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Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's: Darkly Funny, Desperate, and Full of Rage
You’re not assigned to oversee a CIA front company in Dublin unless you screwed up royally—and Joe Chambers did. If he didn’t know so much about so many people, the CIA would probably terminate him—possibly in both senses of the word. Instead, he’s stuck managing Whetstone Publishing while his stateside boss comes up with ever more daft ways to maximize profits.
But Joe’s frustration is only just beginning. An MI6 agent keeps breaking into his apartment and stealing his booze, presumably revenge for blowing the guy's cover in Athens; his publishing assistant’s too smart for her own good; and with head office’s cost-cutting measures hitting new highs of lunacy, he might need to start selling drugs or—God forbid!—move back to the States. Oh, and he’s got a tapeworm named Steve happily curled up in his guts.
A raucous mix of double crosses, brothels, and cocktail recipes, Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is a dark and twisted picaresque tale for fans of Catch-22 and Fight Club.
“Funny, shocking. Demands to be read.”
Arthur Smith, comedian, writer, and broadcaster
“Too clever by half. Too funny by three and five-eighths.”
Niamh Greene, author, The Secret Diary of a Demented Housewife, Coco’s Secret
“Savagely funny and deftly anarchic, Jay Spencer Green’s writing is as exquisite as it is deliciously dangerous.”
Lisa McInerney, author, The Glorious Heresies
“Witty, acerbic, and wired to words.”
William Wall, author, This is the Country, Ghost Estate
“The comic writing of Jay Spencer Green always makes me laugh out loud.”
Karl Whitney, author, Hidden City: Adventures and Explorations in Dublin
“Anytime I read Jay’s work I expect my funny bone to be taken on a trip in a fast car that is then driven off a cliff.”
Donagh Brennan, editor, Irish Left Review
“Irrepressibly funny, savagely indignant, and immensely readable.”
Olibhéir Ó Fearraigh, writer and broadcaster
“A higgledy-piggledy hodge-podge of style which makes Swiftian use of Burroughs and Burroughsian use of Vonnegut. Set in an archetypal dystopia that may never have existed … or will it? A Catcher in the Rye for the wifi generation.”
Carlton B. Morgan, novelist, cartoonist, musician
“Jay Spencer Green is the most exciting voice to pretend to come out of Ireland since the leprechaun in Leprechaun.”
Oliver Jones, animation rigging supervisor, Laika Inc.
“I pride myself on having read Jay Green’s work without being physically sick.”
Caitriona Lally, author, Eggshells
“As they say round our way, that guy knows how to hold a pen.”
Lorcan McGrane comedian and writer, Monaghan Arts Network
“I was there at the start of Jay Green’s writing career, and I hope I’m there at the end.
334 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 28, 2016
6 people are currently reading
747 people want to read
About the author
Jay Spencer Green
5 books270 followersRabelaisian, Experimental, Inventive, and Fun, the novels of Jay Spencer Green are like Goya's Black Paintings in literary form, the kind of enjoyment you get looking into somebody else's abyss to avoid looking into your own.
Comparisons have been made with Kurt Vonnegut, J. G. Ballard, Angela Carter, and Joseph Heller, none of them favourable.
His official website is here.
Comparisons have been made with Kurt Vonnegut, J. G. Ballard, Angela Carter, and Joseph Heller, none of them favourable.
His official website is here.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
March 15, 2022
How long have I been in the dark? Days? Could be longer. I can’t move a muscle and it feels like there’s an anvil on my chest. Barely breathe. Something’s broken.Oops. Sounds like Joe Chambers has gotten himself into a bit of a jam. And not the first one of his career. Joe is CIA, although he is not exactly on the rising star list at the company, having engaged in some dubious activities while at his former post, in Athens. He has some issues with substances and other people’s wives, and deliberately outed an agent from a rival agency. Thus his posting to that central station of spookdom, Dublin.
Me.
The form has been used nicely before, hero in dire straits, and we trace back how he managed to go from there to here. The best, for my money, is the 1950 noir classic, D.O.A., which opens with Edmund O’Brien as Frank Bigelo calling the police to report a murder, his own. But I digress. Maybe time for something to help get one back on track. Each chapter of the book is introduced with a cocktail recipe. You might not find these at your local watering hole. For example recipe No 8, The Edward Snowden, consists of “A Bitter in Cider.” Not your cuppa? How about recipe No. 75, The Trotsky Surprise. 6 oz of Mexican Tequila, 8 oz. Russian Vodka, no ice, serve unexpectedly from behind. You get the idea. All right, suitably refreshed we return to the task at hand.
Jay Spencer Green - image from philipsmith.eu
Chambers, who is our first-person Virgil through this particular ring of hell, does not seem to be engaging in much actual spying. He has been set up in a cover as a manager of a local data-gathering business (clipping articles of interest from across the planet, and summarizing them) that is under constant pressure from his uppers in DC (particularly the Chief of International Trade (United States), or COITUS, to reduce costs, cut staff, and generally keep trying to do more and more and more and more with less and less and less and less, or as it is known these days in most of the world, the usual, featuring downsizing, outsourcing, and pay reductions. He has a pal who deals in illegal substances, and is his connection for a particularly hard-to-find alcoholic beverage. He hangs with a cohort at the US embassy, and keeps an eye out for the spy he outed, a guy who is also in Dublin, and who breaks into his place on occasion to kidnap his precious stash of Glen Moranjie and leave ransom notes.
Many people assume that spooks spend all their time planning assassinations, eavesdropping on the Russkis and the Chinese, and taking photos of documents with miniature cameras. The reality is that only 95 percent of their time is spent doing that. The other 5 percent is devoted to trying to incriminate rival services.The authorities in Dublin might be looking into what they can charge long-time-resident Jay Green with, maybe break into his place a time or two and leave pamphlets touting the joys of other cities, as his beyond-the-Pale portrayal of Dublin is unlikely to provide any useful text for tourism posters. In Green’s Dublin, if there is a Celtic tiger about it is likely to be skinned and used as a snappy carpet in some corrupt pol’s parlor. His scenario is a near-future dystopia, twenty minutes into the future, or maybe ten if it were in the United States of Trumpistan. He tells it in small signs, in how the homeless are shepherded out of sight by cops, dousing the unsightly with power-sprayed liquid excrement, (not a fan in sight), and in how the police are way too free to abuse and arrest, in the near total absence of freedom from fear.
Green offers a look at a brothel run by an intelligence service, a hospital that specializes in the sorts of operations one would associate with black sites, and tales of horse-drawn carriages put to a not-designed-for use. Joe struggles to keep his cover company afloat, to the point of considering drastic and far-from-legal measures to make sure his people get paid. Private tapes will be made. Secrets will be revealed. Crosses will be doubled. Finns will be Mickeyed. There is a named tapeworm, and a reference to a sort of cuisine, ikezukuri, that is sure to generate a reaction.
The threat is always in the back of our minds, after the introduction, but Green does his best to distract us with a torrent of dark humor. I particularly enjoyed the drink recipes. Green goes a bit beyond, though, packing the ends of chapters with comedic lists. These vary in their type and reward. For example, there is a list of facts about giraffes that includes some very non-factual intel, a shopping comparison for hit-man eyewear, 21st century superstitions and lots more. Yucks will be had, faws will be guffed, Ls will be had, OL. There is definite peril from drinking anything while reading this book. The ingested liquids are in danger of being hastily ejected from one’s nose. If you read in public places, people will look at you with suspicion and/or disgust, and someone, probably that workplace rival who has been trailing you lately, is sure to capture your nose spray with their phone, for instant posting on FB. But, overall, I thought they constituted filler and, as often as not, distracted one from the tale at hand.
Throughout, Green offers his worldly perspective, wise takes on contemporary conditions and directions. For example
I didn’t like the sound of that. I didn’t understand it, for one thing, and when you don’t understand something management says, it’s usually a sign of bullshit. When they want to be understood, they’ll be candid. When they don’t, they’ll slather the shit in more shit.There are plenty more of a similar sort, bar-room exchanges between Joe and his associates. “There are no strangers,” he once said to me, “only friends you haven’t alienated yet.” This is the humor that worked best. If you are of a prudish inclination, Cannibal Joe’s is probably not the book for you, as there are references to odd and maybe disturbing sexual antics spewed across the pages. There is some torture as well, but prudes do not seem inclined to object to that, unless of courses, it is being used as part of an S/M connection.
One thing that is either a feature or a bug, depending on one’s inclinations, is the presence of a fair bit of local nomenclature and obscure words that sent me running to the google device. I enjoy this sort of exploration, but am aware that not everyone shares that particular vice. I wondered, with life as challenging as it was presented here, why Joe was so set against returning to the USA. I mean he was years away from a Trumped up America. If Dublin was such a downer, it was a bit unclear why he was so resistant to a return to the States.
Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s presents a bleak, manic vision of today’s world, in the spirit of Terry Gilliam’s brilliant film, Brazil, with the kindness and generosity of spirit one might find in Tim Dorsey’s Serge Storms books, and of a piece with the wafting cordite aroma of Catch-22. It made me think as well of Gary Shteyngard’s near future novel, Super Sad True Love Story. I confess I was getting a bit impatient, irked maybe by too many jokes and not enough story progress, but Green pulls it all together and delivers a boffo finale that made the wait worthwhile. You may not be booking any holiday stays in the dark Dublin of Jay Green’s vision. And despite Ireland’s renown for fine dining, you may not be eager to dine at a place advertising anthropophagy, but there is definitely some substance to be had at Joe’s in between the side courses and fillers. The main course wound up being surprisingly satisfying. Bon appétit.
Review first posted – 11/18/2016
Publication date – 7/20/2015
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s personal, Twitter, and FB pages
Rumors that Green is secretly Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey using a nom de plume remain to be checked out
June 2, 2018
Painting of Samuel Beckett Bridge in Dublin by artist John Frazer
Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s dances an Irish jig at the intersection of Jonathan Swift-like scathing satire, Eddie Izzard/George Carlin stand-up routine and saga of a lovesick, drug and liquor fueled romantic. Sound maddening? It's more than maddening, it's Jay Spencer Green’s entertaining doozy set in the city of Dublin. Get ready for spirited laughs and sombre reflections. Among the many heteroclite and gut-busting highlights, I'll throw the spotlight on the following:
Joe Chambers: Our narrator and hero is an American CIA operative managing a publishing company in Dublin as a front for the CIA. Joe was in Athens but got kicked down and out due to one false move with the wife of a European leader; Joe was married but his own wife took off with a leader of an occult religion. Why do bad things happen to a good guy like Joe, such an intelligent, perceptive, quick-witted man who is also devastatingly handsome? Well, in Dublin, Joe can at least get his hands on some good quality drugs – and he truly needs those drugs because his heart still yearns for his budding rose, his long lost wife Ellie.
Sinéad O'Shea: Joe’s assistant at his publishing house, Ms. O’Shea is Irish and single and quite the wit herself. During her interview to get the job, Joe asks her what jobs she finds the hardest and more tiring, Sinéad replies: “Anything involving independent thought. I think I’m at my best when I know what I’m supposed to be doing. That way, I can do what I’m told, get paid, go home, and forget about work. There’s a reason why it’s called a job.” You gotta love an Irish lass who can match someone like Joe serve for serve. Actually, the team of Joe and Sinéad, or maybe I should say Sinéad and Joe, is one of the more hilarious bits of the novel. Any time Sinéad popped up on the page, I slowed down to linger over each pithy exchange.
Ah, Friendship: All flavors and varieties of zip, zap, zup laced with drinking and drugs between Joe and his buddies. Yet again another fun, funny part of the novel: the waggish ways in which Joe talks about his buds. Here’s vintage Joe on a guy named Delia: “At best of times, the Irish are masters of obtuseness. Delia approaches English side on, like a winking crab sketched by a drunken Picasso.” And here’s our captivating Mr. Chambers on another pal: “Frank isn’t exactly annoyed unless it’s something trivial. He’s as cool as an Eskimo’s fart when it comes to taking lives. That’s what makes him one of Western Europe’s finest torturers.”
Dumpy Domicile: The many colorful images, metaphors and anecdotes Joe comes up with in describing Dublin will never find their way into brochures and pamphlets to attract tourists. Among my favorites: “These canals were once the pride of the city. One city councilor even proposed changing the city’s coat of arms to include a dead dog and a shopping cart. These days, like the councilor, the canals are just full of shite.”
Stand-Up Novelist: What gives the jokes their particular zing is their context within the novel’s unfolding storyline. You’ll have to read for yourself to get the full impact but let me share a one-liner, no, make that a six-liner: “Back when I lived in Athens, I was always getting shot at. Islamic fundamentalists, Marxist revolutionaries, anarchist insurrectionists, disgruntled neo-Platonists. Dublin, not so much. When was the last time you saw video footage of a kidnapped U.S. citizen denouncing his country’s use of Shannon airport for rendition flights or America’s continued deployment of tourist buses along Nassau Street or its creeping cultural imperialism? Never, right? The Irish are such pussies.”
The Stuff of Sticky Notes: Lists abound from beginning to end, enough lists to satisfy any reader’s taste, from Hee Haw lowest-denominator to the more erudite and intellectual. Two examples from the later, the list of little known facts about Bertrand Russell: On Sunday mornings, he used to make prank phone calls to Malcolm Muggeridge pretending to be the voice of God; for his Ph.D. thesis of 1904, he presented an irrefutable argument that demonstrated his own non-existence. He was consequently denied his doctorate by the board of examiners at Cambridge. - Jay Spencer Green's academic training in philosophy exerts its influence in amusing ways.
Politics: Let’s not forget Joe and a number of his buddies work for the CIA, after all. The nasty business of surveillance, sneaking and snooping are all part of the government’s game. Even the less than technically competent Irish government plays this shrouded sport, as noted by Joe when he reflects on his friend’s need to work with a bunch of fumbling Jackeens: “In Frank’s case, coordinating activities with his Irish counterparts is complicated by the fact that there isn’t really an equivalent to the CIA; no Seamus Bond, no Double-O’Siobhan. What secrets do the Irish have that are worth protecting?”
Pace: Humor is all about practice and timing. A lesson every stand-up comic and author learns, usually the hard way. Jay Spencer Green’s background includes a spat as a stand-up comic and, since he knew he wanted to be a writer at the age of eight, writing and writing and more writing, many thousands of hours writing, writing an entire stack of unpublished and unpublishable novels. But the payoff was big: Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is a very funny book. I truly fancy a book where I can frequently laugh out loud. I haven’t laughed as hard since I read master Russian satirist Vladimir Voinovich’s The Fur Hat last fall. And that’s really saying something as I’ve read many dozens of books since.
Language: Other than a smattering of Sinéad O'Shea’s verbal Irish shillelaghs, there’s none of that Irvine Welsh mauling of the English language into local dialects. This book is written to be read - I mean, if your literary aesthetic includes light comedy and black humor, you don’t want your readers tripping over lingo, dialect or idioms. An added kick for those who want to work their vocabulary chops, at the start of one day, Joe shares the new words he would like to learn, including: bhent – a downward spiral; swiviet – a state of extreme agitation; grutch – to begrudge; darry – to weep spontaneously or for no apparent reason. Yes, indeedy-do, these words tie in to the story as Joe is agitated, begrudges his fate and feels like weeping since he is on a downward spiral.
More Great News: Jay Spencer Green’s new novel Fowl Play, set in Manchester, England, is recently released. Additionally, the author is currently hard at work on Manuel Estimulo's Fascist Book of Everything, a novel in the form of an encyclopedia drawing on such varied sources as Don Quixote, Flaubert's Dictionary of Received Ideas, Henry Root's World of Knowledge and zombies, On a personal note, I can't wait to see if any of those zombie references are to Night of the Living Dead.
Jay Spencer Green lives his robust life in Dublin and specializes in transgressive social satire
"How many CIA operatives does it take to change a light bulb? Three. One to take out the old light bulb, one to put in an acceptable replacement, and one to fabricate the evidence proving that the old light bulb had weapons of mass destruction." - Jay Spencer Green, Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's
July 23, 2016
I can imagine that authors have their challenges writing about a particular place....
a country...a city... portraying the culture of the people, developing their story....
..... I'm talking about a contemporary story, or historical, or even a travelogue ...but when they challenge the stereotypical by adding outrageous humor and satirize an entire country and its people ---it makes me pause.....it's must be 10 times harder to write these types of books. They need to know 40 times more factual information before they can even begin to throw it all out the window ... to give us grotesque --intelligent - somewhat truthful -entertainment.
This is a badass book!
You'll meet an assertive brutal, tough guy, brutal, character: Joe Chambers is a CIA guy working in Dublin. ( everybody drinks whisky)
A Jewish reader might especially' take pleasure in the humor ...we've passed the Paton to the Irish...and other Americans. ( but we're alright!). lol.
Scumbags are making their mark in Dublin....
Here's a little 'safe' PG excerpt: ( enjoy)......I did!
"It's no wonder you live alone, you bastard", I said to Delia after he'd bought the next round and sat back down, taking off his jacket. "No woman could ever take you seriously."
"They don't want serious, Joe. Women love a sense of humor. I'm beating them off with a shinty stick. It's murder. Why do you think Wilde pretended to be gay?"
"I muttered skepticism. Delia pulled out a new bag of salmiak, that appalling salt licorice shit he uses to stave off the nicotine cravings, and started chomping.
"Believe me, Joe, I'd much prefer the kind of life you have."
"What do you mean, 'my' kind of life?"
"You know...Indifferent. Chaste. Sexless."
"You cheeky son of a bitch." I put down my pint. I'll have you know I'm horny as a
lizard and three times that size. You 'do' realize that there are no legs on this table.
I'm holding it up with my boner."
Great laughs!
a country...a city... portraying the culture of the people, developing their story....
..... I'm talking about a contemporary story, or historical, or even a travelogue ...but when they challenge the stereotypical by adding outrageous humor and satirize an entire country and its people ---it makes me pause.....it's must be 10 times harder to write these types of books. They need to know 40 times more factual information before they can even begin to throw it all out the window ... to give us grotesque --intelligent - somewhat truthful -entertainment.
This is a badass book!
You'll meet an assertive brutal, tough guy, brutal, character: Joe Chambers is a CIA guy working in Dublin. ( everybody drinks whisky)
A Jewish reader might especially' take pleasure in the humor ...we've passed the Paton to the Irish...and other Americans. ( but we're alright!). lol.
Scumbags are making their mark in Dublin....
Here's a little 'safe' PG excerpt: ( enjoy)......I did!
"It's no wonder you live alone, you bastard", I said to Delia after he'd bought the next round and sat back down, taking off his jacket. "No woman could ever take you seriously."
"They don't want serious, Joe. Women love a sense of humor. I'm beating them off with a shinty stick. It's murder. Why do you think Wilde pretended to be gay?"
"I muttered skepticism. Delia pulled out a new bag of salmiak, that appalling salt licorice shit he uses to stave off the nicotine cravings, and started chomping.
"Believe me, Joe, I'd much prefer the kind of life you have."
"What do you mean, 'my' kind of life?"
"You know...Indifferent. Chaste. Sexless."
"You cheeky son of a bitch." I put down my pint. I'll have you know I'm horny as a
lizard and three times that size. You 'do' realize that there are no legs on this table.
I'm holding it up with my boner."
Great laughs!
September 9, 2017
A most satisfyingly hilarious take.
Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's is a tremendous piece of amusement. Catchy title, apt cover garnishes the dish very well. Only there is no Steve, the tapeworm in the recipe! This novel engulfs you. The start was terrific. The end was fabulous.
When a book start with "THE END", turn the pages fast, because it is highly probable that you'll read a deadly good book.
The story moves faster than fast can be and let me warn you beforehand, this is not a book for the soft-hearted ones. Chances are, You'll die laughing.
Choreographing a witty and humorous storyline, Jay Spencer has perfectly made his claims of being a full-on writer. His comic side as well as a serious and dark tone of writing entertains stupendously. How effortlessly the protagonist was getting himself into trouble was fulfilling to notice.
Highly recommended to readers of dark comedy and humor.
Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's is a tremendous piece of amusement. Catchy title, apt cover garnishes the dish very well. Only there is no Steve, the tapeworm in the recipe! This novel engulfs you. The start was terrific. The end was fabulous.
When a book start with "THE END", turn the pages fast, because it is highly probable that you'll read a deadly good book.
The story moves faster than fast can be and let me warn you beforehand, this is not a book for the soft-hearted ones. Chances are, You'll die laughing.
Choreographing a witty and humorous storyline, Jay Spencer has perfectly made his claims of being a full-on writer. His comic side as well as a serious and dark tone of writing entertains stupendously. How effortlessly the protagonist was getting himself into trouble was fulfilling to notice.
Highly recommended to readers of dark comedy and humor.
January 19, 2016
Well, I am abso stunned by the joke/ page density of Gobshite’s Original Miscellany! Or rather, its actual title above this review.
Amidst the narrative are newspaper articles, lists, cocktail recipes and more, all thrown into Green’s picaresque blender with social commentary and hilarity to release their maximum effects. Even managed to eschew the go-to funny lists of sex positions or porno titles! (Unless they were in there too- I can’t say for sure- this book benefits from a slower reading than I gave it. I mean, someone might even have had breakfast at a place called Cannibal Joe’s. Honestly I’m not sure what the fuck just happened. But I liked it!)
Hey, it seems totally reductive to say that an indie book is well formatted: if we give books like this the respect they deserve (ie. That they can compete with traditionally published works), it’s a given that the formatting is good. But the formatting of this book is effing immaculate :)
[Tl;dr: like a modern day Ulysses, stripped of anything but its humour, which entertains and unlike Ulysses has the decency to stop well before its welcome is worn out.]
This is a stunning and hugely funny debut, and I await its author’s next work with equal parts anticipation and dread- stirred and shaken :D
Amidst the narrative are newspaper articles, lists, cocktail recipes and more, all thrown into Green’s picaresque blender with social commentary and hilarity to release their maximum effects. Even managed to eschew the go-to funny lists of sex positions or porno titles! (Unless they were in there too- I can’t say for sure- this book benefits from a slower reading than I gave it. I mean, someone might even have had breakfast at a place called Cannibal Joe’s. Honestly I’m not sure what the fuck just happened. But I liked it!)
Hey, it seems totally reductive to say that an indie book is well formatted: if we give books like this the respect they deserve (ie. That they can compete with traditionally published works), it’s a given that the formatting is good. But the formatting of this book is effing immaculate :)
[Tl;dr: like a modern day Ulysses, stripped of anything but its humour, which entertains and unlike Ulysses has the decency to stop well before its welcome is worn out.]
This is a stunning and hugely funny debut, and I await its author’s next work with equal parts anticipation and dread- stirred and shaken :D
September 15, 2016
Joe Chambers runs Whetstone Publishing. Dublin-based, it’s a sort of super-clippings agency that produces abstracts of what’s published around the world and sells them to wealthy corporate subscribers. Joe’s not what he seems, though. He’s American. Whetstone is actually a CIA front company. And Joe is a Company operative sent into this backwater job thanks to “one lousy indiscretion eight years ago with a bottle of Metaxa, a tub of Starbucks Java ice cream, and the spouse of a European leader.”
Trouble is, Dublin’s not a sinecure anymore. Because Joe’s under pressure to cut costs. In fact the book begins with a tense online meeting between Joe and his superior in New York, the Chief of International Trade (United States). Or to use her full acronym, COITUS. And things sort of go downhill from there, until Joe’s up to his neck in vice and crime. Not that that stops him jotting down cocktail recipes now and then. (My favourite was The JFK: 1 oz. Green Spot Irish Whiskey, 8 oz. Tomato Juice, 4 oz. Cuban Rum, Three slugs of Harvey’s.)
Jay Spencer Green’s Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is very funny. I have rather a dry sense of humour, and I suspect I laughed less than most readers. But I still had some serious snort-my-coffee moments, including one or two while riding on the New York subway at rush hour (and trust me, that doesn't happen often). Joe’s CIA drinking companion Frank, torturemeister from the US Embassy, refusing to watch tennis: “If I’ve got to watch two lesbians grunting and squealing, I expect at least one of them to be wearing a strap-on.” Asked how he got on with a date the night before: “Excellent. I’ve always liked Stiff Little Fingers. Just never had them up my ass before.” Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is not only funny; it’s also filthy.
But it’s also very dark. We’re in a dystopian Dublin in what seems to be the very near future, cynical, with everything for sale. In passing, we hear that troops have shot 15 Travelers dead near Kells; and that they drive around the city at night, spraying homeless people with sewage so that they’ll inspire disgust and will be easier to persecute. It gets worse. A virus strikes the pork industry and the government takes action to save the pigs: “For years, pigs’ organs had been used to keep human patients alive. Why not the reverse? Who’s going to miss a few winos and Travelers so long as there’s bacon on the plate of a Sunday morning? China showed us the way years ago, executing criminals to order.” Late in the book things start to take an even more sinister turn, with bombs and disorder that have a murky purpose. Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is very funny, but I wondered to what extent Green wanted the readers to laugh, or to think about the world post-2008 crash, and where it’s going.
I think he mainly wants to make us laugh. Even so, the black humour is part of a book that is intelligent and subversive as well as funny. As Joe’s friend Delia says at one point: “It’s what’s known as gallows humor, Joe, Gallows being a small town in Scotland where Methodists go for their annual comedy festival.”
Trouble is, Dublin’s not a sinecure anymore. Because Joe’s under pressure to cut costs. In fact the book begins with a tense online meeting between Joe and his superior in New York, the Chief of International Trade (United States). Or to use her full acronym, COITUS. And things sort of go downhill from there, until Joe’s up to his neck in vice and crime. Not that that stops him jotting down cocktail recipes now and then. (My favourite was The JFK: 1 oz. Green Spot Irish Whiskey, 8 oz. Tomato Juice, 4 oz. Cuban Rum, Three slugs of Harvey’s.)
Jay Spencer Green’s Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is very funny. I have rather a dry sense of humour, and I suspect I laughed less than most readers. But I still had some serious snort-my-coffee moments, including one or two while riding on the New York subway at rush hour (and trust me, that doesn't happen often). Joe’s CIA drinking companion Frank, torturemeister from the US Embassy, refusing to watch tennis: “If I’ve got to watch two lesbians grunting and squealing, I expect at least one of them to be wearing a strap-on.” Asked how he got on with a date the night before: “Excellent. I’ve always liked Stiff Little Fingers. Just never had them up my ass before.” Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is not only funny; it’s also filthy.
But it’s also very dark. We’re in a dystopian Dublin in what seems to be the very near future, cynical, with everything for sale. In passing, we hear that troops have shot 15 Travelers dead near Kells; and that they drive around the city at night, spraying homeless people with sewage so that they’ll inspire disgust and will be easier to persecute. It gets worse. A virus strikes the pork industry and the government takes action to save the pigs: “For years, pigs’ organs had been used to keep human patients alive. Why not the reverse? Who’s going to miss a few winos and Travelers so long as there’s bacon on the plate of a Sunday morning? China showed us the way years ago, executing criminals to order.” Late in the book things start to take an even more sinister turn, with bombs and disorder that have a murky purpose. Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is very funny, but I wondered to what extent Green wanted the readers to laugh, or to think about the world post-2008 crash, and where it’s going.
I think he mainly wants to make us laugh. Even so, the black humour is part of a book that is intelligent and subversive as well as funny. As Joe’s friend Delia says at one point: “It’s what’s known as gallows humor, Joe, Gallows being a small town in Scotland where Methodists go for their annual comedy festival.”
August 8, 2016
Where to begin! This book clearly requires a reread in the future – if only to make sure that I catch every joke on every page. However, those jokes I did catch were devastatingly spot on. Just one of many can be found among the random lists at the end of the chapters; this time amidst a TV schedule:
“9:30 p.m. “It shouldn’t happen to a bulimic”
Dieting competition, plus a report on the latest radical weight-loss craze from the USA: amputation.”
I had to take a five minute break while I went into a laughing fit. In fact this book is like a marathon of jokes and you need Usain Bolt’s stamina to keep up with them. But dig beneath the surface and, like all books demanding a reread, it’s so much more than that. What I can make of the plot is that there’s a CIA slacker called Joe who’s running a front company in Dublin—a Dublin fucked up almost beyond recognition but also, I suspect, with elements of truth in the descriptions—and is doing his best to keep a low profile. But he’s not helped by a boss who requires him to cut costs in any way conceivable, a best mate who smuggles booze and drugs when not concocting dubious proverbs, a CIA head of station who’s a torturing misogynistic sociopath, and an assistant who appears to have a monopoly on the nation’s spanners, all the better to introduce into the works. Hilarity ensues.
Green delights in the reductio ad absurdum, in taking an idea, argument, or ideology and stretching it to its limits in order to show how ridiculous it is when followed through to its logical conclusion. I figured that the Dublin he portrays in Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is based on Pinochet’s Chile, where neoliberalism first raised its ugly head in the form of the “Chicago Boys,” who were given free rein to engage in a new round of primitive accumulation in the country’s economy. Green’s post-crash Dublin is neoliberalism triumphant, a place where use of the Shock Doctrine has meant that all bets are off. Chaos rules, but a deliberately invoked chaos, all the better to justify the imposition of totalitarian rule. This book, too, is all chaos on the surface, but there are underlying patterns, if only you have the wherewithal to look.
It’s tempting while reading this book to give up on trying to make sense of what’s happening and to simply enjoy the ride, sink into the relatable transgressions, delight in the daft ideas and the body count.
But there’s the rub: Green entices the reader to confront their own potential complicity in letting neoliberalism get away with it. Do you stop trying to make sense of it all, have you given up on expending the mental discipline necessary to make sense of the world, have you been so distracted by capitalism’s spectacles, so hammered into submission by its gewgaws that you fail to notice what’s actually going on? Are you, like Joe, blasé in the face of everyday atrocities so long as you have your internet, your Premier League, your Sauvignon Blanc? Don’t think that just because you have no interest in politics that politics has no interest in you.
“9:30 p.m. “It shouldn’t happen to a bulimic”
Dieting competition, plus a report on the latest radical weight-loss craze from the USA: amputation.”
I had to take a five minute break while I went into a laughing fit. In fact this book is like a marathon of jokes and you need Usain Bolt’s stamina to keep up with them. But dig beneath the surface and, like all books demanding a reread, it’s so much more than that. What I can make of the plot is that there’s a CIA slacker called Joe who’s running a front company in Dublin—a Dublin fucked up almost beyond recognition but also, I suspect, with elements of truth in the descriptions—and is doing his best to keep a low profile. But he’s not helped by a boss who requires him to cut costs in any way conceivable, a best mate who smuggles booze and drugs when not concocting dubious proverbs, a CIA head of station who’s a torturing misogynistic sociopath, and an assistant who appears to have a monopoly on the nation’s spanners, all the better to introduce into the works. Hilarity ensues.
Green delights in the reductio ad absurdum, in taking an idea, argument, or ideology and stretching it to its limits in order to show how ridiculous it is when followed through to its logical conclusion. I figured that the Dublin he portrays in Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is based on Pinochet’s Chile, where neoliberalism first raised its ugly head in the form of the “Chicago Boys,” who were given free rein to engage in a new round of primitive accumulation in the country’s economy. Green’s post-crash Dublin is neoliberalism triumphant, a place where use of the Shock Doctrine has meant that all bets are off. Chaos rules, but a deliberately invoked chaos, all the better to justify the imposition of totalitarian rule. This book, too, is all chaos on the surface, but there are underlying patterns, if only you have the wherewithal to look.
It’s tempting while reading this book to give up on trying to make sense of what’s happening and to simply enjoy the ride, sink into the relatable transgressions, delight in the daft ideas and the body count.
But there’s the rub: Green entices the reader to confront their own potential complicity in letting neoliberalism get away with it. Do you stop trying to make sense of it all, have you given up on expending the mental discipline necessary to make sense of the world, have you been so distracted by capitalism’s spectacles, so hammered into submission by its gewgaws that you fail to notice what’s actually going on? Are you, like Joe, blasé in the face of everyday atrocities so long as you have your internet, your Premier League, your Sauvignon Blanc? Don’t think that just because you have no interest in politics that politics has no interest in you.
May 5, 2016
This book’s brilliant. It’s so brilliant, I don’t even feel worthy enough to review it, let alone know how to use the right adjectives to describe its brilliant brilliance. The laid back plot casually evolves into a character driven double crossing crescendo. Dublin is described with frankness, mockery and fondness. The Irish, the Scottish, the English and the Americans all get a good ribbing. The chapters headed as hilarious cocktails are the perfect touch. The intellectual depth to proceedings is there in abundance if you wish to find it. The interweaving segments of various publications (from the publishers which the protagonist Joe manages) are perfectly strewn alongside the story, and are so damn funny that you won’t just piss yourself laughing, you’ll shit yourself too – so it is preferable that you should read this brilliant book whilst sat on the toilet. And did I mention this novel’s brilliant? Not only is it brilliant, finely crafted and edited to the highest of standards, it’s also exceptionally funny.
Jay Spencer Green delivers his humour at such a tremendous rate, with a plethora of one liners that you’ll miss if you blink, and a running dark comic tone of the cleverest sort, that it feels like the author could work as a sketch writer or a stand up comedian just as much as he could as a novelist.
Inside the pages of Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s, you’ll discover plans for coke deals to top up salaries, CIA shenanigans, sex, whiskey, and the staff of Joe’s publishing company inserting hidden messages into their boring-ass copywriting pieces via the code of reading the first letters of a sentence – so: for unabashed comedy kicks and masterful, accomplished zing, obtain now.
Did I mention Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is brilliant? Really brilliant. I even read through the acknowledgements at the end, it’s that brilliant.
Jay Spencer Green delivers his humour at such a tremendous rate, with a plethora of one liners that you’ll miss if you blink, and a running dark comic tone of the cleverest sort, that it feels like the author could work as a sketch writer or a stand up comedian just as much as he could as a novelist.
Inside the pages of Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s, you’ll discover plans for coke deals to top up salaries, CIA shenanigans, sex, whiskey, and the staff of Joe’s publishing company inserting hidden messages into their boring-ass copywriting pieces via the code of reading the first letters of a sentence – so: for unabashed comedy kicks and masterful, accomplished zing, obtain now.
Did I mention Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is brilliant? Really brilliant. I even read through the acknowledgements at the end, it’s that brilliant.
June 11, 2018
Not really sure what I have read here, it's total madness, total disgusting, perverted, borderline offensive madness. The book starts off with "THE END" that's the kind of madness you'll have to put up with if you read this book.
I think I have managed to keep up with the plot, it twists and turns and tries it's best to shake you off. The humour is very good, I laughed a lot, the biggest laughs come at the end of each story with a list of facts or news clippings which I am sure are true, I've yet to Google the giraffe facts though. Each chapter also starts with a cocktail recipe, a few were above my head but I got some of them, very clever stuff.
It is tough to describe the plot without just confusing matters even more so just take my word for it, this is one of the funniest and cleverest books I've read this year; In fact I do declare this book to be "Bogus" (read the book for the definition of bogus)
Book review is here> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
I think I have managed to keep up with the plot, it twists and turns and tries it's best to shake you off. The humour is very good, I laughed a lot, the biggest laughs come at the end of each story with a list of facts or news clippings which I am sure are true, I've yet to Google the giraffe facts though. Each chapter also starts with a cocktail recipe, a few were above my head but I got some of them, very clever stuff.
It is tough to describe the plot without just confusing matters even more so just take my word for it, this is one of the funniest and cleverest books I've read this year; In fact I do declare this book to be "Bogus" (read the book for the definition of bogus)
Book review is here> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
August 27, 2016
There is something wrong with me. I ought to go to the doctor to look it up, at some point. Thank god it's not frequent... but I become highly emotional watching or reading good, intelligent comedy, which is my favourite genre. No, it's not that I pick the tragic undertones and nuances of something funny. It happens when I watch a fantastic performance, especially if the actors are my friends and I know how much work they've put into it, or I read a great book. It's just that talent melts my bloody heart. But enough about me me me. We need to talk about Mr Green. Not the character of Paul Auster's Ghosts, but the author of Cannibal Joe.
I don't have enough words to emphasise how much I cherished the writing. The intelligence, surrealist tone, the genuine love for words, deconstructing and reconstructing proverbs and cliches to new sharp entities, the refusal to skip extra work and go for the easy solution, the absolutely first class humour, the fresh and novel solutions.
The characters feel so real, like they're acutely aware of their modus operandi, like they're actors communicating straight with the director to ensure that all runs smoothly and organically ' Was it OK Jay or you wanted it more extreme?' 'Not this time Frank. Just keep it up' Their monstrosity or puzzlement or decadence is as palpable as it is convincing.
The plot, same thing: refusal for the easy painless recipe.
I don't know what else to say other than the happy shock I experienced reading this book compares to my first time reading my favourite genius Scott, Christopher Brookmyre. And, Reader, for the reasons explained in the first paragraph, I got all tearful, the weirdo. After I finished laughing my socks off.
I just loved it. And I can only enthusiastically, persistently, hysterically recommended it!
I don't have enough words to emphasise how much I cherished the writing. The intelligence, surrealist tone, the genuine love for words, deconstructing and reconstructing proverbs and cliches to new sharp entities, the refusal to skip extra work and go for the easy solution, the absolutely first class humour, the fresh and novel solutions.
The characters feel so real, like they're acutely aware of their modus operandi, like they're actors communicating straight with the director to ensure that all runs smoothly and organically ' Was it OK Jay or you wanted it more extreme?' 'Not this time Frank. Just keep it up' Their monstrosity or puzzlement or decadence is as palpable as it is convincing.
The plot, same thing: refusal for the easy painless recipe.
I don't know what else to say other than the happy shock I experienced reading this book compares to my first time reading my favourite genius Scott, Christopher Brookmyre. And, Reader, for the reasons explained in the first paragraph, I got all tearful, the weirdo. After I finished laughing my socks off.
I just loved it. And I can only enthusiastically, persistently, hysterically recommended it!
February 15, 2017
American Joe Chambers is a CIA operative, working in Dublin for an agency fronted publishing house, Whetstone. He was sent there to work after he messed up big time, and this was his punishment, of sorts.
Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is a uniquely dark comedy story, which has many bizarre occurrences happen throughout the book. It is mainly via those occurrences that the humour is produced.
Unfortunately for me, I just couldn’t get into it. The book sounded a lot of fun, and I really did want to delve into it, basically to have a laugh, but I found it hard to grasp. I really can appreciate the skill involved in creating such a story, and linking it altogether with humour even if it was beyond my understanding.
I was intrigued enough though that I wanted to persevere and finish the book, which luckily I did. I believe that this book would appeal to people who like strange, funny, dark humour, which I have realised, I must not! :-(
Reviewed by Marcia on www.whisperingstories.com
Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is a uniquely dark comedy story, which has many bizarre occurrences happen throughout the book. It is mainly via those occurrences that the humour is produced.
Unfortunately for me, I just couldn’t get into it. The book sounded a lot of fun, and I really did want to delve into it, basically to have a laugh, but I found it hard to grasp. I really can appreciate the skill involved in creating such a story, and linking it altogether with humour even if it was beyond my understanding.
I was intrigued enough though that I wanted to persevere and finish the book, which luckily I did. I believe that this book would appeal to people who like strange, funny, dark humour, which I have realised, I must not! :-(
Reviewed by Marcia on www.whisperingstories.com
January 21, 2016
This novel is like being assaulted by a high functioning savant. At first there’s a period of adjustment. He has sat beside you, singled you out to be the recipient of his verbal vomitage. This is confusing enough. Then you realise that there is some sort of tale being told, a yarn that smacks of being too preposterous to be true, and yet this reels you in. Then the raucousness starts. Like being swept into the world of undercover banterers, with outlandish stories that dance along the tightrope of dare, nudging you one way then the other, always shifting your footing and orientation. He did what? To them? What was that about?
At first I struggled with this as there’s just so much going on. It starts a breakneck speed and proceeds to pick off every other body part it can think of. But once acclimatised the word bending fun alone is worth the price of admission. This book is so cheeky. A spirited sense of mischief leads the cutting humour, and there’s some very enjoyable relish of the farcical consequences of when rules meet humanity.
Lists. I am fond of lists. Lists with puns. Yes. Lists with arched eyebrows and satirical sideswipes. Hell yes! Many of these I read twice as I was chuckling too much to take them in in their full glory in one go.
The story goes past so fast that I’m still figuring it out, but on the whole I’m glad that savant sat next to me and shared, even if I do feel a bit grubby. There’s an incredibly acute mind pulling the strings and one obviously preoccupied with extremely extreme people acting extremely extreme. Happens everyday don’t you know? When it happens in this book it’s pretty much sticking to absurd logic that reaches insane heights as situation hits personality and the glorified madness of all bets are off land takes hold. So yeah, verbally high-octane with a frantically bonkers and enjoyably restless plot.
At first I struggled with this as there’s just so much going on. It starts a breakneck speed and proceeds to pick off every other body part it can think of. But once acclimatised the word bending fun alone is worth the price of admission. This book is so cheeky. A spirited sense of mischief leads the cutting humour, and there’s some very enjoyable relish of the farcical consequences of when rules meet humanity.
Lists. I am fond of lists. Lists with puns. Yes. Lists with arched eyebrows and satirical sideswipes. Hell yes! Many of these I read twice as I was chuckling too much to take them in in their full glory in one go.
The story goes past so fast that I’m still figuring it out, but on the whole I’m glad that savant sat next to me and shared, even if I do feel a bit grubby. There’s an incredibly acute mind pulling the strings and one obviously preoccupied with extremely extreme people acting extremely extreme. Happens everyday don’t you know? When it happens in this book it’s pretty much sticking to absurd logic that reaches insane heights as situation hits personality and the glorified madness of all bets are off land takes hold. So yeah, verbally high-octane with a frantically bonkers and enjoyably restless plot.
April 6, 2017
I've not read all of this book (hence the 4 stars), but from the majority of what I have read, I can relate to Mr Green's storytelling and observations.
Cannibal Joe's is very well written. It's full of heart and angst.
The words pulled in me. I could just picture Jay sat at some random Irish bar, taking everything in around him. He doesn't hold back on the socio-political sentiments (that's a good thing); and he has a real knack of "telling it like it is", which I admire.
I will finish the book (not many pages left) and add some additional thoughts in the future.
But for now, I'd just like to say, I really enjoyed this.
Sat on the bog, especially, for long periods during the day, this book has been a good friend to me. I've took my time with it, laughed and felt angry along the way; and I'd like to say thanks to the author for creating a true-to-life piece of fiction that is just as entertaining as it is enlightening.
Bravo.
Cannibal Joe's is very well written. It's full of heart and angst.
The words pulled in me. I could just picture Jay sat at some random Irish bar, taking everything in around him. He doesn't hold back on the socio-political sentiments (that's a good thing); and he has a real knack of "telling it like it is", which I admire.
I will finish the book (not many pages left) and add some additional thoughts in the future.
But for now, I'd just like to say, I really enjoyed this.
Sat on the bog, especially, for long periods during the day, this book has been a good friend to me. I've took my time with it, laughed and felt angry along the way; and I'd like to say thanks to the author for creating a true-to-life piece of fiction that is just as entertaining as it is enlightening.
Bravo.
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February 4, 2017
*I was sent this book by the author for an un-biased review.
Oh, well. Where do you begin with a book that ends with "The End"?
Joe Chambers is a CIA agent and he's been sent to Dublin because of a misdemeanour in Athens. His CIA, MI6 and other nefarious spy-related governmental body comrades are trying their best to keep their heads down whilst simultaneously seeking ways of making money. And some other stuff.
Or something like that. It's an odd plot. It's an odd book.
Usually when I'm asked to review a book that isn't directly sent from a publisher, it's not written all that well and I'm pretty much expecting a low standard of writing when that happens. That wasn't the case with this book: it was written so well I felt a bit queasy. It had everything in the correct place except, I think, I remember one tiny typo. Just the one. It really ambled on at a nice pace with as many twists and turns as I presume Dublin streets have. I've never been.
There are many authors who popped in to my head whilst I was reading this book, most notable Robert Rankin, James Joyce and Anne Frank, but only if all of them were on mescaline. It's written in a sort of diary-style, without the diary format, and then you have the insane protagonist who really can't handle drugs and has a very Joyce moment, and then you have a kind of really budget sci-fi feel to the whole thing, without the space or time travel.
Now, the plot I felt wasn't quite for me. It started out strongly, but it lagged in the middle and wasn't sure which way to really go. I had flashbacks of my failed attempt to read Trainspotting. The ending was certainly strong and the whole thing left me with a "what the fuck have I just read" kind of feeling. I haven't felt that for a long while. Not even Catch-22 did that to me. It definitely had it's moments, but was often lacking, too: some great high points but also a few great low points, too.
And to be succinct, the things that didn't quite sit well with me were my lack of sympathy, empathy or any other kind of -athy for any of the characters. That's quite tough in any kind of book. I also didn't laugh out loud at any point (not even a titter), which was quite disappointing as it's pretty much down the same kind of toilet as my humour usually is. I'm a big girl and I can handle satire, political incorrectness and sublimely bad (well-written) sex scenes, but I just wasn't feeling it as whole.
Now, I think if you enjoy things like Catch-22, Trainspotting, James Joyce, The Catcher in the Rye and maybe a sprinkle of early 80's Political Punk Poetry you'll find it suits you very well.
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Oh, well. Where do you begin with a book that ends with "The End"?
Joe Chambers is a CIA agent and he's been sent to Dublin because of a misdemeanour in Athens. His CIA, MI6 and other nefarious spy-related governmental body comrades are trying their best to keep their heads down whilst simultaneously seeking ways of making money. And some other stuff.
Or something like that. It's an odd plot. It's an odd book.
Usually when I'm asked to review a book that isn't directly sent from a publisher, it's not written all that well and I'm pretty much expecting a low standard of writing when that happens. That wasn't the case with this book: it was written so well I felt a bit queasy. It had everything in the correct place except, I think, I remember one tiny typo. Just the one. It really ambled on at a nice pace with as many twists and turns as I presume Dublin streets have. I've never been.
There are many authors who popped in to my head whilst I was reading this book, most notable Robert Rankin, James Joyce and Anne Frank, but only if all of them were on mescaline. It's written in a sort of diary-style, without the diary format, and then you have the insane protagonist who really can't handle drugs and has a very Joyce moment, and then you have a kind of really budget sci-fi feel to the whole thing, without the space or time travel.
Now, the plot I felt wasn't quite for me. It started out strongly, but it lagged in the middle and wasn't sure which way to really go. I had flashbacks of my failed attempt to read Trainspotting. The ending was certainly strong and the whole thing left me with a "what the fuck have I just read" kind of feeling. I haven't felt that for a long while. Not even Catch-22 did that to me. It definitely had it's moments, but was often lacking, too: some great high points but also a few great low points, too.
And to be succinct, the things that didn't quite sit well with me were my lack of sympathy, empathy or any other kind of -athy for any of the characters. That's quite tough in any kind of book. I also didn't laugh out loud at any point (not even a titter), which was quite disappointing as it's pretty much down the same kind of toilet as my humour usually is. I'm a big girl and I can handle satire, political incorrectness and sublimely bad (well-written) sex scenes, but I just wasn't feeling it as whole.
Now, I think if you enjoy things like Catch-22, Trainspotting, James Joyce, The Catcher in the Rye and maybe a sprinkle of early 80's Political Punk Poetry you'll find it suits you very well.
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March 6, 2022
I found this book very funny even though 50% of the jokes flew over my head.
This book is set in Dublin. I have never been to Dublin, so I simply had to assume everything the narrator says about Dublin is 100% accurate.
Why am I using so many percentages in this review?
If you like black humor with some withering satire this book should appeal. It's not monochromatic by any means, and Green does a wonderful job of mixing the outrageous and the absurd with some genuine thrills and moments of pathos.
This book is set in Dublin. I have never been to Dublin, so I simply had to assume everything the narrator says about Dublin is 100% accurate.
Why am I using so many percentages in this review?
If you like black humor with some withering satire this book should appeal. It's not monochromatic by any means, and Green does a wonderful job of mixing the outrageous and the absurd with some genuine thrills and moments of pathos.
November 27, 2015
A unique and deeply satirical novel. Completely politically incorrect and laugh out loud funny in places. I would recommend this to anyone who isn't offended by themes of drugs, sex, swearing and alcohol consumption.
BACJ is set in a struggling, rundown Dublin, where the taxes are high and the friendships are dangerous. The main protagonist, Joe, is an American CIA agent intent on ensuring his placement in Dublin is long lived by striving to make a success of the front company he has been assigned to oversee.
Joe has a lot of issues, and his placement in Dublin suits him just fine. He has a cushy job and a few good friends ... until he tries to make good with the rest of the front company workforce. And so it unfolds ...
The indigestible cocktail recipes and madcap abstractions are funny distractions from the story too.
This book is cleverly contrived, and definitely one I will read again - only because I'm sure there are references and implications I have either missed or misunderstood. Looking forward to reading more from this author.
Thank you to the author for providing me with a free copy in return for an honest review
BACJ is set in a struggling, rundown Dublin, where the taxes are high and the friendships are dangerous. The main protagonist, Joe, is an American CIA agent intent on ensuring his placement in Dublin is long lived by striving to make a success of the front company he has been assigned to oversee.
Joe has a lot of issues, and his placement in Dublin suits him just fine. He has a cushy job and a few good friends ... until he tries to make good with the rest of the front company workforce. And so it unfolds ...
The indigestible cocktail recipes and madcap abstractions are funny distractions from the story too.
This book is cleverly contrived, and definitely one I will read again - only because I'm sure there are references and implications I have either missed or misunderstood. Looking forward to reading more from this author.
Thank you to the author for providing me with a free copy in return for an honest review
November 2, 2016
So I should review this now... I was generously given a copy of this book by Jay the author out of the kindness of his heart. It wasn't entirely for a review but I thought I'd go ahead and give one.. :)
This book was a unique one, with that said it may not be for everyone. There's a lot of dark humor in this one which was absolutely fine with me, as I enjoy that sort but I didn't catch every joke laced in the prose. Jay definitely has a way of stringing words together to tell a story, that's for sure. And he definitely appears to have a personal style to his writing which I'm looking forward to exploring more in his other works.
I'm not exactly sure if we're labeling this a thriller but it definitely gave me a feel of a thriller while I was reading it. It's a bit raunchy, a bit obscene in language, and a bit of a ball of miscellany. That's not a bad thing in this case.
As I said before, it may not be everyone's cup o' tea but if you think you'd enjoy a little raunchy, funny story of double cross, then definitely pick up a copy.
Thanks again Jay for gifting me a copy! :)
This book was a unique one, with that said it may not be for everyone. There's a lot of dark humor in this one which was absolutely fine with me, as I enjoy that sort but I didn't catch every joke laced in the prose. Jay definitely has a way of stringing words together to tell a story, that's for sure. And he definitely appears to have a personal style to his writing which I'm looking forward to exploring more in his other works.
I'm not exactly sure if we're labeling this a thriller but it definitely gave me a feel of a thriller while I was reading it. It's a bit raunchy, a bit obscene in language, and a bit of a ball of miscellany. That's not a bad thing in this case.
As I said before, it may not be everyone's cup o' tea but if you think you'd enjoy a little raunchy, funny story of double cross, then definitely pick up a copy.
Thanks again Jay for gifting me a copy! :)
January 24, 2023
This book is a challenging read, and I am always up for a good challenge. It is quick-witted, unconventional, face paced, and a fun combination of crude and clever. However there is an "effort to pay-off" ratio that needs to work for each reader, and I kept riding that fine line the first half of this book. I like reading an occasional dumb, easy bo0k because they are fun to zip through. And I like reading a "hit the ground running and try to catch on" book because I love to figure out who is doing what and where everything is going. But I found myself constantly pausing to discern what the main story was supposed to be in between all the quirkiness going on. For example, the author inserts a ton of clever alcoholic drinks that have little to no relevance to the story going on. One of my favorites- The Edward Snowden. A bitter in cider. Get it? Well, I didn't, for an embarrassingly long time. But then when you do...you feel like a genius and can't wait to "get" the next one. But for every one joke I got, there were at least four (conservatively) that I didn't get at all that make you feel stupid and pull you right out of the story. The same could be said for the volume of jokes. The perfect amount makes the story feel irreverent and zippy. Too much and the story gets distracted and bogged down. And when the book is straddling that line page by page, it makes for an unbalanced reading experience. Overall the humor worked for me (even the jokes I didn't get), my main frustration was in not getting to know the characters a little better. I found them generally likeable, but we get no background into any of these relationships because this is not a character drama. It's a light-hearted dive into the twisted world of being a CIA agent where you are actually friends with people you don't know if you can ever trust. And to be fair, spy thrillers are not my usual genre. Still, I was glad I persevered. The second half of the book is extremely engaging and the ending was fantastic. I am looking forward to reading more from this author.
February 5, 2016
This book is funny as hell.
January 30, 2022
Great Read! Jay Green smiles and jokes just like the clever chameleon he is!
July 21, 2017
I won this book via Goodreads Giveaways. I wanted to give it 3.5 Stars. Not my typical read, but found it interesting enough to want to continue. I found it written in similar style to Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I would recommend it to fans of his and other crazy, jilted, what the f*ck is going on? writers. It did have some lol (I hate that term) moments. Thanks Jay!
January 29, 2019
Just the right amount of depravity for my liking...
Joe Chambers, a CIA operative with booze acquisition front of mind, fronts a publishing house in Dublin.
But it’s not the Dublin of now. It’s a dystopian Dublin; a surreal version. It’s a city declined – or in a fast trajectory toward the bottom. The city, food and streets are grotesque. The people cynical. We are not told why, but ‘Travellers’ are the enemy and uprisings and political upheavals simmer in the background. A bomb goes off in the city and MSN News reports, “Antiterrorist experts say it has all the hallmarks of a dissident group, which narrows the suspects down to two and a half million people.”
Joe never questions the means and ways of the CIA world, his colleagues and friends. It is his world.
At the publishing house, where the mostly recent college graduate staffers ‘summarise millions upon millions of magazine and journal articles’, Joe is directed by head office to cut costs. His closest work colleague, Shinead, is there to help. Joe’s motivation to save staff’s jobs doesn’t come from an altruistic place - his moral compass permanently spins – and he doesn’t even know his staff’s names. Simply, Joe’s desire is to not leave Dublin.
The scenes are absurd and darkly bright – if that’s a way to describe brothels, embassies and restaurants serving torture and tortured seafood. There is enough well-crafted dialogue and bizarre scenes to disturb and delight, and just the right amount of depravity for my liking.
Double-crosses, twists and turns; drug dealers and prostitutes. This book is clever. Jay Green's affinity for language and larger-than-life characters presents gem after gem of crafted prose with a cadence just right. The dialogue flows. I could feel the author having a good time.
Some of my favourite parts are the mad imaginative digressions around pop culture topics or references generally unrelated to the storyline. The ‘Kennedy derivatives’, for example. These digressions start quite logically before developing into strange and fanciful ruminations, the best part is it’s as if the Green is unwilling to control his imagination. “… Jackie was only climbing out of the back of the car to retrieve one of his contact lenses.”
Much of the book is quotable.
If you want a surreal and cynical read that tickles your brain's funny bone, then give Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s a read. Encourage the depravity.
Joe Chambers, a CIA operative with booze acquisition front of mind, fronts a publishing house in Dublin.
But it’s not the Dublin of now. It’s a dystopian Dublin; a surreal version. It’s a city declined – or in a fast trajectory toward the bottom. The city, food and streets are grotesque. The people cynical. We are not told why, but ‘Travellers’ are the enemy and uprisings and political upheavals simmer in the background. A bomb goes off in the city and MSN News reports, “Antiterrorist experts say it has all the hallmarks of a dissident group, which narrows the suspects down to two and a half million people.”
Joe never questions the means and ways of the CIA world, his colleagues and friends. It is his world.
At the publishing house, where the mostly recent college graduate staffers ‘summarise millions upon millions of magazine and journal articles’, Joe is directed by head office to cut costs. His closest work colleague, Shinead, is there to help. Joe’s motivation to save staff’s jobs doesn’t come from an altruistic place - his moral compass permanently spins – and he doesn’t even know his staff’s names. Simply, Joe’s desire is to not leave Dublin.
The scenes are absurd and darkly bright – if that’s a way to describe brothels, embassies and restaurants serving torture and tortured seafood. There is enough well-crafted dialogue and bizarre scenes to disturb and delight, and just the right amount of depravity for my liking.
Double-crosses, twists and turns; drug dealers and prostitutes. This book is clever. Jay Green's affinity for language and larger-than-life characters presents gem after gem of crafted prose with a cadence just right. The dialogue flows. I could feel the author having a good time.
Some of my favourite parts are the mad imaginative digressions around pop culture topics or references generally unrelated to the storyline. The ‘Kennedy derivatives’, for example. These digressions start quite logically before developing into strange and fanciful ruminations, the best part is it’s as if the Green is unwilling to control his imagination. “… Jackie was only climbing out of the back of the car to retrieve one of his contact lenses.”
Much of the book is quotable.
If you want a surreal and cynical read that tickles your brain's funny bone, then give Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s a read. Encourage the depravity.
June 13, 2025
This was a wild ride. Full of dark humour with a few twists and turns thrown in for good measure. CIA agent Joe Chambers has got himself into a few dubious situations and has been shipped out to Dublin to work undercover at a publishing house. However, Chambers wouldn't be Chambers if life went smoothly thereafter.
The writing is intelligent and nicely paced. It initially felt like Chambers was giving us a stream of consciousness after taking narcotics (or Whisky) when the brain is pinpoint focused and sharp witted without intent. Once I got used to Chambers, his character as flawed as it was grew on me. I enjoyed the little advertisements and comic articles peppered within the story. I thought this was a nice and often sarcastic touch.
I loved the setting and familiar place names. Dublin is such a beautiful city. The dialogue was perfect and I enjoyed the colourful characters we meet along the way. The dark humour and situations had me laughing along. A really enjoyable read - that ending was perfect.
Huge thanks to the author and Love Books Tours for providing a copy of the book to review.
The writing is intelligent and nicely paced. It initially felt like Chambers was giving us a stream of consciousness after taking narcotics (or Whisky) when the brain is pinpoint focused and sharp witted without intent. Once I got used to Chambers, his character as flawed as it was grew on me. I enjoyed the little advertisements and comic articles peppered within the story. I thought this was a nice and often sarcastic touch.
I loved the setting and familiar place names. Dublin is such a beautiful city. The dialogue was perfect and I enjoyed the colourful characters we meet along the way. The dark humour and situations had me laughing along. A really enjoyable read - that ending was perfect.
Huge thanks to the author and Love Books Tours for providing a copy of the book to review.
March 16, 2021
The Pinochet Slammer
4 oz. Pisco
Take the Pisco through a straw
Drink until Alzheimer's appears to set in
...It was hard to remember. It usually is after so much booze. That's why I drink. To forget. I can't remember what it is I'm drinking to forget, or even if I am drinking to forget, but I'm sure that if I stop drinking I'll remember the reason why I've been drinking to forget what it is I've forgotten. Besides, alcoholism is good for you.
M&W SEAFOOD & OYSTER BAR
31 Chubb Hill
"Suave" is the first word that comes to mind when trying to describe the way head chef Jon Schrempp stamps on fingers. A wound-up man in Doc Martens, Schrempp always wanted to work as a full-time ballroom dancer but ended up in haute cuisine when he discovered how much violence he could inflict on staff and customers alike. Whether diners hop onto a stool at the lively oyster bar or relax in a dining room designed like an intimate, comfortable brasserie, they never know when Schrempp is going to leap out like an Argentinean and slice off an earlobe. The tension is only increased by the disconcerting presence of Schrempp's club footed mute son Colin, who means no harm but is clumsy around hot fat. Strip lighting is intended to make things easier for staff to locate diners and land punches better, but it also has the effect of improving the visibility of the food, rendering most of it inedible. Come for the music, stay for the swearing.
...How can life be so easy for someone so twisted? Maybe life is easy if you're twisted, and it's complicated if your sane. Is that way people go crazy? To keep things simple. Retain their sanity.
June 5, 2020
CIA operative Joe Chambers has been sent to Dublin as punishment for past blunder(s). There he is managing a CIA front company called Whetsone Publishing. Whetstone employs grad students and other over educated sorts to summarize books and journals for republication. Joe works there with his brilliant assistant, Sinead (who he mistakenly called Sinbad for the first bit of working with her) and gets frustrated by his boss' continued attempts to cut costs. Meanwhile, an MI6 agent keeps breaking into Joe's apartment to steal his alcohol stash.
This book is chock full of that absurdist, irreverent humor that you can find in the likes of Vonnegut, Christopher Moore et. al. This book is not for the faint of heart or easily offended. It is loaded with bawdy humor including brothel visits, sex scenes, tapeworms, organ thievery, curse words, etc. etc. You get the picture. I found this book to be amusing.
Chapters start with interesting cocktail recipes like the Litvinekenko Stinger, which is simply 8 oz. of Sloe Berry Tincture served in a hot teapot. yum???
The book is narrated in first person by our protagonist Joe Chambers. He has lots of interesting observations and turns of phrase.
"You get the idea. Information is knowledge, knowledge is power, power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. This I am the king of sexy."
"...there was something unnaturally androgynous and depraved about him, like a balding Christina Ricci..."
I enjoyed the bizzaro summaries created by Sinead and the Whetstone Publishing crew. They were very entertaining and probably one of my favorite aspects of the book.
Definitely an interesting read that will make you at the very least chuckle. I recommend this if you are looking for something a bit different and twisted.
I received a review copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is chock full of that absurdist, irreverent humor that you can find in the likes of Vonnegut, Christopher Moore et. al. This book is not for the faint of heart or easily offended. It is loaded with bawdy humor including brothel visits, sex scenes, tapeworms, organ thievery, curse words, etc. etc. You get the picture. I found this book to be amusing.
Chapters start with interesting cocktail recipes like the Litvinekenko Stinger, which is simply 8 oz. of Sloe Berry Tincture served in a hot teapot. yum???
The book is narrated in first person by our protagonist Joe Chambers. He has lots of interesting observations and turns of phrase.
"You get the idea. Information is knowledge, knowledge is power, power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. This I am the king of sexy."
"...there was something unnaturally androgynous and depraved about him, like a balding Christina Ricci..."
I enjoyed the bizzaro summaries created by Sinead and the Whetstone Publishing crew. They were very entertaining and probably one of my favorite aspects of the book.
Definitely an interesting read that will make you at the very least chuckle. I recommend this if you are looking for something a bit different and twisted.
I received a review copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 6, 2020
Well what can you say about Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's? After reading this I'm not too sure, Slaugter House 5 meets Robert Rankin with an unhealthy dose of vulgarity. It is either a work of genius or the worst thing ever written. and I'm sat befuddled on if I love the book or loathe it.
The story would be a very short one if not for the tangents, but it does have a lot of charm and in many a part it is genuinely funny. not one for the squeamish or easily or moderately offended.
If your on the fence about reading this, give it a go.
I'm going to go and ponder what it is I've just read.
Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the review copy
The story would be a very short one if not for the tangents, but it does have a lot of charm and in many a part it is genuinely funny. not one for the squeamish or easily or moderately offended.
If your on the fence about reading this, give it a go.
I'm going to go and ponder what it is I've just read.
Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the review copy
January 26, 2018
If you like your humour as black as your worldview, this is the tour-de-force for you. Caustic wit and a twisty plot, this book is like nothing else you will have ever read. I will carry the phrase "smegma in the aioli" with me to my deathbed, thanks for that.
August 27, 2022
I am positively bewildered, that:
1) this uproarious piece of literary bliss is not an international bestseller and;
2) it is so severely underrated on top of it all. Only 89 ratings and 49 reviews?!
I never laugh out loud. Ever. Even if in my head, I know it's funny. Aside from the awkward obligatory laugh mandated by societal standards in certain situations, anyway. Not from jokes or real-life experiences relayed to me by friends or family. Not from comedy in cinema, television or books. But this book? This book found me curled up in my reading chair, alone, laughing hysterically.
You can tell Jay Spencer Green has a love for writing – with his ability to throw out all types of witty one-liners, sometimes rather chaotically – and still managing to come together in perfect harmony, never reaching that eyerolling "try to hard" predicament. The dialogue between our novel's narrator (CIA came Joe Chambers) and his guileless (and in my opinion, badass) colleague, Sinéad - who is just as witty, if not more so, than Joe - is utterly fantastic.
It's hard to tell which dialogue I enjoy more - the conversations between Joe and Sinéad, or his conversations between Joe and his CIA buddy, Frank. Frank is a professional interrogator, or, as Joe might say - professional torturer. This often leads to questions of morality between Frank and Joe, with Joe often pondering if Frank is a sadist, while the impervious Frank continues to insist that "some enjoyment of the job is merely a requirement for being GOOD at the job." He also compares his work as a torturer - ahem - interrogator - to not being any different from the work of those who assemble cars. Because after all, don't cars kill people, too?
This is what I mean. It's just effortlessly hilarious. It's even better when Joe, Sinéad and Frank all hang out together.
An example:
As the trio take lunch, Frank mentions to Sinead and Joe that a colleague has passed away. He adds that this colleague was a “complete asshole” who used to beat his wife regularly.
In most circles of friends, there isn’t a lot of critique (or any, actually) when someone misuses a word – something I kind of wish was more acceptable, in all honesty. Let alone when you're discussing a tragic or appalling subject. I digress.
Anyway, Sinéad is quick to point out what she BELIEVES to be an error on Frank's part:
'"I think you mean frequently," said Sinead, ever the pedant. "Regularly implies that he was following a schedule." Frank briefly drifted off into space - like Laika - before coming back to Earth - like Lockerbie. "He was. Regularly. Third Tuesday of every month. He'd come home pissed from the pub - after he'd been to his men's assertiveness classes - and take Umbrage if his dinner wasn't on the table."
Sinead winced. “That’s awful. You should never mix those designer drugs with alcohol. No wonder used to go berserk.”
I didn’t want to hear excuses for wife-beaters, drug crazed or not.
“You can’t blame the drugs. Some of them are a right rip-off. They’re nowhere near as effective as they’re supposed to be, and mixing them with booze is a waste of both."'. (Joe's contribution.)
Just as funny as the witty banter and the storyline (with a crazy, you'd-never-guess-it storyline to match the crazy beginning - or end?) are the "words of the day" incorporated into the text that Joe is learning, drink recipes he's preparing once he reaches retirement, and outrageous newspaper articles. This novel is just a plethora of fun. Check out the other four- and five-star reviews, who likely summed it up better than I did. I'm still new with trying to find my "review voice." LOL.
Special thanks to the author, Jay Spencer Green. I noticed him among mutual friends, looked to see if we had books in common. I then noticed he was a writer - and his books looked like my style of reading! So, in asking for a recommendation of the four published (I believe it's four) - he gave me this one, after seeing that I enjoyed Chuck Palahniuk as well as Augusten Burroughs. But that was it, he simply responded to a question I'd asked of him (I don't want anyone getting the impression that he was narcissistic WHATSOEVER in his recommendation).
And now I recommend this book to anyone and everyone looking for a good laugh, that enjoys the style of Chuck of Augusten, and oh - it's probably important that you like dark humor and aren't easily offended!
1) this uproarious piece of literary bliss is not an international bestseller and;
2) it is so severely underrated on top of it all. Only 89 ratings and 49 reviews?!
I never laugh out loud. Ever. Even if in my head, I know it's funny. Aside from the awkward obligatory laugh mandated by societal standards in certain situations, anyway. Not from jokes or real-life experiences relayed to me by friends or family. Not from comedy in cinema, television or books. But this book? This book found me curled up in my reading chair, alone, laughing hysterically.
You can tell Jay Spencer Green has a love for writing – with his ability to throw out all types of witty one-liners, sometimes rather chaotically – and still managing to come together in perfect harmony, never reaching that eyerolling "try to hard" predicament. The dialogue between our novel's narrator (CIA came Joe Chambers) and his guileless (and in my opinion, badass) colleague, Sinéad - who is just as witty, if not more so, than Joe - is utterly fantastic.
It's hard to tell which dialogue I enjoy more - the conversations between Joe and Sinéad, or his conversations between Joe and his CIA buddy, Frank. Frank is a professional interrogator, or, as Joe might say - professional torturer. This often leads to questions of morality between Frank and Joe, with Joe often pondering if Frank is a sadist, while the impervious Frank continues to insist that "some enjoyment of the job is merely a requirement for being GOOD at the job." He also compares his work as a torturer - ahem - interrogator - to not being any different from the work of those who assemble cars. Because after all, don't cars kill people, too?
This is what I mean. It's just effortlessly hilarious. It's even better when Joe, Sinéad and Frank all hang out together.
An example:
As the trio take lunch, Frank mentions to Sinead and Joe that a colleague has passed away. He adds that this colleague was a “complete asshole” who used to beat his wife regularly.
In most circles of friends, there isn’t a lot of critique (or any, actually) when someone misuses a word – something I kind of wish was more acceptable, in all honesty. Let alone when you're discussing a tragic or appalling subject. I digress.
Anyway, Sinéad is quick to point out what she BELIEVES to be an error on Frank's part:
'"I think you mean frequently," said Sinead, ever the pedant. "Regularly implies that he was following a schedule." Frank briefly drifted off into space - like Laika - before coming back to Earth - like Lockerbie. "He was. Regularly. Third Tuesday of every month. He'd come home pissed from the pub - after he'd been to his men's assertiveness classes - and take Umbrage if his dinner wasn't on the table."
Sinead winced. “That’s awful. You should never mix those designer drugs with alcohol. No wonder used to go berserk.”
I didn’t want to hear excuses for wife-beaters, drug crazed or not.
“You can’t blame the drugs. Some of them are a right rip-off. They’re nowhere near as effective as they’re supposed to be, and mixing them with booze is a waste of both."'. (Joe's contribution.)
Just as funny as the witty banter and the storyline (with a crazy, you'd-never-guess-it storyline to match the crazy beginning - or end?) are the "words of the day" incorporated into the text that Joe is learning, drink recipes he's preparing once he reaches retirement, and outrageous newspaper articles. This novel is just a plethora of fun. Check out the other four- and five-star reviews, who likely summed it up better than I did. I'm still new with trying to find my "review voice." LOL.
Special thanks to the author, Jay Spencer Green. I noticed him among mutual friends, looked to see if we had books in common. I then noticed he was a writer - and his books looked like my style of reading! So, in asking for a recommendation of the four published (I believe it's four) - he gave me this one, after seeing that I enjoyed Chuck Palahniuk as well as Augusten Burroughs. But that was it, he simply responded to a question I'd asked of him (I don't want anyone getting the impression that he was narcissistic WHATSOEVER in his recommendation).
And now I recommend this book to anyone and everyone looking for a good laugh, that enjoys the style of Chuck of Augusten, and oh - it's probably important that you like dark humor and aren't easily offended!
August 13, 2019
There is very little I can say without spoiling Green's humorous thriller, and it is difficult to review after reading the Acknowledgements section which extolled and indicted this novel in equal measure; as Green essentially thanked others for their patience whilst he wrote this bizarre tale.
The book is exceptional - exceptionally written and exceptionally strange. It is an exploration of extremes, it is dystopian and darkly hilarious.
The structure allows multiple characters and their quirks to unravel at a timely pace; erupting into several plot twists by the end. It also allows Green's talent for black comedy to take the edge off, lulling you into a false sense of security and giggles through clever, tongue-in-cheek cocktail recipes beginning each chapter, and abstracts our protagonist Joe Chambers has read that week.
As a writer Green does not shy away from the risky and obscene. We are given the brutally raw and honest inner monologue of Chambers, crude and graphic descriptions of Frank's misdeeds and grammatical liberties are taken for Estimulo's megalomaniacal monologues. Thus, nothing happened as I expected it to because Green follows the conventions of a spy thriller whilst simultaneously turning the genre on its head.
And with this, I daren't say anymore as I shall be at risk of spoiling it. So, take it on good faith then, that Green has created something new and clever in Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's. I laughed and grimaced throughout; and although it was slow to start, it was worth it by the end.
The book is exceptional - exceptionally written and exceptionally strange. It is an exploration of extremes, it is dystopian and darkly hilarious.
The structure allows multiple characters and their quirks to unravel at a timely pace; erupting into several plot twists by the end. It also allows Green's talent for black comedy to take the edge off, lulling you into a false sense of security and giggles through clever, tongue-in-cheek cocktail recipes beginning each chapter, and abstracts our protagonist Joe Chambers has read that week.
As a writer Green does not shy away from the risky and obscene. We are given the brutally raw and honest inner monologue of Chambers, crude and graphic descriptions of Frank's misdeeds and grammatical liberties are taken for Estimulo's megalomaniacal monologues. Thus, nothing happened as I expected it to because Green follows the conventions of a spy thriller whilst simultaneously turning the genre on its head.
And with this, I daren't say anymore as I shall be at risk of spoiling it. So, take it on good faith then, that Green has created something new and clever in Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's. I laughed and grimaced throughout; and although it was slow to start, it was worth it by the end.
April 17, 2017
This delightful — No, wait……No, not even Joe would think 'delightful' is the right adjective to describe his story. Nonetheless, this is a great book that had me laughing out loud. Be forewarned, though, it is not for the faint of heart or humor, which is just my shot of scotch.
While I envy Jay Spencer Green being honored with the royal title of "Ne'er-do-well," I surely hope he won't tarry on delivering a follow up tome.
While I envy Jay Spencer Green being honored with the royal title of "Ne'er-do-well," I surely hope he won't tarry on delivering a follow up tome.
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