gavgaddis's review
4.0
It’s fairly late at night as I sit down to write this review, my newly finished copy of Joey Goebel’s Summer Man and Other Black Comedies lying next to my computer, and I can honestly say I enjoyed myself.
Honestly, the review could be done at that point, but you deserve more than that. Let’s cover the high and low points of this wonderfully bite-sized bit of summer reading together, shall we?
It must be mentioned before going any further that readers from the future might have issues getting ahold of a physical copy of this book. This assemblage that comes just shy of 150 pages has been self-published locally by the author under the new banner of Valentine & Garuda publishing, posted only for sale on Etsy, and only 100 copies exist as of this writing.
The titular novella is a bio-book about the semi-fictional pop sex symbol Unscrewpolis on a completely fictional summer tour told through the lense of a fictional ghost writer.
The novella tickles my ivories in several ways as I am an outspoken fan of road trips, concert movies, and biopics. These three factors are usually intertwined and Summer Man makes no exception to that generalization. The story begins with the narrator hopping on Bus B in early June and follows his exploits attempting to get to know the crudely rude pop star with a ‘tude, Unscrewpolis.
While the main plus of reading is you can form your own interpretation of a character without being held back by reality, I started this book having read Goebel’s newsletter explaining his real-life Unscrewpolis experiment and this gave me the impression that the wholly fictional Unscrewpolis would turn out to be a white pop star with Eminem’s stage presence and Soljia Boi’s way with words. In a way I hit the nail on the head; at least for the first half of the story. After the halfway point the layers of this disgusting character are peeled back and the (wholly expected) shady back-story of this pop star are revealed.
The ending is bittersweet, which is something I appreciate these days when it’s considered almost a sin to end your story on anything other than the status quo for the protagonist.
It is quite easy to pick this story up and start from where you were the day prior, something very beneficial to the book you take to the beach or, if you’re weird like me, keep in the car.
But out of all of the ways you can read it, the author has provided one of the best: He’s given it a soundtrack. Along with every book purchased is a bookmark-sized download code that gives you a whole album’s worth of the “real” Unscrewpolis’ music to listen to as you read the novella, the author even makes a point of putting song titles in bold when that particular song is included in the digital album so that you might listen to it while reading that scene.
It’s a bit clunky for something that could be done with a larger book, but with something as small as Summer Man it worked a treat for me. Unscrewpolis’ deliciously asinine lyrics and beats that sound as if a five year old was let loose on FL Studio combine to make some of the better intentionally bad music I’ve ever heard, if not one of the oddest and memorable reading experience I’ve had in a while.
While the Summer Man novella takes up the majority of the 143 page book, the five short stories are bite-sized pieces of fun that hit you fast and hard, leaving wanting more like any good story should. From a family of alcoholics to a van full of male strippers, the five short stories included take you places.
It seems a shame to only dedicate one paragraph to a good third of the book, but these short stories are so brief and packed with details that even what I’ve told you already spoils some of the experience of reading two of them. Like Vonnegutt’s Welcome to the Monkey House, this is best experienced on your own with no priming from the outside world.
To come to some sort of conclusion in this review, I would have to say this book really does approach perfect summer reading. It’s not overtly heavy, nor is it too frivolous to be unbelievable. It’s a pity none of the big publishers would take the time to publish bite-sized reading actually worth owning instead of churning out yet another book from a franchise author that’s the same length, formula, and plot every time. It also serves as the perfect introductory vehicle to Goebel’s writing style for those who have not read any of his full-length novels.
Honestly, the review could be done at that point, but you deserve more than that. Let’s cover the high and low points of this wonderfully bite-sized bit of summer reading together, shall we?
It must be mentioned before going any further that readers from the future might have issues getting ahold of a physical copy of this book. This assemblage that comes just shy of 150 pages has been self-published locally by the author under the new banner of Valentine & Garuda publishing, posted only for sale on Etsy, and only 100 copies exist as of this writing.
The titular novella is a bio-book about the semi-fictional pop sex symbol Unscrewpolis on a completely fictional summer tour told through the lense of a fictional ghost writer.
The novella tickles my ivories in several ways as I am an outspoken fan of road trips, concert movies, and biopics. These three factors are usually intertwined and Summer Man makes no exception to that generalization. The story begins with the narrator hopping on Bus B in early June and follows his exploits attempting to get to know the crudely rude pop star with a ‘tude, Unscrewpolis.
While the main plus of reading is you can form your own interpretation of a character without being held back by reality, I started this book having read Goebel’s newsletter explaining his real-life Unscrewpolis experiment and this gave me the impression that the wholly fictional Unscrewpolis would turn out to be a white pop star with Eminem’s stage presence and Soljia Boi’s way with words. In a way I hit the nail on the head; at least for the first half of the story. After the halfway point the layers of this disgusting character are peeled back and the (wholly expected) shady back-story of this pop star are revealed.
The ending is bittersweet, which is something I appreciate these days when it’s considered almost a sin to end your story on anything other than the status quo for the protagonist.
It is quite easy to pick this story up and start from where you were the day prior, something very beneficial to the book you take to the beach or, if you’re weird like me, keep in the car.
But out of all of the ways you can read it, the author has provided one of the best: He’s given it a soundtrack. Along with every book purchased is a bookmark-sized download code that gives you a whole album’s worth of the “real” Unscrewpolis’ music to listen to as you read the novella, the author even makes a point of putting song titles in bold when that particular song is included in the digital album so that you might listen to it while reading that scene.
It’s a bit clunky for something that could be done with a larger book, but with something as small as Summer Man it worked a treat for me. Unscrewpolis’ deliciously asinine lyrics and beats that sound as if a five year old was let loose on FL Studio combine to make some of the better intentionally bad music I’ve ever heard, if not one of the oddest and memorable reading experience I’ve had in a while.
While the Summer Man novella takes up the majority of the 143 page book, the five short stories are bite-sized pieces of fun that hit you fast and hard, leaving wanting more like any good story should. From a family of alcoholics to a van full of male strippers, the five short stories included take you places.
It seems a shame to only dedicate one paragraph to a good third of the book, but these short stories are so brief and packed with details that even what I’ve told you already spoils some of the experience of reading two of them. Like Vonnegutt’s Welcome to the Monkey House, this is best experienced on your own with no priming from the outside world.
To come to some sort of conclusion in this review, I would have to say this book really does approach perfect summer reading. It’s not overtly heavy, nor is it too frivolous to be unbelievable. It’s a pity none of the big publishers would take the time to publish bite-sized reading actually worth owning instead of churning out yet another book from a franchise author that’s the same length, formula, and plot every time. It also serves as the perfect introductory vehicle to Goebel’s writing style for those who have not read any of his full-length novels.
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