A darkly comedic exploration of how internet communities influence our world
Summary
This novel, written by the author of John Dies at the End, follows the tale of two misfits who have been tasked with delivering a large black box from Los Angeles to Washington DC by the Fourth of July.
Raised on, and scarred by, online communities, the two protagonists, Abbott and Ether, each have difficulty interacting with society at large. Despite this commonality, both have wildly different views of humanity and their place within it. Through their road trip, they explore the nature of what it means to be alive in this day and age, and how they fit into society.
As they traverse the country, various online communities begin to become obsessed with the contents of the box, usually assuming some dark purpose. The online speculation turns into real world action, impacting the duo’s progress in unexpected and often hilarious fashion.
Review
Overall, this was a fun and worthwhile read. The characters are likeable, interesting, and (in most cases) complex. Their motivations are believable and relatable. And for me, personally, good character development is often enough to keep me interested in a book.
The first half of the book contains some very pointed observations about our modern era, both positive and negative. The imagery those observations evoke is both visceral and comedic. For example, in the very first paragraph, the author extolls a Abbott’s belief that the Los Angeles Airport is a facility that “had been designed to make every traveler feel like they were doing it wrong.” If you’ve ever been through LAX, this probably hits home for you. As we get to know Abbott and Ether, as well as their antagonists and a cast of supporting characters, observations like this evolve into worldviews that are both thought-provoking and comical.
Unfortunately, about half or maybe two-thirds of the way through, it kind of loses steam. We’ve met the characters and the book transitions to bringing its various plot threads together, leading to the ultimate conclusion.
The problem is, that it’s just not that interesting of a story. Whether or not the box that Abbott and Ether are transporting is benign or nefarious simply doesn’t feel that important. At its’ core, it’s a silly story. A nefarious ending wouldn’t be very impactful, and a benign ending is what we’d expect. I won’t spoil it here and say which way the story goes because, as I said, I think it’s worth a read.
There’s also a really big coincidence that ties everything together right at the end. I’m not really a fan of when everything comes together by coincidence to begin with, and in this case, it kind of feels like the author didn’t exactly know how to bring his plot lines together, so he threw this thing in that would put a big, exciting ending onto the story.
I’ve been a little down on the book in this review. That’s mostly because I don’t want to spoil the good points and they’re hard to talk about without giving the whole thing away. Perhaps, lowered expectations of the ending will make it a bit better for you.