batbones's review against another edition
3.0
Our worlds are so momentary. We are alone all our lives and then go off that way as well. (263)
"You found your way down here, and then...saw all this. You saw all of this and you couldn't find the answer. You couldn't find the answer because there was no answer for all this, was there?" (312)
A rather puzzling (and there are real puzzles including a cut-out decoder wheel), reader-helps-the-detective, genre-fluid mystery story that wraps up as a thoughtful meditation about depression, life's blank answer sheet, death and the death of childhood at the threshold of loss. The combination of a world lifted from a children's book, tending towards fantasy where villains have names such as Professor Von Golum and attempt to do really obvious things, with the horrors of the adult world, is erratic and unfortunately uneven. The whimsical quality instead threw the mordant aspects of the story off-kilter and made it less emotionally available to a reader who wanted very much to feel for the Boy Detective. One, with frustration, feels separated from him and what he is feeling; perhaps someone in a similar emotional state would be able to understand better. The beginning was not very gripping but it gets better and finishes off rather splendidly with a particular ghastly image that deserves its own surprising effects on potential readers. Hence the lack of a mention.
"You found your way down here, and then...saw all this. You saw all of this and you couldn't find the answer. You couldn't find the answer because there was no answer for all this, was there?" (312)
A rather puzzling (and there are real puzzles including a cut-out decoder wheel), reader-helps-the-detective, genre-fluid mystery story that wraps up as a thoughtful meditation about depression, life's blank answer sheet, death and the death of childhood at the threshold of loss. The combination of a world lifted from a children's book, tending towards fantasy where villains have names such as Professor Von Golum and attempt to do really obvious things, with the horrors of the adult world, is erratic and unfortunately uneven. The whimsical quality instead threw the mordant aspects of the story off-kilter and made it less emotionally available to a reader who wanted very much to feel for the Boy Detective. One, with frustration, feels separated from him and what he is feeling; perhaps someone in a similar emotional state would be able to understand better. The beginning was not very gripping but it gets better and finishes off rather splendidly with a particular ghastly image that deserves its own surprising effects on potential readers. Hence the lack of a mention.
mkean's review against another edition
5.0
I just realized that I haven't written a review for this book, MY FAVOURITE BOOK, and because I love it so much, I think it's about time that I do.
Okay, this book is--this book is great. It's subtle and melancholy with a bittersweet ending. It has quirky humor and lovable, flawed characters. It has a beautiful sense of irony plus hope plus sadness. IT's about childhood and growing up and moving on, and dealing with death. It's all very wonderful with a hint of nostalgia that works so perfectly.
The first few chapters are very sad, but then the main force of the story gets going and it truly is wonderful. It's a bitersweet story delivered with slightly sad humor and i just have SO MUCH LOVE for this book. It's a sad, quiet mood that wraps around you but ends up keeping you warm and making you appreciative in the end.
I haven't read this book in a while, granted, but this is the impression it's given me, so that must count for something.
Okay, this book is--this book is great. It's subtle and melancholy with a bittersweet ending. It has quirky humor and lovable, flawed characters. It has a beautiful sense of irony plus hope plus sadness. IT's about childhood and growing up and moving on, and dealing with death. It's all very wonderful with a hint of nostalgia that works so perfectly.
The first few chapters are very sad, but then the main force of the story gets going and it truly is wonderful. It's a bitersweet story delivered with slightly sad humor and i just have SO MUCH LOVE for this book. It's a sad, quiet mood that wraps around you but ends up keeping you warm and making you appreciative in the end.
I haven't read this book in a while, granted, but this is the impression it's given me, so that must count for something.
phantomtooth's review against another edition
5.0
reread for the first time since middle school - what a really really special book that still holds up after all this time. fun and endearing and scary at times!
vii's review against another edition
4.0
A combination of the absurd and the darkest parts of reality. Atmospheric, haunting, yet ends on a note of hope. Reminiscent of all those child detective novels, only everyone is now grown up, accompanied by the loss of innocence and denial.
crico's review against another edition
5.0
I am in absolute love with this book. Since reading Hairstyle of the Damned Joe Meno has become one of my favorite authors. When I say this book last year I didn't have enough to but it but i couldn't pass it up a second time. I read a review, that i feel completely sums this book up fantastically: It will break your heart and then pick up all the pieces and put you back together.
nicothyun's review against another edition
5.0
I love the book. I wished I could explain my fondness for this book in-depth but my proficiency of the language fails me in my task. So I am just going to fawn over it as best as I could. The Boy Detective Fails is the kind of coming of age which is superficially sweet but promptly laced and doused in dark humour and a sort of cynical sensibility. The book is supposedly meant to target teenagers but it could just as easily be read by an young adult. I guess the characters' endearing pursuit for 'truth' and their quest for identity makes it easily relatable and beautiful in that quirky way.
It was really a charming read (for a 16 year old) for I used an afternoon to read and solve the codes in the book.
Frankly speaking, I was initially frustrated with the book because I couldn't find any rationale, motives or answers behind the cases. I couldn't believe that the answers were that simple and so delightfully cruel. And in that vain pursuit for deeper motives and truth, I re-read the chapters in hope that I could figure out their real intentions. The search led me further away from the answer' for I kept searching and in a way it was creepily analogous to the Boy Detective's pursuit for truth regarding his sister's suicide.
I confess I still don't have the answer and the truth. I think the beauty of this book is that everything doesn’t have to be explained and that there are questions without answer. I suppose it really related to me in the sense that I have always demanded for an answer and when I fail to find one, I become lost. Maybe, the moral is that some things are just the way it is and that no amount of probing and inspecting would change that; I should just accept it as it is.
It was really a charming read (for a 16 year old) for I used an afternoon to read and solve the codes in the book.
Frankly speaking, I was initially frustrated with the book because I couldn't find any rationale, motives or answers behind the cases. I couldn't believe that the answers were that simple and so delightfully cruel. And in that vain pursuit for deeper motives and truth, I re-read the chapters in hope that I could figure out their real intentions. The search led me further away from the answer' for I kept searching and in a way it was creepily analogous to the Boy Detective's pursuit for truth regarding his sister's suicide.
I confess I still don't have the answer and the truth. I think the beauty of this book is that everything doesn’t have to be explained and that there are questions without answer. I suppose it really related to me in the sense that I have always demanded for an answer and when I fail to find one, I become lost. Maybe, the moral is that some things are just the way it is and that no amount of probing and inspecting would change that; I should just accept it as it is.
buchino's review against another edition
5.0
Best read in a long time. Very cool format. Surprisingly clever.
danilanglie's review against another edition
4.0
If I try to think about this book on a deeper level, I sort of question what the point of it was? But not in a bad way, necessarily. It's just that a lot of things happen, and a lot of serious topics are touched on, and then the book ends and I don't know if it had a larger message to impart. Or if it even needed to.
I really liked the post-modern weirdness of this book, because I felt like it didn't go overboard, it didn't overpower the stories or the characters, and it wasn't just doing weird stuff to do weird stuff. There was an interactive element to the book that was maybe a little more distracting than it was cool, but it fit in with the world view of the novel in an interesting way.
I like that the disappearing buildings and other strange phenomena are not explained by logic or magic or anything like that. They really do seem to be manifestations of Billy's own anxieties and problems. As he sorts through the pain of his past and the weirdness of his circumstances, the environment around him mirrors this chaos and uncertainty.
I really liked the kid characters, especially poor Gus. He was a monster, in his own way, but the way his teacher treated him made my blood boil. That brief romance with the kid with cancer was honestly so tragic, and so well-written that I got very emotional about it, even though not much happened.
At the end of the day, I don't know what this book adds up to. But I greatly enjoyed reading it, all the same.
I really liked the post-modern weirdness of this book, because I felt like it didn't go overboard, it didn't overpower the stories or the characters, and it wasn't just doing weird stuff to do weird stuff. There was an interactive element to the book that was maybe a little more distracting than it was cool, but it fit in with the world view of the novel in an interesting way.
I like that the disappearing buildings and other strange phenomena are not explained by logic or magic or anything like that. They really do seem to be manifestations of Billy's own anxieties and problems. As he sorts through the pain of his past and the weirdness of his circumstances, the environment around him mirrors this chaos and uncertainty.
I really liked the kid characters, especially poor Gus. He was a monster, in his own way, but the way his teacher treated him made my blood boil. That brief romance with the kid with cancer was honestly so tragic, and so well-written that I got very emotional about it, even though not much happened.
At the end of the day, I don't know what this book adds up to. But I greatly enjoyed reading it, all the same.
clarkness's review against another edition
4.0
Similar to its central theme, this one didn't quite deliver on its promise, but it was still very good. I think that it really highlighted a prominent issue of my generation - talented youth that fails to find its footing in adulthood. The world is stratifying and I think that some of the most impressive kids that have ever been born are growing up right now. How do you surpass the peaks and merits of your childhood, especially in a society that encourages every child that they can be whatever they want when they grow up? Is it easier or more difficult to find success when every avenue is open to you? Meno seizes on these ideas and creates a character that is absolutely paralyzed by his prior accomplishments and the demons they have unleashed.
jermthewerm's review against another edition
2.0
Not my usual cup of tea, but glad I read it.
Non-linear, non-narrative driven, character development is unconventional, some profound moments, but overall challenged my typical need for a clear story/a story in general lol.
Non-linear, non-narrative driven, character development is unconventional, some profound moments, but overall challenged my typical need for a clear story/a story in general lol.