worker or simple acquaintance to read it, they would probably back away from me slowly and never speak to me again...unless they're secretly into this sort of fucked up humor, then maybe I 'd make a friend for life.


At parts of the book, I laughed until I cried, and at times, I wished I wasn't eating while I was reading. There were also moments (quite often really) after putting the book down for the day, when I started to doubt my own sanity. After reading the poetically disturbing words crafted carefully by the madman that is David Wong and having his bewitching story-telling snake its way through my brain like a pregnant python, I'm confident that the only one who could write a review worthy of and doing justice to this book, would be Wong himself.

Would I recommend this book? Probably...depending on who you are and how long I've know you, and whether or not I know your moral stance on book-burning. But seriously, it's a very entertaining disturbing engrossing read.

I give John Dies at the End  4 out of 5 cute zombies.

I truly look forward to the movie and I have high hopes for it considering the caliber of talent that is involved with making it.  Mostly, though, I'm really curious as to how it will translate from page to screen. It's going to be one helluva ride, that's for damn sure.