SILLYBOY

by Peter Vack

A classic love story between a meme-lord edgeboy and a tattoo artist e-girl.

202 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 23, 2024

Reviews

[Juliet Mccue · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the age of 37, Vack has successfully written an expose on himself. It is raw, but not groundbreaking in the way I believe it was intended to be perceived. There is no triumph in detailing your porn addiction and attraction to younger women as to not contend with career failures. It is okay writing at best. The morality of a book is irrelevant though. It is possible to write about such horrors if hidden is a deeper underlying message, but what is meant to be a commentary on relationships, specifically those in a modern, internet based context, comes off as a desperate last effort to produce real art, attempted by a man who checks his phone too often. SILLYBOY was written as what appears to be a slightly altered telling of Vack’s tortured life as a straight white man. Yes, most men possess this misogynistic and vaguely pedophilic mindset, yet the novel does not bring nuance to the society-produced nature of men. Real literature exists that addresses such concepts, not Vack's weak prose, coated with distasteful sexual language similar to that of fanfiction written by teenagers in the early 2010s. I am not offended or shocked by the content, but rather underwhelmed by the mind of this mediocre millennial.

The section I found most redeemable was "The Origin of Only The Best." The relationship leading up to that point feels average; an alright tattoo artist and a failed actor struggling together in New York City does not cause one to wince. However, in a flashback to the blossoming relationship, it is revealed to the reader that Sillyboy and Chloe are founded on an inherent power imbalance. The "rush of satisfaction," he feels when placing a children's necklace on her neck says it all. It was a smart move to place this detail later in the novel, as the revelation provided something fresh to the plot. I found no redeemable qualities to any of the characters until this point, where I started to feel real sympathy for Chloe. Besides this section, there are no layers to unravel in Vack's simple prose, which is where I feel the novel falls short.

There is something to be said about the online relationship. This novel does not say much, and will not hold a strong place in the literary world. The cover claims autofiction. I am deeply sorry for the real Chloe.

[everett · Rating 3 out of 5]

not sure if Peter is a novelist but this is definitely a Book - sometimes insightful but tepid overall and the girl on the cover has five fingers w no thumb

[J. Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think if you liked Body High and Donald Goines you’d like this book. I came away really enjoying the humor and high voltage of this novel. Very fun escape into places I’ve never been. Cool publication from the new press Cash 4 Gold Books. check it out.

[James Hogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best representation of the millennial condition put to print (yeah you heard me Sally Rooney)

[Paul-Tristan Auguin · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a self-centered 28yo living in NYC with an instagram addiction and vague artistic ambitions, this should speak to me, but it didn’t. The insipid dialogue and story don’t reveal deep covered truths about extremely online life. The relationship between Sillybo(y/i) and Chloe has no substance other than calling each other baby girl and daddy. “But it’s the point! Look how vapid this all is!”, i hear Vack-heads say. Sure — I just don’t see genius in this navel-gazing.

There’s a few good paragraphs sprinkled around the book. I liked this one on listening:

“But the trouble with Sillyboi is that he doesn't actually listen. He thinks he listens— intently, patiently, his furrowed brow is presented to the jury as evidence— and when listing his good qualities, Sillyboi would count his ability as a listener as high on that list. But what if Sillyboi has made a grave error in his self-appraisal, and it is actually others who are always listening to him? Sillyboi has enjoyed so many hours of being deliciously received by others and, as a result, is so familiar with the experience of being received, with patient looks of attentiveness from his family, friends, and girlfriend — his audience — that somewhere in the course of his life, the constant passionate reception of his every thought and feeling, his minor emotional flatulence taken for grave philosophical pronouncement, Sillyboi began to mistake the experience of being listened to for the act of listening itself.”

[Filip · Rating 5 out of 5]

perceptive and engaging! super into this one.

[Shae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter steps both outside and within himself to uncover genius and silly truths. Loved it, couldnt put it down

[Jiv Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

i enjoyed it because i get the references. i see why some people would be put off by this.

however, consider this: Peter Vack was once Gary, the antagonist in the Rockstar video game “Bully”. One can see this book “Sillyboy” as a spiritual successor to “Bully” in many ways. you would need to read the book to figure out why it is, which is a problem for many people on this website—they can’t read.

overall, i like Sillyboy and Peter himself is quite a “Silly Boy” and that comes through this book “Sillyboy” which was released in 2024 .

[Eli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Peter is a loser …. Like a big one …. Wishing him pain

[Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

if he’s a sex addict, i’m a sex addict. i wanted the resonating to stop! the weed, the chronic objectification, the cheating— the immersion into silly boy’s world is an anxious and horny one. vack’s brutal awareness and lack of inhibition to reveal aspects of millennial/ creative life that i would love to avert my consciousness from forever, i.e. dating apps and the eventual, inevitable thirst for fame, is the crux of what makes this book so restorative. there’s something about curating your own shame that is borderline fetish, while also making you harder to kill. classic 2010s with the jewish boys having a freudian mom and tatted e-girl gfs as treat. i believe in peter vack!

[Malva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rååå

[fionna farrell]

I enjoyed the wit, humor, observations, ending, and even, at times, the characters! Very well written and memorable quotes and insights 😇

[Lindsey Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grabbed this book at an artsy book/coffee shop (RIP Dream Palace) knowing nothing about it. As a creative that hangs with other creatives, this isn't too far off the mark, and it DEFINITELY made me shut the hell up about the play I want to write about my mundane existence (OPE!). HOWEVER, I think Peter purposefully takes the color out of "his own experience" (I'm air quoting cuz it's autofiction), painting the whole thing in very muted, stark colors, maybe cuz that's what he was feeling at the time? I don't think it helps.

I laughed at loud at the constant toxic and hypocritical behavior, but not sure if I'd recommend. Entertaining, but not really saying much. If this book were a person, I would NOT be friends with them. I would still be following on insta as rage bait, but that's it.

1 star docked for the obviously AI cover. C'mon Peter!

[katryna · Rating 4 out of 5]

like rly electric

[Justin Burdick · Rating 5 out of 5]

as usual with all of vack’s stuff the energy and pace is amazing, but what i didnt expect was this to get as depressing and hopeless as it does in the last half, the epilogues specifically feeling like an emotional cardiac assault

sort of a half gallo’s brown bunny half internet brain rot recalling of a toxic relationship, i feel like if the names and terms ryder ripps, goatse, seapunk and health goth mean anything to you (all of which referenced in the book) youll like this

i could see this being a huge turn off for a lot of people, the random IRL interjections, the “edgier” stuff, the porn consumer talk/mentality, etc but it didnt really bother me

tl;dr the woes of social media and internet in terms of dating and how it effects couples (obvi told from the male perspective) who have grown up in the infancy of this era, dont become a sillyboi, sillyboyz

made me wanna stop jacking off smoking weed communicate better and hit the gym more

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Their cosplay of love approaches the real

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know these people

A beach read for the chronically online

[Gabrielle Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sillyboy is not only a novel about obsession with fame; it's about your erotic relationship isn't healthy, and there's no way people are getting back together.

[Alex Hysel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t fall for the fake ending

[Angelina Hazzouri · Rating 5 out of 5]

so fire

[Jay Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lot of reviews calling the main character white. He explicitly states he’s Jewish multiple times throughout even just the first 5 chapters.

That being said there is something about this book that definitely speaks to disenfranchised young men. Men living in the ruins of white supremacists structures who where sold a bill of lies and are trying to reckon with the knowledge the lies they where sold are harmful and vile while still wanting them to exist to provide and easy footstool to lift them out of own self imposed beliefs of mediocrity and become who they where told they where meant to be.

I’ve never quite read a novel like this and I see a lot of negative reviews from women to which I simply say this book was not designed for you. It was written for the disenfranchised and confused often terminally online young men who were promised a future that doesn’t and shouldn’t exist. It’s a gripping story that I think women simply cannot relate to as unfortunately they’ve not lived that experience.

. There’s a part of me that wants to belive this is a coming of age story where a boy who became a man becomes unwound and is remade a Man. But the narrative is so full of contradictions and self doubt that it’s hard to say that is the case. It’s real. It reads less like a story and more like an internal monologue a post incident debriefing of situations an often skewed bias of self aggrandising or self pitying stories. It is hopeless and it speaks again to those that feel there is no hope. Not those who are depressed but those who are simply lost. Lost in their own identity. It’s no coincidence that Ivan’s name is Ivan. He has a cultural lineage to identify with. He has himself outside his own context. Silly boy exists within a framework of broken promises. His parents are said to consider him closer to God than angels themselves and yet despite the loving home his life is derailed by those false promises instilled in him by parents who loved to hard.

To me this novel is a commentary of love. That positive effects of love can be just as problematic as love lost in lust. I do not belive it is ironic, meta, satirical or post ironic. It’s genuine and it’s real.

[Céleste · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok en vrai je l’ai pas fini mais je ne pense pas allez au bout donc je le classe dans “lu”.
Je lis assez lentement en anglais, donc ça en devenait trop douloureux. Pourtant vous pouvez me croire j’aurais voulu impressionner mon copain qui m’assurait que “ça se lit en une heure”. De tout manière ça ne l’aurait même pas impressionné que je finisse ce livre, ça nous aurait juste mis sur un pied d’égalité. Mais si on ne peut pas se partager la place de premier de la classe, mettez moi le bonnet d’âne, histoire que moi aussi j’ai quelque chose à raconter. Donc bref, je le finis pas. Après lui il parle pas français, chacun son truc. Tiens, c’est pas très sain ce que je raconte, ça pourrait presque être un passage du livre. A deux doigts de me faire tatouer mon prénom sur le front. Et quel prénom… ça claquerait. Lire un mauvais livre, ça rend peut-être mauvais… j’ai eu l’impression de boire du vomi à la paille, faut que je me purge. Mais genre du vomi de 4am découvert dans les chiottes d’une house party où tu connais personne. Spoiler : y’a les mêmes connards obsédés par leur story instagram dévoilant leur nouveau look subversif dans tout les capitales. Les mêmes fils de riche qui ne vont pas voter et qui pensent à déménager pour partir dans un pays où ils pourront vivre leur poétique post-capitaliste tout en augmentant leur pouvoir d’achat. Et alors ils ne diront pas qu’ils sont des “expatriés” (ça fait trop blancs, ce qu’ils sont), mais qu’ils ont fuis. Ça fera des super photos pour insta. Le héros du livre en est un, l’auteur aussi. Voilà. J’ai l’âme un peu amochée et je vais rendre ce livre (qui l’est un peu aussi, il a pris le Flixbus…) a mon copain (je t’aime). Bon après il avait qu’a pas me le prêter. Bon en vrai il me l’a pas vraiment prêté je lui ai pris. Pour l’impressionner. Je mets deux étoiles pour faire croire que j’ai un avis critique plus nuancé cqu’il ne paraît (j’voudrais pas faire dans la provocation quand même).

[mizuki-san · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was just going to drop the one star it deserves and move on with my day, but for some reason I couldn't comment on any of the other reviews, so I'll reply to the, eherm, faceless ghost accounts here, I guess.

Unfortunately, this is the worst kind of bad book. Tt fails to be bad in a pOsT-iRoNiC way, which means... well, that if it was going for satire, it faceplanted. Satire/irony gets used so often as a shield against criticism these days that it has come to really devalue those categories. Your story can be a "shitpost", of course, but does that exempt it for criticism? No. You're creating a work of art which you've put out there for the public to consume and appreciate however THEY want, regardless of your intentions. There is no shortage of "post-ironic/shitpost/whatever shield you want to use" works of fiction out there, which have not only received commercial and critical success, but have also stood the test of time.

So you just want to "tell a story"? Good, congratulations. People might just want to "give their opinions" as well. Again, to me, this is the worst kind of bad book. It's not funny iRoNiCaLlY, let alone intentionally. It has nothing to say. It's not nearly as smart or witty as it think it is. There's nothing particularly good or bad about the prose, but there were numerous times where the story would go on several page long tangents, which I usually quite like (probably my most unpopular opinion on this review), but in order for them to work, I feel like the author either has to have an interesting story or thought to share, or have good enough prose to keep the reader entertained (and authors who pull this off usually have both imo). This had none of that. There was an extended segment about ahegao faces and capitalism which tried, so pathetically, to either say something or be funny in a pOsT-iRoNiC way, that I feel the need to apologize to anime redditors for thinking about them, for none of them deserve the comparison.

The whole thing reeks of insecurity on a meta level, which is a trend I see often in more amateur authors and which is truly unfortunate. If you're so insecure and scared to bare out your feelings, that's fine, because most people are. It's normal and understandable to be afraid of negativity towards something you've put your heart and soul into. Still, to dress it up with a fragile cape of "irony" and dismiss all criticism because it was "meant to be satire" is to hinder yourself in the worst way possible as an author.

As a book, it fails in pretty much every aspect, from characterization, to prose, to any semblance of a real meaning or theme. I get that with literary fiction (which this PoSt-IrOnIcAlLy reminds me of) you don't exactly shoot for a traditional plot, but there has to be... SOMETHING... to fill the book with, which is precisely why it fails as satire, too, or even a "shitpost". To call it mediocre would be a disservice to the millions of books out there that don't stand out in any way, but which were written with the author being brave enough to admit that they care. This is one of maybe three books in my life where I genuinely feel like I've wasted my time, even writing this review, for I feel like it'll get dismissed because har har it's a joke bro

The girl in the cover having no thumbs but five fingers is just the icing on the cake. I'd say I regret wasting time and money on this, but it made me appreciate sincere mediocrity in a way I hadn't thought of before. It's a level this book wishes it could reach.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giving this 5 stars because I know Peter personally (we go way back) and want to support him, and I'm a numbers guy, I understand that giving this doggerel the 0 stars it deserves would be damaging to its average rating on here (which is all a lot of people look at).

Reading this book made me feel bad, sick to my stomach, not only for the content (which I'll get to in a second), but because it's really not worthy of being published, and I fear my association with it (and Peter) will make my book (Let Me Try Again, coming August 13 2024) seem similarly low-effort and undeserving of serious literary attention.

The writing itself is often tough to choke down, and its strongest moments are in the dialogue (Vack is an experienced screenwriter who excels at making feature films in which his mom, dad, and sister take their clothes off on camera and kiss each other), which is often funny, genuinely shocking and appealing, especially compared to the third-person present-tense narration which features oddly sincere sentences like "Sillyboy inhales deep sips of amber light as he saunters through the debris littered avenues of a still ungentrified Bushwick block, the one place in the world where a straight white man can feel the burden of his privilege raining down upon him, as the year is 2015 and woke stuff is just starting to pop off at this moment in time / history."

Sentences that make you shake your head in confusion and wonder aloud "You good bro???"

The story is at times compelling, the descriptions of sex are pretty gross, there's stuff about the Asian tattoo artist having a dad who hits her but it never quite HIT ME, on a gut level. Solipsistic Millennial slop, nothing even happens, blah blah blah. There's no moral, no message, it essentially has nothing to say, beyond "cheating hurts, but you gotta do it sometimes."

I have seething jealousy about this book, I'm so mad that it came out. I'm mad that there are 20 year old women and 40 year old men buying this book instead of mine (which isn't out for another month).

My only hope is that when my book comes out in one more month, it swiftly overshadows Peter's, as people finally see it's possible for a book written by a guy they follow on Instagram to be actually good, with literary value. I'm so mad at you, Peter. I'll never forget what you did to me.

[Matthew Wilder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boredom is a theme of now. Despite the precarity and chaos of 2025, everyone is into boredom. Antonioni should get a new lease on life. (The greatest movie about boredom, John Carpenter’s DARK STAR, has never been named as such.) I have never had a fine grasp on boredom as it presupposes comfortable living, no life and death struggle, just the anxiety of how to amuse a mind at rest. But I find this theme everywhere now, and the most tortured souls seem to be the most bored.

Peter Vack has studied Bret Easton Ellis—seems to have picked every last sliver of meat off the bone, in fact, the way Tarantino really digested, say, Brian DePalma’s split screen images on a deep, cellular level. The key is expressing the twitches of contemporary life with total deadpan—in BEE’s case, high-end consumerism (AMERICAN PSYCHO), then celebrity culture (GLAMORAMA), and for Vack Internet culture: the characters’ reaches for Instagram are described like Patrick Bateman’s skin-care routines. What will the humans or post-humans of subsequent millennia think of these characters who reach for Instagram as twentieth-century fiction characters reached for guns or cigarettes?

As in his movie WWW.RACHELORMONT.COM, Vack makes the spammy barf of our phones into something kaleidoscopic. Also as in that picture, the consequence of his talent is challenged by the spectator’s revulsion at all that Interweb barf—it’s funny that readers react with moralistic dudgeon against Vack’s vomit while likely addicted to the stuff in their own real lives. Like BEE, Vack also knows that it is an artistic plus to take your finger off the self-censoring button, sometimes to the point of horror. Keep writing novels, young man!

[MR. OMAR KING · Rating 5 out of 5]

SILLY BOY BY: PETER VACK. NON-SPOILER BOOK REVIEW AND THOUGHTS BY: MR. OMAR KING 9/6/24

Folks if you are planning on getting this book, do yourself a favor and get this book.

You can use this book almost anything! You can fan yourself on hot sunny day. You can place it under a crocket chair; good to level that terrible uneven chair, those are the worst. Hell, it's good weight to it. Not too hard and not too soft, either. It is just good enough. Good enough to smack a wise ass on the head and tell 'em: "DON'T YOU DARE BRING THAT FOOLISHNESS INTO THIS ENERGETIC SPACE, YOU KNUCKLE HEAD! YOU BETTER TAKE THAT FOOLISHNESS SOMEPLACE ELSE; YOU HEAR?!" and then they would be out of sight and out of mind. I can catch my breath now: *Phew*.

Sometimes at the park, I would take this book, read a page or two and eat my sandwich at the same time. A stranger person would interrupt my reading, and they would ask: "What the heck is this color book, you have there?" to which I would reply: "Not just a coloring book, it is a novel!"

"What kind of novel?"

"The kind of novel that has some humor and tragedy and lust and romance. It's hard to say, I am only couple pages in. I tell you all about it once I finish it, okay."

It's a pip!

I don't want to be that person to spoil anything from the book, but I have to say for a book like this it is quite an artistic smash! And the contents in it, golly, it's like watching one of those HBO movies or limited Television Series. Euphoria better eats its heart out, I can tell ya that.

I, MR. OMAR KING approves of SILLY BOY, yes indeed, I do.

My hat goes to you, Peter Vack.

[Rowan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really just not very good.

Written by a cishet white man who is chronically aware of his cishet-white-male-ness and has tried to write a satirical, ironic book about it whilst jacking himself off for how subversive and different he's being and perpetuating the exact same things he is ironically "bringing to light” (white men being misogynistic and racist, and aware of that misogyny and racism, is not exactly a surprise). None of this is excused by it being satirical, ironic, intentionally vapid/pointless/etcetcetc. It’s just vapid and pointless.

Millenials seem to have latched onto this nihilistic self-awareness that screams and screams for attention by pointing it out constantly (Look at how worthless I am! Everything is worthless!!! I am so interesting for pointing this out even though everyone knows!!!) - the kind of personal “musings” Vack often inserts. The writing itself is fine aside from occasional ‘shock’ filler of sentences like “…an x-ray image of his cock added to the database of passenger’s cocks and pussies the TSA is hoarding and snickering at…”. Okay buddy.

I just know he loves Duchamp’s *Fountain*.

[McKinzie Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting when it’s focused on the primary relationship between the protagonist and Chloe, less interesting when it waxes on for pages at a time about what it’s like to be a white straight male Millennial. Not that this kind of thing isn’t needed in its own way, but I didn’t feel like this added anything to the discussion regarding male writers, male artists, men in general. Was more interested in wallowing in what he can’t do rather than moving toward something that he can do. Also, frankly, you can say whatever shit you want. There have always been consequences for being an edgelord so either say it with your whole chest and live with the response or realize you’re not edgy like that and write something worthwhile. Anyway, wasted potential! I actually liked the prose throughout, which seems to be the most common complaint, but in a dialogue-driven and humorous novel like this I thought it worked well. If more care was placed on creating an actual ending + going somewhere with the thoughts on contemporary manhood this could’ve been good, but as it stands it’s basically a Dimes Square clout farming tactic.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

To take Peter Vack's work as merely ironic and edgy is to woefully miss the point of his entire artistic output to date, including his films and meme pages. Vack is instead post-ironic, coming from a place of radical sincerity. This always self-aware perspective makes him fearless as an artist, allowing for the exploration of great vulnerability. With his debut novel, SILLYBOY, Vack has written autofiction on a grand scale. His portrayal of a doomed millennial couple, struggling actor Sillyboi(y) and tattoo artist Chloe, is written with such intelligence, both emotional and intellectual. Savagely funny though the novel often is, the wit does not detract from the humanity, as raw and messy as a bleeding, freshly applied tattoo. The fourth-wall breaks, in which Vack even more explicitly indicts himself, elevate SILLYBOY as a work even further. The novel feels truly generational, with its author having painted a painfully accurate portrait of millennial life and the post-smartphone world. An essential read.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has moments of interest and brilliance that makes you feel like all the build up and background was worth it, but soon goes back to be what seems to be monotonous times with characters who fixate on the same thing constantly and trying to make it seem dramatic and important.

There are moments of beautiful pros writing ideas thoughts but unfortunately, it never seems to last and becomes broken up. Which, ironically is what both characters biggest fears seems to be of breaking up.

It might be a more personal story for the writer though it feels like a relationship story that is slowly rotting and hoping to save itself only making It’s survival worst. Only prolonging the inevitable with an ending that just comes out of nowhere.

Which seems in there more to ground the tale into a reality. That is shocking and cruel, but it also feels there to differentiate the book from the many of its type of modern romantic tales.

This allows her to add this weird twist that kind of comes across more for shock value rather than necessarily, needing to be there, as it is something of note.

As the book can also be seen as a coming of age novel, as two characters are trying to find themselves and make their way through the world of wanting to be, or do something greater, but become increasingly dependent on one another in times of need, but in times of glory seem to easily forget one another or take the other for granted.