megmcardle's review
4.0
I've got to mull this one over some more. Very weird premise of a father trying to connect to his comatose son through the fantasy world of his favorite comic. I wanted to love it, and I did enjoy the noir/fantasy mash-up aspects, but there were places were it didn't seem as fully realized a concept as it could have been. Still, pretty cool.
higgbemine's review
2.0
i'm not certain i got the point of this book. if your child was in a coma would you drain fluid from his shunt and shoot yourself up with a shunt juice/methamphetamine mixture to interact with him in a dream state? if so, this book is something you might be interested in.
carolynf's review
4.0
The story of a off-kilter father trying to take care of his comatose son while maintaining sanity, and the story of a band of circus "freaks," who were the subject of the son's favorite comic books and may or may not be a part of his comatose dreamscape now. At the end, I'm not really sure whether the father is seeing actual reality or a fantasy forced upon him while in a vulnerable frame of mind.
pharmdad2007's review
2.0
Very dark, macabre story about a man who goes overboard trying to help his comatose son. Kind of like Stephen King meets Haruki Murakami. Maybe an extra half star because the protagonist is a pharmacist...
ekaczmarek's review
4.0
Okay... there are a lot of things not to love about this book. There's a pervading, hypermasculine, jaded, sexually-cringey, gratuitously-violent overtone that smothered any pleasure I was getting from the storyline and characters. The characters were pretty flat and unlikable. BUT. I came out of this book liking it a lot more than I expected. I hated the biker gang initially, but as the narrative pieces coalesced with the progressive dialogue between Limbo and reality, I understood them. There are some beautiful passages. The ending was deeply satisfying, like a conversation that comes full circle. Would I recommend this book? Probably never. Did I enjoy it, in the end? Absolutely I did.
kkayleen's review
3.0
it took me two years to finish this bad boy through the birth of my son as a single mama, but i did it. i’m going to be honest, i kept coming back for the comic book world because i have a *thing* for circuses.
confused on danny’s purpose at the end, confused by the trip, unsure why they killed buzz(??) but whatever. i finished it. meh.
confused on danny’s purpose at the end, confused by the trip, unsure why they killed buzz(??) but whatever. i finished it. meh.
staceynerdin's review
3.0
Very bizarre. Fantastic writing, but a bit too much sex/violence/language for me, and the surrealist twist took me just to the bounds of enjoyability.
rosemarysbooks's review
4.0
Creepy and dark - I enjoyed it! Part of the novel is taking place in "real life" and part of the novel takes place in a weird comic book, which mirrors the real life aspects. I found this interweaving to be quite interesting, but sometimes hard to follow. After a while, I got the hang of it, and had no more trouble. Oddly, I enjoyed the comic book characters more than the "real life" ones. A worthwhile fantasy read, but it is basically a fun, fluff book.
smithla8's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0