(SPOILER ALERT-- I’m giving away precious details because I don’t think anyone I know will be reading this themselves--) I got this Young Adult audio book for free from audiobooksync.com, so shouldn’t complain, but I can’t think of anyone to whom I would recommend this book--Maybe Jake in “Two and a Half Men”, but is he a real personality type, or an adult’s attempt at remembering childhood, fortified by many accumulated thoughts and memories since? And, if it’s a real personality type, would that youth be a reader, even if the book reflected their personality so well? If, when I was that age, I knew any 16-year-olds like the main character in this book, I was blissfully unaware. If there ARE any cigarette smoking, skateboard toting kids who feel the need to alternately insert in or tag every sentence with “sh*t”, whose every acquaintance, be it friend or parent, is equally fond of the word, and who are sexually aroused by everything to the point of utter confusion about their orientation, AND that might eagerly anticipate annihilating huge man-eating, pro-creating (replace this word with the synonym that starts with "f".) praying-mantis type bugs, then there IS an audience for this book. It’s quite possible that I’ve simply never been invited into the mind of a 16-year-old, and again, remain blissfully unaware. I *will* say that the reader, Phillip Church, did a great job with the necessary tongue-in-cheek delivery of the text. :-) ( )

Giant mutant insects as a potent metaphor for a teenager's confused sexuality. A remarkably gloppy, sloppy, crass book, and a lot of fun. ( )

I read this on the recommendation of an author I follow and enjoy quite a bit. I should have picked this up sooner since I did enjoy Smith's MARBURY LENS, but well there are so many books out there.

On the one hand I'm like "Well. I didn't think the world would end in this manner." on the other hand I'M RUNNING SCREAMING IN TERROR BECAUSE THIS IS MY NIGHTMARE COME TRUE.

( )

This book was great. Well-written, bold, funny, absurd and honest.

I do have one major complaint though that I didn't really become fully aware of until I got to the end. Maybe this is the result of having a story told by an adolescent boy, I don't know. But the female characters are treated as backdrop, even his best female friend/girlfriend. She's pretty two-dimensional and while he professes to love her, we're never really shown WHY (except that she is hot and endlessly accommodating of his sometimes-sexual relationship with his best male friend.) This point I could have forgiven, except that during the epilogue it is really driven home that the real relationship is between the two male characters, who go out adventuring in what has become (SPOILER) a post-apocalyptic wasteland while she has to stay home. Boring. :/ I would have liked her to have a more active role in the outcome instead of being a bland bystander.

That all being said, the rest of it was amazing. I look forward to reading more of Andrew Smith's work. ( )

This book is creative, original and unexpected. The ending comes as a surprise but I think the author pulls it off. At the start there seem to be three main characters but one of them gets sidelined quite early on, which is a pity. The narrator sounds about 12 even though he's meant to be 16 and there is far too much sperm and naming of balls, which might have been funny the first time, but quickly becomes very repetitive. For me the best thing about this book was the writing (because it is very unique) and the worst thing about it was the writing (because it gets annoying, particularly with all the repetition). ( )