New York, N.Y. : Dutton Books, 2014.
388 p. ; 22 cm.
Grasshopper Jungle is a wild ride. It has been critically acclaimed - from the New York Times to making the 2015 Printz honor list. I found it a compelling read - exciting, clever, funny, sometimes gruesome, and sometimes brilliant. However, I ultimately found myself disappointed with the near-manic, writerly wittiness of the main character combined with his obsessive fixation on his (and others' testicles).
Before going further, I should just recap that the novel centers around Austin, a young man in a dinky Iowa town who accidentally unleashes a genetically manipulated plague that turns people into grizzly bear-sized, unstoppable, deadly, exponentially-reproductive mantids. Caught at the center of this apocalyptic nightmare are Austin, his beloved girl friend, Shann, and his best friend Robby - a smart and striking gay young man for whom Austin has more than just feelings of friendship. Austin is in a constant state of being turned on and attracted to practically all females - and confused about his love and attraction to Robby.
There is a great deal of wit, humor, history, politics and pop culture to round out this novel. But I couldn't help getting weary of Austin's fixation on his testicles and the testicles of practically every male that's mentioned in the novel. The novel has a middle school fixation on things bodily and sexual and I found it tiresome.
I would have loved the novel more if the locker room humor had been cut by about half. It still would be a funny, and bawdy story, but it just wouldn't seem like it was trying SO hard to be edgy. I also just find humor about testicles to be kind of boring - something I have felt watching the Daily Show and The Colbert Report. As I read it, I kept trying to imagine a woman writing anything remotely similar...maybe.
Would I recommend the book? Yes, to a mature student looking for a rollicking send-up of the end-of-the-world genre. It is a fun read. Also the ending was really great...no compromise there and pleasantly surprising.
No comments:
Post a Comment