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Hyena
Hyena is a collection of autobiographical stories by Jude Angelini, which takes the reader on his journey of heartbreak, depravity, and hilarity, deftly moving between his adult life and his childhood growing up in a factory town outside of Detroit. Each story is told with brutal honesty, yet maintains a gallows humor that will leave you shaking your head in disbelief.
Jude is one of the top hip-hop radio hosts on Sirius Satellite radio. His self-published, print-on-demand edition of Hyena has been an indie bestseller, despite having no ebook or physical distribution. Its exploration of drugs, sex, and the human condition compares to Charles Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, Artie Lange, and Jim Norton. It also captures the hardscrabble culture, language, and landscape of post-industrial Detroit, from which came some of pop culture’s most compelling artists, including Kid Rock and Eminem.
Jude is one of the top hip-hop radio hosts on Sirius Satellite radio. His self-published, print-on-demand edition of Hyena has been an indie bestseller, despite having no ebook or physical distribution. Its exploration of drugs, sex, and the human condition compares to Charles Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, Artie Lange, and Jim Norton. It also captures the hardscrabble culture, language, and landscape of post-industrial Detroit, from which came some of pop culture’s most compelling artists, including Kid Rock and Eminem.
210 pages, Paperback
First published December 11, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
October 22, 2014
I'm the author of Hyena. I'd love to talk with your book club about it. If you're in the LA area, I'll show up with a bottle of wine and we can have a discussion. If you're not, I'll skype with you.
Hit me here or on FB or IG or Twitter. I check all of them myself.
Also Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the book good or bad I appreciate your thought and effort.
Hit me here or on FB or IG or Twitter. I check all of them myself.
Also Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the book good or bad I appreciate your thought and effort.
January 20, 2018
Wow! Well, I was looking for some humour. Yes, here it's usually of the dark (very dark) gallows variety, but I’ll take my laughs where I can find them and there’s plenty of them here. And that’s not all, this series of short, autobiographical anecdotes is rewarding in many ways. It’s shocking and not for the faint-hearted but if you can get cope with the graphic sex and the constant scenes of drug binging then there are riches to be found.
I’d seen some strong ratings for this book but I’d never heard of Jude Angelini. A quick internet search advised me that “Rude Jude" is a shock jock on a North American radio station. He’d previously made a bit of a name as a guest comic on the Jenny Jones Show, which, as far as I can gather, seems to have had something in common with the Jeremy Kyle Show, aired in the UK, whereby the poor and uneducated are abused and abuse each other for the snickering entertainment of the audience. Angelini had grown up in a factory town called Poniac, close to Detroit. He says he carried a little excess weight when he was young and struggled to find a girlfriend – something he certainly made up for further down the line! After school there was no college education but rather a series of jobs which included cleaning toilets in a gay bar, where he also sold single cigarettes and sticks of gum at a dollar a time.
The stories here are very short, mostly just a few pages. The chronology is mixed so there are constant jumps between phases of his life. For most of the book he is on the hunt for women. He isn’t looking for a relationship, just sex - the sex itself fuelled by the consumption of a cocktail of drugs. In fact, there’s only one girl whose name crops up a number of times, a girlfriend he broke up with four times before splitting for good. There’s a sense that he misses her but then the qualification that he realises he’d likely get fed up and they’d fight again – a process he is all too familiar with.
The tales reek of honesty and of a life lived large but at the same time within narrow confines. There is humility here and I think some shame too, but mainly I just sensed that he was doing what he wanted to do and enjoying it most of the time. There are snippets of his childhood that show a dysfunctional family: a violent father who once raped his mother at knifepoint and showed his son porn at an early age. Jude’s survival instinct at school led him to be a kid with an ability to make his classmates laugh. In fact, all roads seemed to point toward his life’s eventual destination.
This is a book I’ll remember for some time. It contains the single most stomach-turning story I’ve ever come across (though would you believe it, I still smiled at the punch-line) and generally a whole lot of laughs. But it delivers pathos too. It’s a pretty incredible mix. It’s a top shelf book you’d want to lock away from your children but I’m very glad I read it, it’s given me a really interesting view of life’s underbelly.
My thanks too Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I’d seen some strong ratings for this book but I’d never heard of Jude Angelini. A quick internet search advised me that “Rude Jude" is a shock jock on a North American radio station. He’d previously made a bit of a name as a guest comic on the Jenny Jones Show, which, as far as I can gather, seems to have had something in common with the Jeremy Kyle Show, aired in the UK, whereby the poor and uneducated are abused and abuse each other for the snickering entertainment of the audience. Angelini had grown up in a factory town called Poniac, close to Detroit. He says he carried a little excess weight when he was young and struggled to find a girlfriend – something he certainly made up for further down the line! After school there was no college education but rather a series of jobs which included cleaning toilets in a gay bar, where he also sold single cigarettes and sticks of gum at a dollar a time.
The stories here are very short, mostly just a few pages. The chronology is mixed so there are constant jumps between phases of his life. For most of the book he is on the hunt for women. He isn’t looking for a relationship, just sex - the sex itself fuelled by the consumption of a cocktail of drugs. In fact, there’s only one girl whose name crops up a number of times, a girlfriend he broke up with four times before splitting for good. There’s a sense that he misses her but then the qualification that he realises he’d likely get fed up and they’d fight again – a process he is all too familiar with.
The tales reek of honesty and of a life lived large but at the same time within narrow confines. There is humility here and I think some shame too, but mainly I just sensed that he was doing what he wanted to do and enjoying it most of the time. There are snippets of his childhood that show a dysfunctional family: a violent father who once raped his mother at knifepoint and showed his son porn at an early age. Jude’s survival instinct at school led him to be a kid with an ability to make his classmates laugh. In fact, all roads seemed to point toward his life’s eventual destination.
This is a book I’ll remember for some time. It contains the single most stomach-turning story I’ve ever come across (though would you believe it, I still smiled at the punch-line) and generally a whole lot of laughs. But it delivers pathos too. It’s a pretty incredible mix. It’s a top shelf book you’d want to lock away from your children but I’m very glad I read it, it’s given me a really interesting view of life’s underbelly.
My thanks too Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 16, 2015
I have a stepson, 22, who I occasionally talk to about my reading habits and what-not.
Hyena
is the first - and, to date, only - book he asked me to request and pick up from the library for him. When he returned it to me, and I asked him if he thought I'd like it, he told me he loved it but the subject matter might be a bit too adult for me. How do you like that, my kid tells me the book is too adult. So then I had to read it.
Jude Angelini is a DJ on Eminem's Shade 45 channel on XM satellite radio. I've never listened to him. Like Eminem, though, Angelini grew up a poor white kid in Detroit, was heavy into drugs and bitches as a young adult, and has a raw, hilarious, addictively appealing voice.
Hyena is Angelini's first book, an autobiographical collection of darkly honest, emotional essays. And, yeah, dude is dirty, he doesn't use proper grammar, and he's no traditional role model. And that's the thing: he lays out all this bad behavior, all these unhealthy emotions, and he doesn't ever reach a big moment of personal epiphany or even slow, broad, upward maturity in his life.
You don't have to like the dude - he barely likes himself - but the brutal honesty was appealing, and I laughed out loud, often. I've been reading addiction memoirs lately, because they help motivate me to stay sober, but it turns out an unapologetic addiction book that glorifies, condemns and keeps an arm's length from itself, all at the same time, is just as effective in keeping me away from booze. And not so damn formulaic and depressing.
Hyena was originally self-published, but demand was such that it eventually was released by a subsidiary of Simon and Schuster. Angelini has his fans, to be sure, but this book is still obscure enough that none of my Goodreads friends has read it. It has just one major publication review, from Kirkus, whose critic handily and snarkily dismisses it as a "grating collection from a poor man's Howard Stern." I heartily disagree.
Jude Angelini is a DJ on Eminem's Shade 45 channel on XM satellite radio. I've never listened to him. Like Eminem, though, Angelini grew up a poor white kid in Detroit, was heavy into drugs and bitches as a young adult, and has a raw, hilarious, addictively appealing voice.
Hyena is Angelini's first book, an autobiographical collection of darkly honest, emotional essays. And, yeah, dude is dirty, he doesn't use proper grammar, and he's no traditional role model. And that's the thing: he lays out all this bad behavior, all these unhealthy emotions, and he doesn't ever reach a big moment of personal epiphany or even slow, broad, upward maturity in his life.
You don't have to like the dude - he barely likes himself - but the brutal honesty was appealing, and I laughed out loud, often. I've been reading addiction memoirs lately, because they help motivate me to stay sober, but it turns out an unapologetic addiction book that glorifies, condemns and keeps an arm's length from itself, all at the same time, is just as effective in keeping me away from booze. And not so damn formulaic and depressing.
Hyena was originally self-published, but demand was such that it eventually was released by a subsidiary of Simon and Schuster. Angelini has his fans, to be sure, but this book is still obscure enough that none of my Goodreads friends has read it. It has just one major publication review, from Kirkus, whose critic handily and snarkily dismisses it as a "grating collection from a poor man's Howard Stern." I heartily disagree.
December 20, 2016
This is sleazy and grubby ('it's kind of what I prefer for threesomes') but it's written in a rush of raw and frantic energy that grabs and drives us through the porn, the drugs, the alcohol and the soulless sex. I don't know how much of this might be fiction or fictionalised memoirs but beneath the messy detritus of an unstable, chaotic life is a self-knowledge ('what a cruel thing that was to say to someone I love. I didn't wanna be able to say that to the next girl') that is compelling.
The narrator grew up as one of the 'working poor', no money for health insurance, just about making the rent, and there are moments of pathos that aren't dwelt upon: 'when I was little, my mom used to take us with her to go cheat on my dad': there's no self-pity here.
What there is, is a tentative, romantic hope: 'maybe some lady will pick me up, dust me off, and see me for the man I am not the whore I've been acting like', though even that is undermined: 'and I'll get better, I tell myself, I'll get better or I'll get used to it'.
This isn't for the faint of heart and is determinedly un-PC - it's a short read, and an insightful one.
The narrator grew up as one of the 'working poor', no money for health insurance, just about making the rent, and there are moments of pathos that aren't dwelt upon: 'when I was little, my mom used to take us with her to go cheat on my dad': there's no self-pity here.
What there is, is a tentative, romantic hope: 'maybe some lady will pick me up, dust me off, and see me for the man I am not the whore I've been acting like', though even that is undermined: 'and I'll get better, I tell myself, I'll get better or I'll get used to it'.
This isn't for the faint of heart and is determinedly un-PC - it's a short read, and an insightful one.
February 7, 2017
Let's cut to the chase everyone. Hyena is not a book for everyone. Hell, I'm betting that Hyena would make millions of books that need to be banned list. It's grimy as fuck, full of rampant drug usage, abortion talk, and prostitute usage. See what I mean? This isn't the fluff that your Reverend or PTA buddies are going to talk about at the magazine drive for Billy or Suzy. I don't care. Jude Anthony Angelini, The White Dog, former star of The Jenny Jones Show and host of The All Out Show on SiriusXM Radio brings a brutally honest look at his life and it's a very compelling piece. The dude has a great skill set and I'm glad he got a chance to put it to paper. Some of the stories are so ridiculous that if you haven't followed his career, you would call bullshit. However, it's safe to say that this Detroit dude lives the life he talks about. Someone in the industry please give Hummingbird a chance!
January 15, 2014
If you are not familiar with Angelini, this might not be the book for you. But for a fan it is a must read. Surprisingly eloquent and poignant, this collection of short stories runs the gambit of emotions. Angelini effectively undercuts the tragedy in his life with uproarious doses of twisted humor. Great work Jude.
February 17, 2017
Well what can I say about Hyena except that it jumps from story to Story, Past to Present without much consistency to the story.
I understand these are personal accounts of Jude's life and memories but they are mixed up and have no order so to speak so the actual story becomes a little confusing.
Each chapter has a title representing a short story.
However there is no date order, the reader has no true way of knowing when the event happened.
It's jumbled up.
One minute we see him in the car with he's Dad getting sex education, next minute he's taking drugs and having sex.
This book is very Personal to Jude, but i would of liked to of seen it as a diary entry of some sorts.
This book is not for the shy hearted as there is alot of sexual references and very graphic encounters.
Plus alot of drug use. This is a big part of the main story line.
Don't get me wrong there is some funny bits, and some serious bits, the book touches on some racial issues too.
Jude can come across as being a little sheuvenist towards women as he uses them for sex alot. But he does have a softer side.
We do get a glimpse into another side of Jude's life occasionally, which doesn't consist of sex, Porn or drugs. For example we see a sensitive shy side to Jude when he meets he's first love Kit at the age of fifteen.
Jude's style of writing is very much written how it is spoken. When reading each sentence you can almost hear him talking. This book was very easy to read and the chapters were kept nice, short and to the point.
This book was very different from anything I have read before. It was very real and had alot of very strong descriptive text.
However I didn't dislike this book I just found it too messy.
It felt like Jude couldn't decide whether he wanted the book to be a journal/ diary or a biography.
Either way it would of been nice to have experienced Jude's life from childhood, to teens, to adulthood.
Personally I wouldn't recommend this book to others, but I also wouldn't discourage someone to read it.
I received this book from the Publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review via NetGalley
I understand these are personal accounts of Jude's life and memories but they are mixed up and have no order so to speak so the actual story becomes a little confusing.
Each chapter has a title representing a short story.
However there is no date order, the reader has no true way of knowing when the event happened.
It's jumbled up.
One minute we see him in the car with he's Dad getting sex education, next minute he's taking drugs and having sex.
This book is very Personal to Jude, but i would of liked to of seen it as a diary entry of some sorts.
This book is not for the shy hearted as there is alot of sexual references and very graphic encounters.
Plus alot of drug use. This is a big part of the main story line.
Don't get me wrong there is some funny bits, and some serious bits, the book touches on some racial issues too.
Jude can come across as being a little sheuvenist towards women as he uses them for sex alot. But he does have a softer side.
We do get a glimpse into another side of Jude's life occasionally, which doesn't consist of sex, Porn or drugs. For example we see a sensitive shy side to Jude when he meets he's first love Kit at the age of fifteen.
Jude's style of writing is very much written how it is spoken. When reading each sentence you can almost hear him talking. This book was very easy to read and the chapters were kept nice, short and to the point.
This book was very different from anything I have read before. It was very real and had alot of very strong descriptive text.
However I didn't dislike this book I just found it too messy.
It felt like Jude couldn't decide whether he wanted the book to be a journal/ diary or a biography.
Either way it would of been nice to have experienced Jude's life from childhood, to teens, to adulthood.
Personally I wouldn't recommend this book to others, but I also wouldn't discourage someone to read it.
I received this book from the Publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review via NetGalley
October 19, 2014
My review of this may seem a bit biased, and that's because it is. I've known Jude since 1996 and I know some of the people in his book. So reading it, I could picture the people and hear their voices so it was more like I was reading e-mails.
What I loved so much about the book is that he was so open with a lot of his feelings. Yeah it’s funny. Yeah there are drugs. Yeah there’s sex. But there’s also heart and love and longing. And that’s the beautiful thing about Jude. He’s all of those things.
Although we hadn’t seen each other in about 10 years, when we hung out last week, it was just like old times. We’re both easy to talk to so we just caught up and chatted about things. And that’s how this book is, chatting about things.
I don't know if his fans know that Jude is authentic and is not putting on an act. He's always been open and honest, and hilarious. He's a good dude that is always up for an adventure. It’s a great read.
What I loved so much about the book is that he was so open with a lot of his feelings. Yeah it’s funny. Yeah there are drugs. Yeah there’s sex. But there’s also heart and love and longing. And that’s the beautiful thing about Jude. He’s all of those things.
Although we hadn’t seen each other in about 10 years, when we hung out last week, it was just like old times. We’re both easy to talk to so we just caught up and chatted about things. And that’s how this book is, chatting about things.
I don't know if his fans know that Jude is authentic and is not putting on an act. He's always been open and honest, and hilarious. He's a good dude that is always up for an adventure. It’s a great read.
February 6, 2018
Too good. I'm really not sure how I feel. Am I jealous for not banging all the pussy the author did, and in the ways described, and under the influence of all those chemical sex enhancers, or grateful for not having my synapses burnt with PCP? The jury is still out. While waiting, I'm off to the sequel.
December 15, 2014
I found the book to be raw and honest and in many instances, very funny. Each short story chapter intrigues you into the next, which makes this book a quick read.
I've listened to Jude on Sirius, so I'm familiar with how candid he is in sharing aspects of his personal life. If you enjoy Jude on the radio, you definitely will enjoy his book.
GO BUY IT!
I've listened to Jude on Sirius, so I'm familiar with how candid he is in sharing aspects of his personal life. If you enjoy Jude on the radio, you definitely will enjoy his book.
GO BUY IT!
July 8, 2014
Bought this for a friend. Sneak-read it at work and then drove home maniacally to finish. Could not put it down.
June 11, 2015
I didn't know who Jude was when I purchased this book, and you don't really need to in order to enjoy the stories. His tone and voice is much stronger and more mature than you'd expect from the person portrayed in the pages. Autobiographical almost to a fault, this collection of true tales pretty much deals exclusively with drugs, sex, and (maybe you'd call it) love. The lens for each story is unflinching and unclouded, and our narrator is guilelessly straightforward about his thoughts, experiences, and general level of depravity and dismay.
The biggest flaw with the book is that the stories get repetitive after awhile. If they aren't about him doing drugs and/or having sex, they're about his family or his longing for the One That Got (Thrown?) Away. Each piece is beautifully written and achingly sincere, but the themes blur into one long, monotone landscape after awhile. The force of his honesty starts to lose its edge when you read about the same basic confessions over and over. He has a knack for analyzing his mistakes and self without coming across as preachy or self-pitying, which is amazing actually and keeps the tales moving without ever growing too stale, but in retrospect it feels like some of the pieces could've been eliminated or joined together to avoid blunting their energy with repetition.
Minor quibbles for what is one of the best story collections I've read in a long time. Beware: these tales are about as X-rated as they get without crossing over into full-out smut.
The biggest flaw with the book is that the stories get repetitive after awhile. If they aren't about him doing drugs and/or having sex, they're about his family or his longing for the One That Got (Thrown?) Away. Each piece is beautifully written and achingly sincere, but the themes blur into one long, monotone landscape after awhile. The force of his honesty starts to lose its edge when you read about the same basic confessions over and over. He has a knack for analyzing his mistakes and self without coming across as preachy or self-pitying, which is amazing actually and keeps the tales moving without ever growing too stale, but in retrospect it feels like some of the pieces could've been eliminated or joined together to avoid blunting their energy with repetition.
Minor quibbles for what is one of the best story collections I've read in a long time. Beware: these tales are about as X-rated as they get without crossing over into full-out smut.
November 19, 2019
This is some despicable, grotesque, middle schooler, shock reading. Jude Angelini takes on this everlasting "edgy" persona and does not hold back from being one of the most unlikable people in literature. This book feels like someone told him, "you should write a book," and he just did. His whole catch is, "guys, look how unfiltered I am and how self-deprecating my life can get," and that's about it. There were some chapters in this novel where I almost had to put down the book for good because of its relentless and deliberate motive of making this book as edgy and disgusting as possible, and not in a well-executed way. Molestation, sodomy, sexual assault, rape, domestic abuse, and drug abuse are transcribed and personalized by Jude in such a boring way.
I may not like this thing, but there are some really interesting moments in some chapters. Moments where Jude self-reflects and realizes "I am my father's son," writing upon the subject of his realization that he became the very thing he hated within his father. There are also other stories in this thing where he saves the cat and shows a more vulnerable and weaker side of himself and takes a break from being the nasty individual that he usually is. These small chapters gave the book as much depth as it could, but it did not save it, but it got interesting... sometimes.
To put this book in the perspective that it deserves, I got it at Goodwill for $0.50.
I may not like this thing, but there are some really interesting moments in some chapters. Moments where Jude self-reflects and realizes "I am my father's son," writing upon the subject of his realization that he became the very thing he hated within his father. There are also other stories in this thing where he saves the cat and shows a more vulnerable and weaker side of himself and takes a break from being the nasty individual that he usually is. These small chapters gave the book as much depth as it could, but it did not save it, but it got interesting... sometimes.
To put this book in the perspective that it deserves, I got it at Goodwill for $0.50.
November 13, 2014
So, I'm reading this book and it's all about this guy and the drugs he's constantly taking and all the chicks he's fucking** and all the crazy shit those chicks are into and whether he'll do it or not (usually he will) and I'm thinking, WTF? Why'd I buy this book? And who told me to?? (Should probably find out and unfriend that fucker on Facebook… jk)
**if this word bothers you, quit reading this review. And don't read the book!)
Each chapter is named, so each is a little story about the same guy, in a different period of his life. Think of them as stories like we tell our friends. We don't just dump everything on them at the first time we meet them.
Drugs, sex and music -- if that's your reading list, here ya go! You'll probably love this one.
Some of this shit is Laugh Out Loud Belly Laugh Funny! ("collateral damage" got me laughing VERY hard.) But I'll warn you, it's REALLY gross in some parts… I'm not going to tell you why or how, but I don't really know HOW MORE gross something can be! You'll know it when you read it.
They say it's "brutally honest and blackly comical" -- it is that! And surprisingly introspective-- I think this guy knows who he is, at least, at THIS moment in time. He may even, eventually, grow into a wise old human being.. IF he doesn't fry the hell out of his brain and body before then.
Very good art!
**if this word bothers you, quit reading this review. And don't read the book!)
Each chapter is named, so each is a little story about the same guy, in a different period of his life. Think of them as stories like we tell our friends. We don't just dump everything on them at the first time we meet them.
Drugs, sex and music -- if that's your reading list, here ya go! You'll probably love this one.
Some of this shit is Laugh Out Loud Belly Laugh Funny! ("collateral damage" got me laughing VERY hard.) But I'll warn you, it's REALLY gross in some parts… I'm not going to tell you why or how, but I don't really know HOW MORE gross something can be! You'll know it when you read it.
They say it's "brutally honest and blackly comical" -- it is that! And surprisingly introspective-- I think this guy knows who he is, at least, at THIS moment in time. He may even, eventually, grow into a wise old human being.. IF he doesn't fry the hell out of his brain and body before then.
Very good art!
October 3, 2014
I was provided with a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. I'm very glad I did not pay for this book.
This is a tough one to call. I didn't like the drugs, the mindless sex, and the profanity. Even trying to get through several of the chapters was difficult. However, Mr Angelini can write. In "Willie," he talks about the breakup of his parents' marriage, and how his father would drive around town, listening to Willie Nelson singing, "You were always on my mind." Angelini then recalls his own failed marriage and realizes he is his father's son. The story ends with him singing along with Willie - "You were always on my mind, you were always on my mind." Then there's a depressing story about Valentine's Day in Las Vegas. Definitely the worst Valentine's Day I've heard of. It ends with him remembering his ex-wife and how he always wanted to show her the movie "Say Anything" with John Cusack and Ione Sky.
The whole atmosphere is unpleasant. This is definitely not something I want to read again. A two-star rating is generous. I seldom rate anything one star.
This is a tough one to call. I didn't like the drugs, the mindless sex, and the profanity. Even trying to get through several of the chapters was difficult. However, Mr Angelini can write. In "Willie," he talks about the breakup of his parents' marriage, and how his father would drive around town, listening to Willie Nelson singing, "You were always on my mind." Angelini then recalls his own failed marriage and realizes he is his father's son. The story ends with him singing along with Willie - "You were always on my mind, you were always on my mind." Then there's a depressing story about Valentine's Day in Las Vegas. Definitely the worst Valentine's Day I've heard of. It ends with him remembering his ex-wife and how he always wanted to show her the movie "Say Anything" with John Cusack and Ione Sky.
The whole atmosphere is unpleasant. This is definitely not something I want to read again. A two-star rating is generous. I seldom rate anything one star.
May 21, 2018
The writing was engaging and funny - depraved is the perfect descriptor. The whole way through I kept waiting to see some redeeming quality in the author - it was all self medicating and boo hooing over an ex without any attempt at actually dealing with issues. Eventually the tales of extreme and bizarre sexual encounters and drug use got old. The whole thing was screaming for an intervention. The biggest issue is that all the stories were essentially the same and the author is pretty shallow and one sided. Good at telling the same story over and over again - but like watching someone crash their car over and over again and walk away unscathed without any regard for how their actions may ripple to he people around them.
January 18, 2015
2.5 stars. I was provided with a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads for an honest review.
I found this book brutally honest, the type of honest that most memoirs leave out because it shows the filthy, shameful, hideous side of humanity that no one really talks about and looks at in disgust. There is also some humor to it all, and some sadness when you think of the book as a whole. I was unsure how to rate it since I didn't hate it nor love it. I wish it was more in depth in areas so to have a better understanding, and it's more like a collection of stories. It's a fast read for when you want something to entertain you for a few hours.
I found this book brutally honest, the type of honest that most memoirs leave out because it shows the filthy, shameful, hideous side of humanity that no one really talks about and looks at in disgust. There is also some humor to it all, and some sadness when you think of the book as a whole. I was unsure how to rate it since I didn't hate it nor love it. I wish it was more in depth in areas so to have a better understanding, and it's more like a collection of stories. It's a fast read for when you want something to entertain you for a few hours.
October 13, 2014
I listen to Jude all the time so I know that he doesn't hold back. He is brutally honest, which I appreciate, because we are in a world full of people who either lie or sugar-coat things. I find his character appealing and repulsive at the same time. His courage is undeniable, most of us could never tell the real truth about our darkest selves, let alone publish it for all to see. He is clearly very intelligent and I would love to be his friend if not for the fear of him writing about me in the next book! Lol!!! I do love him though and will continue to listen to his crazy show.
May 16, 2016
As a fan of the All Out Show of which author Jude Angelini is co-host of, I was well aware of how a collection of essays he had written would push the envelope. What I wasn't expecting was how poignant they could be as well. Reading Hyena is like watching a train wreck from crash to aftermath, playing to the reader's ugliest sense of entertainment at first and then slapping him across the face later with the realization at just how sad some of these stories are.
October 15, 2022
🎧What did I just listened to…. Oh my goodness 🤦🏼♀️ I guess it serves me right for not researching the author or the book and giving in the ‘sale is about to end!’ pressure on audible. I needed an indie read for my 52books in 52weeks challenge and this is how I blindly bought this audiobook. I only started googling about Rude Jude, the author, 3min in and already hearing so much explicit, sex and drug talk. My bad. Don’t do it, it’s terrible. Lesson learned.
September 23, 2014
This book was a lot better than I thought it would be. I was invested in this man's life as he went through the ups and downs. It intrigued me that a human being could go through all the things he went through and is still alive. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone that can handle the strong language and situations.
August 18, 2014
Couldn't put this book down! Real and funny!
October 10, 2014
RUDE JUDE
September 25, 2020
Vulgar, grimy, and hilarious.
August 9, 2022
First time reader, Long time listener.
The book jacket compares this to Charles Bukowski and Hunter S. Thompson. Really, it just feels like old school Tucker Max.
The book is a series of vignettes from Jude's life. The content is 90% sex and drugs. The other 10% is some real shit. It's mostly funny and entertaining, though there's a dark undercurrent throughout.
Whenever he brings up race, he says something dumb, offensive, or both, but I suppose that's probably what he was going for. He also uses the homophobic "f-word" multiple times. I get it. You're "Rude," Jude.
Along those lines, he gets to portray himself as a complex, nuanced individual with diverse interests and motivations while everyone else is completely one-dimensional. He can be a degenerate drug user who solicits hookers one minute while in the next he's going antiquing or playing backgammon with strangers. He listens to wide variation of musicians and musical styles. He finds himself around people of different races and classes because he can wear all these hats, but it seems that everyone else is just a gangster, a puerto-rican chick, or a porn star with a fat ass. It's kind of annoying.
All that said, the book is a quick and easy read that's entertaining in a hedonistic (but kinda sad) sorta way. I'll read Hummingbird and expect more of the same.
The book jacket compares this to Charles Bukowski and Hunter S. Thompson. Really, it just feels like old school Tucker Max.
The book is a series of vignettes from Jude's life. The content is 90% sex and drugs. The other 10% is some real shit. It's mostly funny and entertaining, though there's a dark undercurrent throughout.
Whenever he brings up race, he says something dumb, offensive, or both, but I suppose that's probably what he was going for. He also uses the homophobic "f-word" multiple times. I get it. You're "Rude," Jude.
Along those lines, he gets to portray himself as a complex, nuanced individual with diverse interests and motivations while everyone else is completely one-dimensional. He can be a degenerate drug user who solicits hookers one minute while in the next he's going antiquing or playing backgammon with strangers. He listens to wide variation of musicians and musical styles. He finds himself around people of different races and classes because he can wear all these hats, but it seems that everyone else is just a gangster, a puerto-rican chick, or a porn star with a fat ass. It's kind of annoying.
All that said, the book is a quick and easy read that's entertaining in a hedonistic (but kinda sad) sorta way. I'll read Hummingbird and expect more of the same.
November 8, 2019
i’d never heard of this guy before, but his book, hummingbird, showed up in my audible recommendations. i bought this one because i couldn’t listen to his second book first. i’m not a monster. this is the blackest sounding white guy i’ve ever heard, even fooled my husband, who considers himself an expert. anyhoo, i love other people’s descriptions of doing drugs and these little biographical (?) essays are top-notch. i’d always wondered what people who smoked pcp were going for. surely, being arrested for getting naked and trashing a convenience store isn’t what you’re expecting, is it?! i’m still not sure about that, but this is my jam. gritty little stories, big heart.
July 10, 2018
These stories are all pretty shocking and although I get what they represent, Jude is just so unlikeable it really detracts from the stories
January 30, 2023
The guy really put the high in hyena
August 3, 2015
I've only heard Jude on random recaps of The Jason Ellis show on SiriusXM Faction. But he (Jude) is funny and makes me laugh in my car on the way to and/or from work so I looked him up. He has a book. I like books so I buy it. The thing I like most about this book is the way his writing can be a bit tangential. I think my mind works that way so it wasn't a distraction to me. Anyway, the book has all these experiences that are like Tucker Max style situations but Jude doesn't try to seem bigger or better than the reader. At first I started reading and thought the stories were hilarious, then started to feel bad. I would continue laughing but my heart hurt for Jude and hoped he would something meaningful, which it seems he lacks, as evidenced by frequent references to Julie. And I think deep down, we can all relate to having a void and trying to fill it with something (drugs, sex, alcohol, food, etc).
March 3, 2015
This book is in no way for everyone. It is crude and offensive, delving deep into Jude's history of drug abuse and sexual exploits. Having said that, it was still a pleasure to read. Despite the graphic nature of the book, the writing is fantastic. In many ways it feels like a combo of Bukowski and Hunter S. Thompson - lots of drugs and sex but each chapter leaving you with some almost poetic insight to the life and (often tragic) thoughts of the writer. If you are ok with the content (I was), I highly recommend this book.
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