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navayiota's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Horribly depressing. Insightful. Made me realise a few things- how I feel, what certain things that happened to me meant, what I should do about them. John Darnielle struck me again, this time in book form. I cannot wait to read his other work. This book consumed my mind for the 2 days I spent with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood and Stalking
Minor: Sexual content
kartoffelqueen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Incredibly unique and captivating. A very internal book, drilling down on one character for a brief moment in time, and the way his life overlaps with itself. The audiobook narrator did a fantastic job at capturing the voice of the novel
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death
itsemz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
evahelen's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
colbyjackcheese's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Mental illness
sauriansouls's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Gun violence and Medical content
vikkisgrotto's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
kstericker's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
bad_at_person's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
sorry_imbooked's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
There is not much action in Wolf in White Van simply because we join the story after all the action is over, yet so much happens in this complex and moving book. I keep flipping through to reread passages hours after finishing this book, and I expect the story will stick with me for days to come.
In Wolf in White Van, we follow Sean Phillips' reflections on two flash points in his life, tracing back in time from his current life into his childhood in the 80s. The first life-altering event is an incident that left him terribly disfigured, causing him to withdraw from society. During his recuperation from his injuries, Sean invents a role-playing, choose your own adventure game set in an apocalyptic future. He turns this game, Trace Italian, into a mail order service that still has a following in our own internet age. His interactions by letter with the players of Trace Italian are his main interactions with people in the outside world, as Sean has largely removed himself from society. Two young players bring the game into the real world, however, with fatal consequences, and Sean is forced to consider whether he is in some way responsible. This near-reckoning is the second flash point.
Sean frequently separates himself from the boy he was before his accident; he views that version of himself as truly dead. He consistently divests both his current and past selves from any accountability. He is and was a person who tended to live more in his imagination than the real world, and so seems consistently unable to imagine real consequences. That said, he is an extremely keen observer of other people - how they respond to him, their emotional needs, and their behaviors. He just never seems to truly connect. He says of his younger self: "nothing makes him tick. It just happens all by itself, tick tick tick tick tick, without any proximal cause, with nothing underneath it." This also seems to fit his adult life - he doesn't have any real aims or connections. Trace Italian is the closest he gets, and he has developed the game to never be completed.
Similarly, Wolf in White Van does not really resolve anything. We simply get a look inside Sean's head - his inner workings - and then we don't. He remains in stasis, as he puts it, and we, like the players of Trace Italian, move on to whatever our next turn may be. It isn't frustrating, per say. It simply is, just as Sean's life simply is. Sean tells us "it's hard to overstate how deep the need can get for things to make sense" though sometimes they just don't, and this book reflects that mindset and truth beautifully and darkly.
In Wolf in White Van, we follow Sean Phillips' reflections on two flash points in his life, tracing back in time from his current life into his childhood in the 80s. The first life-altering event is an incident that left him terribly disfigured, causing him to withdraw from society. During his recuperation from his injuries, Sean invents a role-playing, choose your own adventure game set in an apocalyptic future. He turns this game, Trace Italian, into a mail order service that still has a following in our own internet age. His interactions by letter with the players of Trace Italian are his main interactions with people in the outside world, as Sean has largely removed himself from society. Two young players bring the game into the real world, however, with fatal consequences, and Sean is forced to consider whether he is in some way responsible. This near-reckoning is the second flash point.
Sean frequently separates himself from the boy he was before his accident; he views that version of himself as truly dead. He consistently divests both his current and past selves from any accountability. He is and was a person who tended to live more in his imagination than the real world, and so seems consistently unable to imagine real consequences. That said, he is an extremely keen observer of other people - how they respond to him, their emotional needs, and their behaviors. He just never seems to truly connect. He says of his younger self: "nothing makes him tick. It just happens all by itself, tick tick tick tick tick, without any proximal cause, with nothing underneath it." This also seems to fit his adult life - he doesn't have any real aims or connections. Trace Italian is the closest he gets, and he has developed the game to never be completed.
Similarly, Wolf in White Van does not really resolve anything. We simply get a look inside Sean's head - his inner workings - and then we don't. He remains in stasis, as he puts it, and we, like the players of Trace Italian, move on to whatever our next turn may be. It isn't frustrating, per say. It simply is, just as Sean's life simply is. Sean tells us "it's hard to overstate how deep the need can get for things to make sense" though sometimes they just don't, and this book reflects that mindset and truth beautifully and darkly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt