What do you think?
Rate this book
FREAKBAiT: The Book
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 1, 2024
I writed a book!
November 12, 2023
Amazing, stunning. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a creator being so creative and confidently insulting.
November 28, 2023
a pleasant respite from the chaos & horror
September 30, 2024
This book is... an experience. Even opening the package I got it in was shocking. It came in a hot pink bubble mailer. This mailer contained the book, sperm shaped confetti, and a moist toilette labeled "cum rag." How convenient to help me clean up the confetti "cum" now sprinkled all over my carpet.
But then there's the book. I've never read anything like it before. It's a "book" in that it's a number of pages bound together, but that's about as clear a constraint as you can apply to the thing. It isn't a short story compendium, though it does have those. It isn't a book of poetry, though it does have those. It isn't an "art" book, as in collection of photos/paintings, though it does have those. It does a little bit of everything, and I never knew what I'd find on the next page.
As I learned as I read, this book is a compilation of "zines" FREAKBAiT has made over the years. (Note the capitalization of FREAKBAiT, it's a proper noun and always rendered with that solitary lower case "i.") I wasn't really familiar with the zine meta, but there's actually a handy page in this book (fairly deep in the book) that explains what a zine is, where it came from, and how/why to make one. It's one of the few pages in this book where FREAKBAiT seems genuine. Most of the pages in this book are sardonic, vulgar, graphic, or offensive in ways I've never experienced before.
The book is so spurious that I think it harms some of its better jokes. For example, there's this great poem called "The Park Bench" where the narrator goes for a walk in the woods and finds an old park bench. They notice the bench is clean of all graffiti, odd for its age. They ponder what the forest looked like when it was placed who knows how many years ago. Then they carve a penis in it. This poem made me laugh, but I think it's better isolated from this collection. The whole time I was waiting for the punchline- I think being shocked by the ending is the ideal reading.
Almost every page has some kind of visual art, whether it be in the arrangement of the text, some sort of collage, or hand drawn art accompanying verse a-la Silverstein.I really enjoyed these pieces. Occasionally there would be two page spreads and those always rocked.
Some of the pages I just didn't vibe with. Poems like "The Happy-Ending Man," or the one about the guy who makes his wife out of stapled together meat, are just vulgar for the sake of vulgarity. That being said, I appreciate this book for not holding anything back. This is a true piece of personal expression, something I bet no publishing house would touch, and that gives it a certain charm.
There are some themes/words that come up over and over again. FREAKBAiT repeatedly says phrases like "roman orgy," or "faustian deal," which partly feels like an editing issue (you couldn't think of any other set of terms to suggest a deal with the devil/evil entity?). But then there are other references that are more intentional, like constantly bringing McDonalds into the equation. I don't exactly get why, maybe because they're common across the world and represent corporate greed/corruption and our willingness to eat it up, or maybe FREAKBAiT just really like mcnuggets. I dig the aesthetic though.
This book gave me a lot to think about, and also a lot I don't want to think about (e.g. the ending of that jack and beanstalk retelling). Overall I enjoyed the book, but I'm not sure I can recommended it to all but a very specific subset of people. I wish there were more pages where FREAKBAiT embraced genuineness, as the few that did were some of the most moving and some of my favorites.
favorites
- the immortal astronaut (62)
- the richest man in the world (50)
- the pills (46) (similar joke in cum button)
- the park bench (66) (similar joke in the box 181)
- untitled (201)
- the backwards man (206)
- the man who gave up
- untitled (254)
But then there's the book. I've never read anything like it before. It's a "book" in that it's a number of pages bound together, but that's about as clear a constraint as you can apply to the thing. It isn't a short story compendium, though it does have those. It isn't a book of poetry, though it does have those. It isn't an "art" book, as in collection of photos/paintings, though it does have those. It does a little bit of everything, and I never knew what I'd find on the next page.
As I learned as I read, this book is a compilation of "zines" FREAKBAiT has made over the years. (Note the capitalization of FREAKBAiT, it's a proper noun and always rendered with that solitary lower case "i.") I wasn't really familiar with the zine meta, but there's actually a handy page in this book (fairly deep in the book) that explains what a zine is, where it came from, and how/why to make one. It's one of the few pages in this book where FREAKBAiT seems genuine. Most of the pages in this book are sardonic, vulgar, graphic, or offensive in ways I've never experienced before.
The book is so spurious that I think it harms some of its better jokes. For example, there's this great poem called "The Park Bench" where the narrator goes for a walk in the woods and finds an old park bench. They notice the bench is clean of all graffiti, odd for its age. They ponder what the forest looked like when it was placed who knows how many years ago. Then they carve a penis in it. This poem made me laugh, but I think it's better isolated from this collection. The whole time I was waiting for the punchline- I think being shocked by the ending is the ideal reading.
Almost every page has some kind of visual art, whether it be in the arrangement of the text, some sort of collage, or hand drawn art accompanying verse a-la Silverstein.I really enjoyed these pieces. Occasionally there would be two page spreads and those always rocked.
Some of the pages I just didn't vibe with. Poems like "The Happy-Ending Man," or the one about the guy who makes his wife out of stapled together meat, are just vulgar for the sake of vulgarity. That being said, I appreciate this book for not holding anything back. This is a true piece of personal expression, something I bet no publishing house would touch, and that gives it a certain charm.
There are some themes/words that come up over and over again. FREAKBAiT repeatedly says phrases like "roman orgy," or "faustian deal," which partly feels like an editing issue (you couldn't think of any other set of terms to suggest a deal with the devil/evil entity?). But then there are other references that are more intentional, like constantly bringing McDonalds into the equation. I don't exactly get why, maybe because they're common across the world and represent corporate greed/corruption and our willingness to eat it up, or maybe FREAKBAiT just really like mcnuggets. I dig the aesthetic though.
This book gave me a lot to think about, and also a lot I don't want to think about (e.g. the ending of that jack and beanstalk retelling). Overall I enjoyed the book, but I'm not sure I can recommended it to all but a very specific subset of people. I wish there were more pages where FREAKBAiT embraced genuineness, as the few that did were some of the most moving and some of my favorites.
favorites
- the immortal astronaut (62)
- the richest man in the world (50)
- the pills (46) (similar joke in cum button)
- the park bench (66) (similar joke in the box 181)
- untitled (201)
- the backwards man (206)
- the man who gave up
- untitled (254)
August 11, 2024
This book is amazing. It's a trip to read, even without the aid of drugs (although I'm sure that's fun, too!) I recently discovered FREAKBAiT by stumbling upon one of his Today's Mission videos. All of the stuff he's created is great, and this book is proof of that. I highly recommend to anyone with a good/twisted sense of humor, just make sure your friends don't steal it 😉
September 19, 2025
there is no page that cannot be opened to and enjoyed and analyzed for hours. the fullness and depth oF the compiled aRt is beyond your wEttest dreAms. really I’ve never owned a booK like this and I am glad I do. it’s a terrific book to disturB your fAmily and freak out your frIends and inspire yourself to be a liTtle weirder
August 25, 2025
god bless freakbait, god bless voidman, god find and bless reggie.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews