The Year of Endless Sorrows

by Adam Rapp
2 out of 5 stars

Having read a couple other of Rapp's books with happy results, I was looking forward to this one, though I was probably a little biased by the gnome on the cover. That gnome led me astray.

I'm not going to go too deep with a review, because I wasn't able to finish the book. Though a foray into Rapp's writing is generally a fun way to tickle your brain, I spent the first half of this book waiting for something to happen, and nothing really did, so I gave up. The chapters are rather disjointed, so there's no real story flowing here, and the guy in this book (we never learn his actual name) is such a dufus; the situations he gets in and the BS he puts up with from his disgusting roommates...seriously, who really lives like that? You graduated from college, but you can't figure out how to not dress like a schlub? Or make friends? Or buy normal groceries? And it's really OK that your non-rent-paying pants-eschewing roommate just shit in front of you WHILE you were trying to get the toilet to work? No, it's not. Wash your damn laundry, kick the manky freeloading dirtbag off your couch, and spend some time outside of your own head so you can actually get to know people.  That's my advice to the people in this book. Who I realize aren't real. But still. It had to be said.

33 Snowfish

by Adam Rapp
4 out of 5 stars

This is a  pretty quick read about three really damaged homeless kids and a baby on the lam.

On the surface, that's fairly interesting in its own right, but under Rapp's pen, it's a stream-of-consciousness story that's both fascinating and horrifying.

Most of the story is from the perspective of Custis, an essentially feral little boy of about 10 or 11. For him, the very raw  life he's experienced on the streets both before and after he was taken in by an abusive pedophile is his normal. The "patriarch," if you will, is 17-year-old Boobie, a mentally unstable arsonist who probably just killed his parents. He narrates only through disturbing doodles, though he is not silent in the book. The baby is his little brother. And then there's Curl, a 14-year-old drug-addicted prostitute who Boobie seems to love and who nurtures, if you use the term loosely, all of them.

Enter horror. And dismay, because this world of lost and exploited children is sickening. However, the book is not without humor; there are funny, feel-good moments that are LOL worthy; and the little boy's tender, protective instincts with Curl and the baby, though a little clumsy, somehow inspire hope. 

So, in summary, this is an amazing read, but not for the faint of heart.