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Chuck Palahniuk is rhe only person I'd trust to write in this style about this content. There's sort of a lot going on, between the satire, the pidgin engrish, the bathroom scene and the uhhhhh imitation united nations meet. I let this book flow over me, trying to get used to the rhythm of the prose and worries less about what it was trying to say and what the plot was. I'll admit, I had to look up the plot summary on wikipedia. I feel like this is the sort of book that's more comprehensive on repeat reading.

I sucked this book down in less than six hours. I have an addiction Grady Hendrix and I cannot lie. Just something about the yoink and twist he does on horror tropes just works for me.

And in this one, it's scary fucking puppets. If tou have a fear of dolls or puppets or masks you are about to have a horrible time. Or the best time depending on your personality. I loved how scary Pupkin was. I did grok the twist early but that's not a bad thing. Also I loved the marionette resistance because yeah. That makes sense for Boston.

The one thing that makes this a 4.5 out of 5 is that someone needs to tell Grady Hendrix he cannot keep using any WOC/POC as the third act answers person. It's a co stant in his works and it's consistently awkward.

What more is there to say on the Best of the French Revolution novels? Victor Hugo, perhaps because of his living through the histories he is writing about, understands. He understands the Revolution. Why it matters. Why 1789, 1830, 1832, 1848 mattered. How it echos through the ages.

And it soars and drops like the starling. This novel is itself a road trip. You live with it, and lets it bore you at times. You listen to the old man talk about Waterloo. You become enthralled about slang. You weep at the barricade. You stop abruptly at the chalk cover gravestone of Jean Valjean.

In it Enjolras states "my friends, the nineteenth century was great but the twentieth will be beautiful." I'm sorry. We have let down the dead. We have let down those who have come before us. We have done poorly.

I've read a lot of horror thus year, so maybe I just read this too fast or the horror just washed over me, but this was largely like a meatloaf of other more exceptional disturbing horror than a distinct flavor. It was fine.