dolorousrattus's review
2.0
This is a difficult one to rate because I didn't realize it was a work of fiction until I googled the author afterwards. This wasn't originally published as a single volume; instead, it was a series of photocopied booklets, hand-stapled and looking authentically like an English class extra-credit project by a "Joshua Chapman":
I came across the set of booklets at my local library's used booksale and snatched them up for a laugh, thinking they were some local kids' project that got donated. The increasing mentions of abuse sent me to the internet, where I found that this was actually fictional and published originally as a prank. (It was definitely a relief to find out that there wasn't any truth to the child abuse!)
It works really well as a prank, and I give the author props for how realistically the style and writing changed across the yearly volumes. Had me fooled right up until the end, and many of the "reviews" of aliens in the earlier volumes had me literally laughing out loud. But (and this is a big but) it doesn't work well as a commercially produced single volume - loses all its charm when you already know it's fiction.
Four stars for how much it made me laugh at the beginning believing I was reading the thoughts of an actual kid, minus two stars for getting it published as a commercial book. Should have been left as the prank booklets only.
I came across the set of booklets at my local library's used booksale and snatched them up for a laugh, thinking they were some local kids' project that got donated. The increasing mentions of abuse sent me to the internet, where I found that this was actually fictional and published originally as a prank. (It was definitely a relief to find out that there wasn't any truth to the child abuse!)
It works really well as a prank, and I give the author props for how realistically the style and writing changed across the yearly volumes. Had me fooled right up until the end, and many of the "reviews" of aliens in the earlier volumes had me literally laughing out loud. But (and this is a big but) it doesn't work well as a commercially produced single volume - loses all its charm when you already know it's fiction.
Four stars for how much it made me laugh at the beginning believing I was reading the thoughts of an actual kid, minus two stars for getting it published as a commercial book. Should have been left as the prank booklets only.
ravenworks's review
1.0
Enormously depressing, to a degree that borders on false advertising. It's an interesting way to frame a work of fiction, but the story they chose to tell with it is the kind of thing that it seems malicious to just insert into something being pitched as comedy and a nostalgia piece on fluffy nerd pop culture.
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