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A review by chromeorange
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks
2.0
Devolution a.k.a. How Someone of Average Intelligence Tried to Stop a Bunch of Idiots From Getting Themselves Killed.
Like most others, I read this book because I loved World War Z. This book is nowhere near as good, though, to the point where I wonder if Max isn't a good enough writer to have consistent characters in a story. His strength is "making ridiculous things believable," but it sort of ends there. Now that he writes a book with an ongoing characters, story, and tension, he seems very...meh.
My biggest issue with this book, and this is a bit specific to me because it's a pet peeve, is how incredibly dumb these characters are. Max falls into the disaster-story stereotype of thinking that, when people get put into a survival situation, they can't handle it. He thinks people panic, deliberately put their heads in the sand and ignore the situation, or engage in petty in-fighting - and they do this FOR A LONG TIME, regardless of any amount of evidence - which makes them all look like complete morons.
Regardless of every other inclination, humans have a strong sense of self-preservation. Instead of ignoring the situation, I feel confident that a bunch of people cut-off from the world would be wracking their brains full-time to try and get out or survive. And they would come up with good ideas. I mean, what else could they do? They have nothing else to do for 18 hours a day but think, plan, prepare. Things would get done. Creative ideas would be the norm. Spelling "HELP" in rocks would be a day 1 thing. Erecting a defensive barrier would be not long after any danger. And then you have food rationing, weapons, scouting, watch rotations, hacking electronics, etc. Max treats these things as genius-level, that only some big-brain with experience in intense survival situations would think to do. It's frustrating to read about full-grown adults flopping around like ignorant and petulant children for most of the book, and, frankly, it's insulting.
Then you have everything else. What is the point Max is trying to make with this book? It seems like he's making some statement on how dumb it is for hippies to worship nature, but it doesn't really hit because the scenario is so ridiculous. It's like he's saying "Everyone thinks nature is their friend, but it's not! Look what happened to these losers! A volcano exploded and sasquatches attacked! See what I mean? They died!" Maybe he intentionally made them idiots because that's how he sees fringe environmentalists?
I will say that Max did a decent job of convincing me this scenario could happen - or at least the "cut off from the world" part. I didn't see any glaring holes in his logic. Suspending my disbelief of sasquatch was...ehh. He did the best he could do.
There was a problem there, though. Max spent so much of the book trying to explain things via these interrupting side interviews, it really slowed things down and took me out of the story. The first half of the book basically STORY > EXPLAIN THE VILLAGE > STORY > EXPLAIN NATURE > STORY > EXPLAIN THE VILLAGE AGAIN > STORY > EXPLAIN THE ERUPTION > STORY > EXLPLAIN BIG FOOT > STORY > EXPLAIN BIG FOOT > STORY > EXPLAIN BIG FOOT....and on and on. Ugh.
Also, another pet peeve of mine is how boring the protagonist is. I still have no idea why she had a therapist. She seemed entirely bland and forgettable to me.
This has gotten a bit long, so I'll just sum it up. Nearly all the characters are idiots and I didn't care about them at all, the story is predictable and choppy, there's no real tension (because of the "found media format"), and the "strawmanning" with environmentalism is bad.
Like most others, I read this book because I loved World War Z. This book is nowhere near as good, though, to the point where I wonder if Max isn't a good enough writer to have consistent characters in a story. His strength is "making ridiculous things believable," but it sort of ends there. Now that he writes a book with an ongoing characters, story, and tension, he seems very...meh.
My biggest issue with this book, and this is a bit specific to me because it's a pet peeve, is how incredibly dumb these characters are. Max falls into the disaster-story stereotype of thinking that, when people get put into a survival situation, they can't handle it. He thinks people panic, deliberately put their heads in the sand and ignore the situation, or engage in petty in-fighting - and they do this FOR A LONG TIME, regardless of any amount of evidence - which makes them all look like complete morons.
Regardless of every other inclination, humans have a strong sense of self-preservation. Instead of ignoring the situation, I feel confident that a bunch of people cut-off from the world would be wracking their brains full-time to try and get out or survive. And they would come up with good ideas. I mean, what else could they do? They have nothing else to do for 18 hours a day but think, plan, prepare. Things would get done. Creative ideas would be the norm. Spelling "HELP" in rocks would be a day 1 thing. Erecting a defensive barrier would be not long after any danger. And then you have food rationing, weapons, scouting, watch rotations, hacking electronics, etc. Max treats these things as genius-level, that only some big-brain with experience in intense survival situations would think to do. It's frustrating to read about full-grown adults flopping around like ignorant and petulant children for most of the book, and, frankly, it's insulting.
Then you have everything else. What is the point Max is trying to make with this book? It seems like he's making some statement on how dumb it is for hippies to worship nature, but it doesn't really hit because the scenario is so ridiculous. It's like he's saying "Everyone thinks nature is their friend, but it's not! Look what happened to these losers! A volcano exploded and sasquatches attacked! See what I mean? They died!" Maybe he intentionally made them idiots because that's how he sees fringe environmentalists?
I will say that Max did a decent job of convincing me this scenario could happen - or at least the "cut off from the world" part. I didn't see any glaring holes in his logic. Suspending my disbelief of sasquatch was...ehh. He did the best he could do.
There was a problem there, though. Max spent so much of the book trying to explain things via these interrupting side interviews, it really slowed things down and took me out of the story. The first half of the book basically STORY > EXPLAIN THE VILLAGE > STORY > EXPLAIN NATURE > STORY > EXPLAIN THE VILLAGE AGAIN > STORY > EXPLAIN THE ERUPTION > STORY > EXLPLAIN BIG FOOT > STORY > EXPLAIN BIG FOOT > STORY > EXPLAIN BIG FOOT....and on and on. Ugh.
Also, another pet peeve of mine is how boring the protagonist is. I still have no idea why she had a therapist. She seemed entirely bland and forgettable to me.
This has gotten a bit long, so I'll just sum it up. Nearly all the characters are idiots and I didn't care about them at all, the story is predictable and choppy, there's no real tension (because of the "found media format"), and the "strawmanning" with environmentalism is bad.