What do you think?
Rate this book
Happy Doomsday
The end of the world is the weirdest time to come of age. Welcome to the end of the world. One minute, people are going about their lives, and the next― not . In the wake of the inexplicable purge, only a handful of young misfits remains. When it all went down, “Wizard of Odd” Dev Brinkman was seeking shelter from the taunts of his classmates. Goth girl Lucy Abernathy had lost her best friend and had no clue where to turn. And Twinkie-loving quarterback “Marcus” Haddad was learning why you never discuss politics and religion in polite company―or online. As if life when you’re sixteen isn’t confusing enough, throw in the challenges of postapocalyptic subsistence, a case of survivor’s guilt turned up to seven billion, and the small task of rebuilding humankind… No one said doomsday would be a breeze. But for Dev, Lucy, and Marcus, the greatest hope―and greatest threat―will come when they find each other.
444 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2018
3147 people are currently reading
5182 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 437 reviews
August 28, 2018
From the cutesy cover of this one, I was expecting more laughs, or at least a couple of chuckles, but other than the irony of the only survivors of a mysterious apocalypse being a few teens with suicidal tendencies, there's nothing funny about the book.
Sosnowski provides plenty of details about the corpse-filled landscape, and the ensuing plagues of vermin, but unfortunately, he tends to get bogged down in minutiae. Two characters - Lucy and Marcus - never really come to life. They travel around, looking for other survivors, and generally getting on one another's nerves. Dev, on the other hand, a loner suffering from Asperger's syndrome, stays put in his family's home, building a well-stocked fortress, and caring for the neighbors' abandoned pets.
All three teens don't meet until almost 80% of the way through the book, though we already had a sneak preview of that at the beginning of the book (WHY?), so we all knew it was coming. Bad things happen to pretty much everyone, especially the aforementioned pets. This really only deserves two stars, but I tacked on an extra as I found Dev to be a fascinating character.
NOT recommended to anyone, particularly animal lovers.
Sosnowski provides plenty of details about the corpse-filled landscape, and the ensuing plagues of vermin, but unfortunately, he tends to get bogged down in minutiae. Two characters - Lucy and Marcus - never really come to life. They travel around, looking for other survivors, and generally getting on one another's nerves. Dev, on the other hand, a loner suffering from Asperger's syndrome, stays put in his family's home, building a well-stocked fortress, and caring for the neighbors' abandoned pets.
All three teens don't meet until almost 80% of the way through the book, though we already had a sneak preview of that at the beginning of the book (WHY?), so we all knew it was coming. Bad things happen to pretty much everyone, especially the aforementioned pets. This really only deserves two stars, but I tacked on an extra as I found Dev to be a fascinating character.
NOT recommended to anyone, particularly animal lovers.
August 3, 2018
Not what I hoped
I couldn't enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped from the blurb. The character Dev was the bright spot for me, and his storyline pushed me to actually finish the book instead of abandoning it, as I was tempted to do. I could really have done without the continual snide remarks by the author about Republicans, pro-life adherents (the phrase "clump of cells" was used multiple times), belief in God, etc. Oh! And the cause of Doomsday was never explained; perhaps a certain orange-faced person in power hit the wrong button instead of his Tweet ( those are the types of non-subtle phrases used by the author). If those things don't bother you, adjust my rating up a star. It's just not how I like my leisure reading.
I couldn't enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped from the blurb. The character Dev was the bright spot for me, and his storyline pushed me to actually finish the book instead of abandoning it, as I was tempted to do. I could really have done without the continual snide remarks by the author about Republicans, pro-life adherents (the phrase "clump of cells" was used multiple times), belief in God, etc. Oh! And the cause of Doomsday was never explained; perhaps a certain orange-faced person in power hit the wrong button instead of his Tweet ( those are the types of non-subtle phrases used by the author). If those things don't bother you, adjust my rating up a star. It's just not how I like my leisure reading.
August 14, 2018
I enjoyed the character development but there were too many graphic descriptions of dead bodies and animal abuse. The plot intrigued me but ended up stagnant without answering any questions. Other reviewers weren't happy with the political mentions, but there really were only a few, didn't bother me at all. Seems people can't handle reading opinions that don't match up with their own.
January 31, 2021
I won a Kindle copy of
Happy Doomsday
from a Goodreads Giveaway.
From the lurid jokey cover, I expected some Zombieland humor mixed with horror and fear.
Oh, yeah, there's plenty of dead bodies, gore and blood and gross stuff, but I didn't blink an eye. But that's just me. It's hard to ruffle my feathers.
Instead, I got the YA equivalent of the second season of The Walking Dead, better known as the Farm Season.
** Spoilers ahead that summarize everything you need to know without having to read 400+ pages of filler **
Dev Brinkman is a teen with Asperger's; Lucy is a pregnant teen and Mohammed is an former wannabe terrorist.
They may be the last survivors left in the world after something unknown and unexplained has exterminated the population abruptly.
The three of them don't meet until you reach 83% of the novel but when they do, nothing much happens.
I like how the author discusses the minor details that zombie and post-apocalyptic movies don't have the time or bother to touch upon like: What happens to the animals/pets who survive? Who does garbage pickup for the survivors?
Minus the unusual protagonists, it was difficult to like anyone.
The author spends an appalling amount of filler on Dev's issues:
Just to name a few:
How to jury rig a shower that doesn't affect his sensitivity to touch
How much he loves vacuum cleaners
His obsession with certain topics/subjects
His desire to have eggs for breakfast every day
Back to vacuum cleaners again
I get it; as an individual on the spectrum, Dev needs to maintain a strict routine to stay calm. It doesn't mean I wasn't bored.
I was bored. I was Season 2: The Walking Dead bored when the cast spent most of the time walking around and talking about their feelings.
Feelings are great and all but where's the tension?
The urgency? The fear and horror?
It's the end of the world and nobody is fine!
Forget about Lucy and Mo or Marcus or whatever the heck his name is. I couldn't muster any sympathy or empathy for any of them.
Yeah, I know, they were naive, bratty, and disillusioned but they felt...phony.
Then there were all the dark and difficult issues the characters had to deal with; teen suicide and pregnancy, abortion, bullying, mental illness, radicalization, just to name a few, which all had a whiff of a sinister undertone of politicizing on the author's part.
I got the feeling the author was trying to vent his frustrations on our current political climate through his novel and characters, which I understand is difficult to ignore, but I don't appreciate.
I read books to be entertained, to learn, to empathize and be shocked, happy or horrified in equal measure.
If I wanted to read about politics and hate and terrorism, I'd turn on the news.
From the lurid jokey cover, I expected some Zombieland humor mixed with horror and fear.
Oh, yeah, there's plenty of dead bodies, gore and blood and gross stuff, but I didn't blink an eye. But that's just me. It's hard to ruffle my feathers.
Instead, I got the YA equivalent of the second season of The Walking Dead, better known as the Farm Season.
** Spoilers ahead that summarize everything you need to know without having to read 400+ pages of filler **
Dev Brinkman is a teen with Asperger's; Lucy is a pregnant teen and Mohammed is an former wannabe terrorist.
They may be the last survivors left in the world after something unknown and unexplained has exterminated the population abruptly.
The three of them don't meet until you reach 83% of the novel but when they do, nothing much happens.
I like how the author discusses the minor details that zombie and post-apocalyptic movies don't have the time or bother to touch upon like: What happens to the animals/pets who survive? Who does garbage pickup for the survivors?
Minus the unusual protagonists, it was difficult to like anyone.
The author spends an appalling amount of filler on Dev's issues:
Just to name a few:
How to jury rig a shower that doesn't affect his sensitivity to touch
How much he loves vacuum cleaners
His obsession with certain topics/subjects
His desire to have eggs for breakfast every day
Back to vacuum cleaners again
I get it; as an individual on the spectrum, Dev needs to maintain a strict routine to stay calm. It doesn't mean I wasn't bored.
I was bored. I was Season 2: The Walking Dead bored when the cast spent most of the time walking around and talking about their feelings.
Feelings are great and all but where's the tension?
The urgency? The fear and horror?
It's the end of the world and nobody is fine!
Forget about Lucy and Mo or Marcus or whatever the heck his name is. I couldn't muster any sympathy or empathy for any of them.
Yeah, I know, they were naive, bratty, and disillusioned but they felt...phony.
Then there were all the dark and difficult issues the characters had to deal with; teen suicide and pregnancy, abortion, bullying, mental illness, radicalization, just to name a few, which all had a whiff of a sinister undertone of politicizing on the author's part.
I got the feeling the author was trying to vent his frustrations on our current political climate through his novel and characters, which I understand is difficult to ignore, but I don't appreciate.
I read books to be entertained, to learn, to empathize and be shocked, happy or horrified in equal measure.
If I wanted to read about politics and hate and terrorism, I'd turn on the news.
August 3, 2018
Not your typical post-apocalyptic YA. I really enjoyed that the author dealt with issues that generally get overlooked in the mainstream "zombie-type" stories. What happens to all of the pets? The animals in zoos and pet stores? Farm animals? What about the smell of dead people?
I felt like the author wasn't afraid to get dirty, and I really appreciated that. The characters were well-defined, the world building was thoughtful, and the premise was unique within this genre. Very entertaining.
I felt like the author wasn't afraid to get dirty, and I really appreciated that. The characters were well-defined, the world building was thoughtful, and the premise was unique within this genre. Very entertaining.
July 12, 2019
So....this book just wasn’t what I expected. From the blurb, I expected it to be a comedy of sorts. A dark comedy - sure, but a comedy. I expected it to be way more YA then it was. I wouldn’t classify this one as YA at all.
Instead this was a dark, disturbing, detailed, and probably realistic book about an end of the world-type apocalypse. I’m going to fully own this about myself and say I just shouldn’t have read this book. These kinds of books scare me. They give me nightmares. And I don’t like them. And so knowing that, this review maybe isn’t fair. But even so, I’ve read a fair amount of these books and this one had the potential to be quite interesting. Except. Except there was too much about animals. Pets. And what happened to them. And I just couldn’t stomach it. I mean...what would happen to my beloved cats if the world ended and I never came home? So - realistic probably - but too, too, too much for me. I almost feel like there needs to be some kind of warning about the chapters and chapters of animals and the apocalypse. I absolutely wouldn’t have even tried to read this book if I had known.
That said, the writing in this book was really fantastic. It was witty and clever and there were moments that I could really just revel in a phrase and think - wow! that was really, really well written. So I WOULD read something else by this author. This one though, I can’t recommend.
Instead this was a dark, disturbing, detailed, and probably realistic book about an end of the world-type apocalypse. I’m going to fully own this about myself and say I just shouldn’t have read this book. These kinds of books scare me. They give me nightmares. And I don’t like them. And so knowing that, this review maybe isn’t fair. But even so, I’ve read a fair amount of these books and this one had the potential to be quite interesting. Except. Except there was too much about animals. Pets. And what happened to them. And I just couldn’t stomach it. I mean...what would happen to my beloved cats if the world ended and I never came home? So - realistic probably - but too, too, too much for me. I almost feel like there needs to be some kind of warning about the chapters and chapters of animals and the apocalypse. I absolutely wouldn’t have even tried to read this book if I had known.
That said, the writing in this book was really fantastic. It was witty and clever and there were moments that I could really just revel in a phrase and think - wow! that was really, really well written. So I WOULD read something else by this author. This one though, I can’t recommend.
September 20, 2018
This book reads more like an over-the-top liberal manifesto than an actual novel. The author uses the first hour of his time to beat the reader over the head with hot-button topics, and his beliefs instead of building the character's identities. Each character is given ONE characteristic. Lucy is pregnant but grew up in a religious home. Mo is Muslim and has joined ISIS(Islamophobic much?). Dev is on the spectrum. Max is gay....and only referred to as Gay Max while being the stereotype of a gay male.
While claiming to be on the liberal side, the author does slip into fat shaming and slut shaming of the character Lucy. The overwhelming forced input of beliefs makes this book seem faux woke, than actually being woke. I was ready to enjoy a book that read like the Breakfast Club meets the Purge, and all I got was a novel where the author researched liberal ideals and hits you over the head with them.
I like female reproductive rights and treating people like people regardless of their heritage and religious beliefs as much as the next person, what I don't like is this author using liberal ideals to sell books! if you want to be woke (which is good), then just be woke. let your writing speak for itself. don't take all the hot topics and force them into a book.
While claiming to be on the liberal side, the author does slip into fat shaming and slut shaming of the character Lucy. The overwhelming forced input of beliefs makes this book seem faux woke, than actually being woke. I was ready to enjoy a book that read like the Breakfast Club meets the Purge, and all I got was a novel where the author researched liberal ideals and hits you over the head with them.
I like female reproductive rights and treating people like people regardless of their heritage and religious beliefs as much as the next person, what I don't like is this author using liberal ideals to sell books! if you want to be woke (which is good), then just be woke. let your writing speak for itself. don't take all the hot topics and force them into a book.
August 7, 2018
DNF
A book that had the potential to be a delightful story, particularly with one of the main (and most interesting) characters being on the spectrum, but unfortunately the whole thing was ruined by political garbage.
I don't care if you're left or right, if I wanted to hear about politics I'd watch the news. I read books to get away from all this political drama, not invite more of it into my life.
A book that had the potential to be a delightful story, particularly with one of the main (and most interesting) characters being on the spectrum, but unfortunately the whole thing was ruined by political garbage.
I don't care if you're left or right, if I wanted to hear about politics I'd watch the news. I read books to get away from all this political drama, not invite more of it into my life.
August 13, 2018
An ice cream truck, really?
August 21, 2018
Stunningly. Awful.
I can't complain too much, as I got to read this for free via Amazon's Prime Reads program.
Nevertheless, this is one awful book. I was already losing interest by 5%, wanted to quit reading at 10%.
I kept trudging through it because I'm a fan of the P-A genre, and anything that made it out via Prime Reads had to have some redeeming value, right?
Wrong. I made it to 16%, and had to stop if only to protect the few brain cells I'm still in possession of.
Just truly, totally awful. Don't waste time reading this...almost surely, any other book from Kindle would be a better investment of your time, brain cells and good taste. Pick one at random, it will be better.
To be blunt, this is the worst attempt at literature I've ever read. Period. Accordingly, this is the worst Amazon review I've ever posted about ANYTHING. It got 1 Star only because I couldn't give it a lower rating. Something about a negative 2 would be generous.
You have been warned.
I can't complain too much, as I got to read this for free via Amazon's Prime Reads program.
Nevertheless, this is one awful book. I was already losing interest by 5%, wanted to quit reading at 10%.
I kept trudging through it because I'm a fan of the P-A genre, and anything that made it out via Prime Reads had to have some redeeming value, right?
Wrong. I made it to 16%, and had to stop if only to protect the few brain cells I'm still in possession of.
Just truly, totally awful. Don't waste time reading this...almost surely, any other book from Kindle would be a better investment of your time, brain cells and good taste. Pick one at random, it will be better.
To be blunt, this is the worst attempt at literature I've ever read. Period. Accordingly, this is the worst Amazon review I've ever posted about ANYTHING. It got 1 Star only because I couldn't give it a lower rating. Something about a negative 2 would be generous.
You have been warned.
August 20, 2018
4.5 stars
I really loved this book. I went into it expecting something kind of comedic, and while it had its moments, I don't know if I'd classify it as humor. Dark humor, maybe, but this is a book dealing with some weighty issues. If you're looking for something fast-paced and action packed, you may want to keep looking. But if you, like me, have longed for a post-apocalyptic book that is pragmatic and gets into nitty gritty details about life after an apocalyptic scenario, this book's for you. Some spoilers to follow, but I'll refrain from giving anything major away.
Yes, the premise is kind of far-fetched, but let's be honest, when are apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic books all that realistic? What really worked for me about this book was how grounded it was, and how often the author brought up scenarios and problems I've never before encountered in books of this genre and that I personally hadn't thought about. I was also intrigued by the hypothesis the characters come up with to explain why they survived the doomsday event. It's definitely not one I've read in other books, which was much to its credit.
The real winner of this book, though, is the characters, and Dev in particular. I was extremely happy to read a book like this that featured a diverse cast, and one whose backgrounds lent them a variety of strengths and weaknesses. I think each one deserves his/her own breakdown. In general, the author made me care for the characters, which made me very invested in everything that happened to them, though I admit some were more fleshed out to me than others.
First off is Dev, my absolute favorite character in the book. I loved how the author showed how Dev's Asperger's was a real asset to him when it came to survival. It's not that I think he didn't have strengths that were valuable to the pre-apocalyptic world, it's that the world as it is doesn't tend to appreciate those who aren't neurotypical, and who don't follow a very rigid set of social rules. So once the world pretty much came to an end, it was as though Dev could stick a thumb in the eye of everyone who ever doubted his worth. I found his thought-processes fascinating, and the only scenes that made me teary were the ones in which Dev suffered, which shows how much I empathized with a character who was once maligned by those who assumed he had no emotions. I really found him masterful.
Marcus was also very interesting, and I liked how the author created convincing and thought-provoking reasons for why a teen like Marcus might turn to extremism when looking for answers. I also liked how Marcus grapples with what he did. Yet he felt like a true-to-life teen, not just defined by the terrible thing he almost did, but by who he was as a person and how he chose to cope.
When it came to Lucy, though, I felt as if she wasn't as developed as the two male characters, and I think a lot of this had to do with her being a female character. I'm definitely not someone who thinks male authors can't write female characters, but this book draws a lot of distinctions between men and women and seems to subscribe to a sort of Mars/Venus belief system, which is why I didn't think Lucy felt as real to me. Yes, she has a backstory, and yes her reasons for wanting to have a child are given, but fertility defined her way too much for my taste. I would have preferred to see her cope in the world without doing so through the lens of a mother, because while it was reasonable for her to think about her fertility, she had time to worry. Plus, I couldn't shake the conviction that her reasons for having a baby weren't mostly about how she wanted someone to love her unconditionally, and that is bad news. Children are not like faithful pets, and I don't much care for it when media depicts parenthood as this means for a woman to find someone to love and who will love her in return. That's far too simplistic a depiction of parenthood (and I know what I'm talking about here as I speak from experience, having a teenager and a younger child of my own), and it's one that needs to be dispelled, both to help stop teenagers romanticizing having a baby and to be more honest with women in general about the trials and tribulations of motherhood.
That, really, was my biggest quibble with the novel. Otherwise, I was immensely impressed with the way it deals with practicalities most post-apocalyptic and apocalyptic novels ignore for the sake of convenience. Yes, it is gory and pretty graphic, but I didn't find it gratuitous. I also was far from annoyed by the level of detail, since if someone were to find themselves a survivor in an apocalyptic world, the ability to pay attention to the details would be the difference between life and death.
As for the political aspect, well, maybe the author does have a point of view about that. But given the types of characters he's writing about, I found their opinions about the current president 100% authentic. I didn't think the characters' bringing him up was misplaced, either. It's not as if they're having random political rants that don't fit within the overall plot. Whenever they do mention the president, it's relevant to their situation and their view of the world. I can see the point of view of those who don't want politics in their novels, but I also think it's more than a bit simplistic to expect contemporary books to leave politics out altogether, particularly when a book's main characters are precisely the kind of people who suffer most from the current administration's policies.
This is easily the best Kindle First book I've read, and I'm glad for it, since the vast majority of the other books I've gotten my hands on this way have been letdowns. I was thrilled to find something so smart, thought-provoking, and genre bending. I'd be ecstatic if I could find more books that break the mold the way this one does, particularly YA books that refuse to adhere to the tired old tropes that plague most YA lit these days.
I really loved this book. I went into it expecting something kind of comedic, and while it had its moments, I don't know if I'd classify it as humor. Dark humor, maybe, but this is a book dealing with some weighty issues. If you're looking for something fast-paced and action packed, you may want to keep looking. But if you, like me, have longed for a post-apocalyptic book that is pragmatic and gets into nitty gritty details about life after an apocalyptic scenario, this book's for you. Some spoilers to follow, but I'll refrain from giving anything major away.
Yes, the premise is kind of far-fetched, but let's be honest, when are apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic books all that realistic? What really worked for me about this book was how grounded it was, and how often the author brought up scenarios and problems I've never before encountered in books of this genre and that I personally hadn't thought about. I was also intrigued by the hypothesis the characters come up with to explain why they survived the doomsday event. It's definitely not one I've read in other books, which was much to its credit.
The real winner of this book, though, is the characters, and Dev in particular. I was extremely happy to read a book like this that featured a diverse cast, and one whose backgrounds lent them a variety of strengths and weaknesses. I think each one deserves his/her own breakdown. In general, the author made me care for the characters, which made me very invested in everything that happened to them, though I admit some were more fleshed out to me than others.
First off is Dev, my absolute favorite character in the book. I loved how the author showed how Dev's Asperger's was a real asset to him when it came to survival. It's not that I think he didn't have strengths that were valuable to the pre-apocalyptic world, it's that the world as it is doesn't tend to appreciate those who aren't neurotypical, and who don't follow a very rigid set of social rules. So once the world pretty much came to an end, it was as though Dev could stick a thumb in the eye of everyone who ever doubted his worth. I found his thought-processes fascinating, and the only scenes that made me teary were the ones in which Dev suffered, which shows how much I empathized with a character who was once maligned by those who assumed he had no emotions. I really found him masterful.
Marcus was also very interesting, and I liked how the author created convincing and thought-provoking reasons for why a teen like Marcus might turn to extremism when looking for answers. I also liked how Marcus grapples with what he did. Yet he felt like a true-to-life teen, not just defined by the terrible thing he almost did, but by who he was as a person and how he chose to cope.
When it came to Lucy, though, I felt as if she wasn't as developed as the two male characters, and I think a lot of this had to do with her being a female character. I'm definitely not someone who thinks male authors can't write female characters, but this book draws a lot of distinctions between men and women and seems to subscribe to a sort of Mars/Venus belief system, which is why I didn't think Lucy felt as real to me. Yes, she has a backstory, and yes her reasons for wanting to have a child are given, but fertility defined her way too much for my taste. I would have preferred to see her cope in the world without doing so through the lens of a mother, because while it was reasonable for her to think about her fertility, she had time to worry. Plus, I couldn't shake the conviction that her reasons for having a baby weren't mostly about how she wanted someone to love her unconditionally, and that is bad news. Children are not like faithful pets, and I don't much care for it when media depicts parenthood as this means for a woman to find someone to love and who will love her in return. That's far too simplistic a depiction of parenthood (and I know what I'm talking about here as I speak from experience, having a teenager and a younger child of my own), and it's one that needs to be dispelled, both to help stop teenagers romanticizing having a baby and to be more honest with women in general about the trials and tribulations of motherhood.
That, really, was my biggest quibble with the novel. Otherwise, I was immensely impressed with the way it deals with practicalities most post-apocalyptic and apocalyptic novels ignore for the sake of convenience. Yes, it is gory and pretty graphic, but I didn't find it gratuitous. I also was far from annoyed by the level of detail, since if someone were to find themselves a survivor in an apocalyptic world, the ability to pay attention to the details would be the difference between life and death.
As for the political aspect, well, maybe the author does have a point of view about that. But given the types of characters he's writing about, I found their opinions about the current president 100% authentic. I didn't think the characters' bringing him up was misplaced, either. It's not as if they're having random political rants that don't fit within the overall plot. Whenever they do mention the president, it's relevant to their situation and their view of the world. I can see the point of view of those who don't want politics in their novels, but I also think it's more than a bit simplistic to expect contemporary books to leave politics out altogether, particularly when a book's main characters are precisely the kind of people who suffer most from the current administration's policies.
This is easily the best Kindle First book I've read, and I'm glad for it, since the vast majority of the other books I've gotten my hands on this way have been letdowns. I was thrilled to find something so smart, thought-provoking, and genre bending. I'd be ecstatic if I could find more books that break the mold the way this one does, particularly YA books that refuse to adhere to the tired old tropes that plague most YA lit these days.
March 25, 2019
The book starts out with describing the lives of three 16 year olds, just before an unexplained happening kills off the rest of the population (as far as we know) and their reactions and how they survive on their own in the following months. Realistic and darkly sharp, I was immediately drawn in, especially to Dev, the young man with Aspergers, who is definitely one of the best described neuro atypicals I have seen.
However I must say the story started to drag across the middle, and the last third or fourth consisted mostly of the two remaining teens bickering at each other and being generally intolerable. There were frankly some really strange and stupid decisions being made by the end which sort of threw the otherwise sensible and coherent plot out the window.
But overall one of the better post disaster survival stories I’ve read.
However I must say the story started to drag across the middle, and the last third or fourth consisted mostly of the two remaining teens bickering at each other and being generally intolerable. There were frankly some really strange and stupid decisions being made by the end which sort of threw the otherwise sensible and coherent plot out the window.
But overall one of the better post disaster survival stories I’ve read.
March 15, 2019
4 of 5 Stars
Dev Brinkman has Asperger's Syndrome. Think Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang TV series. Smart by severely regressed socially.
Mohammad Haddad (Call me Marcus) is a young Arab-American who has been radicalized.
Lucy Abernathy, a goth chick with a gay boyfriend who gets her pregnant.
The three characters have nothing in common until nearly everyone else dies.
"...at around noon, 12:30 p.m. eastern daylight time on a Monday in early June, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the world—or at least the world of people, at least mostly—had come to an end. Cause of death: whatever."
I've been an Amazon Prime member for a very long time and every month they offer up a selection of preview books and I'm allowed to pick one and read it for free. Until now, nothing has ever interested me enough to take them up on their offer. Well, I'm glad to say, I finally took a chance. Happy Doomsday was well worth reading and the price was certainly right.
One of my favorite observations in the book came courtesy of Lucy...
"Thinking about irony as a force in nature, invisible but inescapable, quietly shaping the arcs of human lives. It was like Occam's razor meets Murphy's law: faced with two equally likely outcomes, the universe was biased toward the most ironic one."
A wonderfully original post-apocalyptic tale from three unique perspectives as they endeavor to jumpstart humanity.
Recommended.
Published by Amazon Digital Services, Happy Doomsday is available in a wide variety of formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.
From the author's bio - David Sosnowski has worked as a gag writer, fireworks salesman, telephone pollster, university writing instructor, and environmental-protection specialist while living in places as different as Washington, DC; Detroit, Michigan; and Fairbanks, Alaska. In a novelistic twist, David currently lives in a Michigan home previously owned by the sixth-grade English teacher who inspired him to write. David is a winner of the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed novels Rapture and Vamped.
Dev Brinkman has Asperger's Syndrome. Think Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang TV series. Smart by severely regressed socially.
Mohammad Haddad (Call me Marcus) is a young Arab-American who has been radicalized.
Lucy Abernathy, a goth chick with a gay boyfriend who gets her pregnant.
The three characters have nothing in common until nearly everyone else dies.
"...at around noon, 12:30 p.m. eastern daylight time on a Monday in early June, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the world—or at least the world of people, at least mostly—had come to an end. Cause of death: whatever."
I've been an Amazon Prime member for a very long time and every month they offer up a selection of preview books and I'm allowed to pick one and read it for free. Until now, nothing has ever interested me enough to take them up on their offer. Well, I'm glad to say, I finally took a chance. Happy Doomsday was well worth reading and the price was certainly right.
One of my favorite observations in the book came courtesy of Lucy...
"Thinking about irony as a force in nature, invisible but inescapable, quietly shaping the arcs of human lives. It was like Occam's razor meets Murphy's law: faced with two equally likely outcomes, the universe was biased toward the most ironic one."
A wonderfully original post-apocalyptic tale from three unique perspectives as they endeavor to jumpstart humanity.
Recommended.
Published by Amazon Digital Services, Happy Doomsday is available in a wide variety of formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.
From the author's bio - David Sosnowski has worked as a gag writer, fireworks salesman, telephone pollster, university writing instructor, and environmental-protection specialist while living in places as different as Washington, DC; Detroit, Michigan; and Fairbanks, Alaska. In a novelistic twist, David currently lives in a Michigan home previously owned by the sixth-grade English teacher who inspired him to write. David is a winner of the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed novels Rapture and Vamped.
Read
April 14, 2019Dev Brinkman has Asperger's Syndrome. Think Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang TV series. Smart by severely regressed socially.
Mohammad Haddad (Call me Marcus) is a young Arab-American who has been radicalized.
Lucy Abernathy, a goth chick with a gay boyfriend who gets her pregnant.
The three characters have nothing in common until nearly everyone else dies.
"...at around noon, 12:30 p.m. eastern daylight time on a Monday in early June, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the world—or at least the world of people, at least mostly—had come to an end. Cause of death: whatever."
I've been an Amazon Prime member for a very long time and every month they offer up a selection of preview books and I'm allowed to pick one and read it for free. Until now, nothing has ever interested me enough to take them up on their offer. Well, I'm glad to say, I finally took a chance. Happy Doomsday was well worth reading and the price was certainly right.
One of my favorite observations in the book came courtesy of Lucy...
"Thinking about irony as a force in nature, invisible but inescapable, quietly shaping the arcs of human lives. It was like Occam's razor meets Murphy's law: faced with two equally likely outcomes, the universe was biased toward the most ironic one."
A wonderfully original post-apocalyptic tale from three unique perspectives as they endeavor to jumpstart humanity.
Recommended.
Published by Amazon Digital Services, Happy Doomsday is available in a wide variety of formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.
From the author's bio - David Sosnowski has worked as a gag writer, fireworks salesman, telephone pollster, university writing instructor, and environmental-protection specialist while living in places as different as Washington, DC; Detroit, Michigan; and Fairbanks, Alaska. In a novelistic twist, David currently lives in a Michigan home previously owned by the sixth-grade English teacher who inspired him to write. David is a winner of the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed novels Rapture and Vamped.
Mohammad Haddad (Call me Marcus) is a young Arab-American who has been radicalized.
Lucy Abernathy, a goth chick with a gay boyfriend who gets her pregnant.
The three characters have nothing in common until nearly everyone else dies.
"...at around noon, 12:30 p.m. eastern daylight time on a Monday in early June, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the world—or at least the world of people, at least mostly—had come to an end. Cause of death: whatever."
I've been an Amazon Prime member for a very long time and every month they offer up a selection of preview books and I'm allowed to pick one and read it for free. Until now, nothing has ever interested me enough to take them up on their offer. Well, I'm glad to say, I finally took a chance. Happy Doomsday was well worth reading and the price was certainly right.
One of my favorite observations in the book came courtesy of Lucy...
"Thinking about irony as a force in nature, invisible but inescapable, quietly shaping the arcs of human lives. It was like Occam's razor meets Murphy's law: faced with two equally likely outcomes, the universe was biased toward the most ironic one."
A wonderfully original post-apocalyptic tale from three unique perspectives as they endeavor to jumpstart humanity.
Recommended.
Published by Amazon Digital Services, Happy Doomsday is available in a wide variety of formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.
From the author's bio - David Sosnowski has worked as a gag writer, fireworks salesman, telephone pollster, university writing instructor, and environmental-protection specialist while living in places as different as Washington, DC; Detroit, Michigan; and Fairbanks, Alaska. In a novelistic twist, David currently lives in a Michigan home previously owned by the sixth-grade English teacher who inspired him to write. David is a winner of the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed novels Rapture and Vamped.
August 23, 2018
If I could give it zero stars I would. Forced myself to finish because of my OCD. There were no surprises or twists that I didn’t see coming from 10 miles away. I was bored, not entertained, and am upset that I wasted a Free Amazon First on this.
April 9, 2024
DNF @48%.
I knew this was over the moment I read the phrase
David Sosnowski, I'm gonna need a 5 page essay from you explaining why, exactly, Really. DM me.
I was having a lot of fun up until that point, I loved the 'realistic' depiction of an apocalypse (what's gonna happen to all the bodies? Utilities with no one doing maintenance? Animals, wild and domestic?) and I loved the three different flavours of surviving the 3 main characters did. I'd (by mistake) read the prequel, Buzz Kill, 4 years ago and enjoyed it, so I've wanted to pick up Happy Doomsday since then. What a disappointment.
I knew this was over the moment I read the phrase
David Sosnowski, I'm gonna need a 5 page essay from you explaining why, exactly, Really. DM me.
I was having a lot of fun up until that point, I loved the 'realistic' depiction of an apocalypse (what's gonna happen to all the bodies? Utilities with no one doing maintenance? Animals, wild and domestic?) and I loved the three different flavours of surviving the 3 main characters did. I'd (by mistake) read the prequel, Buzz Kill, 4 years ago and enjoyed it, so I've wanted to pick up Happy Doomsday since then. What a disappointment.
December 28, 2018
I can think of a few reasons why some would hate this book and I'll start with those:
1) Author's politics are "offensive" as they do not adhere strictly to the dogma of the authoritarian PC new left. One character alludes to a possible link between autism and a specific vaccine. I didn't mind the author's politics. Everyone is wrong about politics except for me. So if I rejected authors for being wrong about politics, I'd never have anything to read. I hope the tongue-in-cheek translates well over the Internet. I fear it does not... oh well.
2) Autism is not treated with extreme sensitivity. I don't think autistic people will be sincerely offended but people who love someone with autism might be offended. The humor does extend in to the realm of stereotyping and false ideas about autistic people. MAJOR SPOILER:
3) The author ruminates and tarries long upon the suffering and deaths of captive pet animals after the apocalypse. Puppies and kittens trapped in their cages with no-one to bring them water... ghastly... too much, to be honest, because it really didn't contribute to the story. It was gratuitous. The author just goes on and on about how awful and agonizing and slow their deaths were. Description of a specific, horrific act of animal cruelty from the book:
The plot moved nicely and kept me up reading late in to the night. There are some genuinely funny parts especially towards the end.
The characters were on the flat side. Rounding them out would have made me care about them a bit more. They weren't especially likable or relatable.
Overall, this was a good book. Be careful trusting the negative reviews. Being anti-vax is a sensitive (very unpopular) position. Many negative reviewers are leaving bad reviews solely on the basis that they disagree with the author's politics. Many of them didn't even read the book.
1) Author's politics are "offensive" as they do not adhere strictly to the dogma of the authoritarian PC new left. One character alludes to a possible link between autism and a specific vaccine. I didn't mind the author's politics. Everyone is wrong about politics except for me. So if I rejected authors for being wrong about politics, I'd never have anything to read. I hope the tongue-in-cheek translates well over the Internet. I fear it does not... oh well.
2) Autism is not treated with extreme sensitivity. I don't think autistic people will be sincerely offended but people who love someone with autism might be offended. The humor does extend in to the realm of stereotyping and false ideas about autistic people. MAJOR SPOILER:
3) The author ruminates and tarries long upon the suffering and deaths of captive pet animals after the apocalypse. Puppies and kittens trapped in their cages with no-one to bring them water... ghastly... too much, to be honest, because it really didn't contribute to the story. It was gratuitous. The author just goes on and on about how awful and agonizing and slow their deaths were. Description of a specific, horrific act of animal cruelty from the book:
The plot moved nicely and kept me up reading late in to the night. There are some genuinely funny parts especially towards the end.
The characters were on the flat side. Rounding them out would have made me care about them a bit more. They weren't especially likable or relatable.
Overall, this was a good book. Be careful trusting the negative reviews. Being anti-vax is a sensitive (very unpopular) position. Many negative reviewers are leaving bad reviews solely on the basis that they disagree with the author's politics. Many of them didn't even read the book.
August 8, 2018
Fairly heavy handed, tried too hard to be topical / reflect the present. Entertaining (pulp fiction) read, but practically fetishizes gore
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 6, 2018
Not a YA book, but about three teens in post apocalyptic America. Funny and grim, central character on Asperger spectrum. No explanation for EOC, but well told story for first 3/4 though it dragged in a few places, but seemed rushed after that. The POV from Dev was very well imagined, but somewhat less so from the other two teens. Probably a realistic telling of how suicidal teens would react in these circumstances. One of the better reads from kindle first. (August selection)
August 6, 2018
I have to say, this book was very funny. It's not like it was meant to be funny (well, maybe it was, what with all the references to various pop culture items), but I found myself laughing out loud many many times when reading this book. So, yes, as serious as the topic seems to be (I mean, really, the end of the world is about as severe a topic as you can get, but darnit, this one's just too funny.
Very enjoyable, regardless of the topic. Great read.
Very enjoyable, regardless of the topic. Great read.
August 8, 2018
Ok, but two goofs
I don't mind the unlikely premise; in fact it was pretty creative. But there were two ridiculously low possibility (and lazy) plot items along the way that just ticked me off.
If you like creative verbing and Trump dumping you might give it another star.
I don't mind the unlikely premise; in fact it was pretty creative. But there were two ridiculously low possibility (and lazy) plot items along the way that just ticked me off.
If you like creative verbing and Trump dumping you might give it another star.
August 8, 2018
This was my Kindle first choice, and it was a good one. Not as fast-reading as most books, but it kept me turning the pages.
The depiction of a post-apocalyptic world seems more realistic than some, in that it deals with the stench from all those dead bodies, the abandoned pets who survived the "whatever it was," and the wild animals run amok. Some of the graphic descriptions might bother some readers, and some might not like the way the left-behind pets are handled.
The story focuses on three teenagers, one of whom has Asperger's syndrome. How these three survive handle the end of the world as they know it, first separately, and then together, is the gist of the story.
Overall, the writing in this book is stellar. I don't know that weaving comments about current politicians was a particularly good idea, though. Regardless of one's political leanings, the time will come when readers won't have a clue about the references, which limits the book's effective longevity. I did NOT like the open ending or the fact that the "whatever it was" that killed so many people is never explained. We're just supposed to accept that this "thing" happened out of the blue and that these three teenagers survived.
Overall, a bizarre and enjoyable read. Three and a half stars, rounded up to four.
The depiction of a post-apocalyptic world seems more realistic than some, in that it deals with the stench from all those dead bodies, the abandoned pets who survived the "whatever it was," and the wild animals run amok. Some of the graphic descriptions might bother some readers, and some might not like the way the left-behind pets are handled.
The story focuses on three teenagers, one of whom has Asperger's syndrome. How these three survive handle the end of the world as they know it, first separately, and then together, is the gist of the story.
Overall, the writing in this book is stellar. I don't know that weaving comments about current politicians was a particularly good idea, though. Regardless of one's political leanings, the time will come when readers won't have a clue about the references, which limits the book's effective longevity. I did NOT like the open ending or the fact that the "whatever it was" that killed so many people is never explained. We're just supposed to accept that this "thing" happened out of the blue and that these three teenagers survived.
Overall, a bizarre and enjoyable read. Three and a half stars, rounded up to four.
January 12, 2019
A different perspective of an apocalyptic world
I really enjoyed the view point of this apocalyptic world. In other movies and books, many details are left out but in this novel, the author dives into things not usually thought about. The smell of the left-over bodies, the of vegetation, the wildlife, how the local water resources change and the overall world outside of a “norm”.
I like how Dev was wrote and how his character was created. I have a teenage son with Aspergers and Dev’s character and where he is at on the spectrum is very relatable to my life with my son.
I am very disappointed in the ending. I feel as though I have come along on this journey, become involved in the character’s life, to have ZERO closure. Seriously?!? Chapters and chapters are spent describing Lucy and Marcus’s road trip and Dev building Devonshire but then you leave the ending as “Well....here we go!” What?!?
I really enjoyed the view point of this apocalyptic world. In other movies and books, many details are left out but in this novel, the author dives into things not usually thought about. The smell of the left-over bodies, the of vegetation, the wildlife, how the local water resources change and the overall world outside of a “norm”.
I like how Dev was wrote and how his character was created. I have a teenage son with Aspergers and Dev’s character and where he is at on the spectrum is very relatable to my life with my son.
I am very disappointed in the ending. I feel as though I have come along on this journey, become involved in the character’s life, to have ZERO closure. Seriously?!? Chapters and chapters are spent describing Lucy and Marcus’s road trip and Dev building Devonshire but then you leave the ending as “Well....here we go!” What?!?
September 5, 2018
Great read
I really liked this read. Parts were terrifying and others hopeful. The characters were great and I am sorry that it ended. Always a good thing in a book. I won't bore you with details or spoilers, you've probably read enough of them by now, but will end with this, it's one of the better books I have read lately.
I really liked this read. Parts were terrifying and others hopeful. The characters were great and I am sorry that it ended. Always a good thing in a book. I won't bore you with details or spoilers, you've probably read enough of them by now, but will end with this, it's one of the better books I have read lately.
August 4, 2018
Great read!
I loved the authors take on apocalypse. The things that happened that I haven’t seen mentioned in other apocalyptic books was a great touch. Seemed very accurate, but still entertaining!
I loved the authors take on apocalypse. The things that happened that I haven’t seen mentioned in other apocalyptic books was a great touch. Seemed very accurate, but still entertaining!
August 27, 2019
This is my second read through of this book and I liked it more the second time. Sosnowski is fantastically adept at character development and you really find yourself caring for the small cast of characters.
Just read it .
Just read it .
August 3, 2018
Really enjoyed it but the ending was a bit too open for me.
August 4, 2018
Didn't Want It To End
I just hope there will be a second book with Dev, Lucy, and OK. They are so real to me.
I just hope there will be a second book with Dev, Lucy, and OK. They are so real to me.
September 15, 2018
This is what happens when a book really, really, really fails your expectations at every turn.
And I wish it was in a good way.
But it’s not. Far from it.
The premise is amazing: everyone, besides suicidal teenagers ready to commit suicide, is dead. Dead, dead, dead.
But they’re not gone. No, they just lie there, wherever they’d fallen during the whatever-happened, and mostly just stink up the place.
And I’m still trying to figure out what the rest of it was supposed to mean.
In this story, we follow three characters:
Dev: he has Asperger’s, but has never been taken to a real doctor for this. He’s on the spectrum, and most of the time, I wanted to like him. I really did.
Marcus: Previously, he was Mohammad, or just Mo for short, and he was the one that I, unexpectedly, almost fell in love with. But not completely.
The girl: I had to actually go back and read her name because I kept thinking Lily. It’s actually Lucy. Not that her name matters. I didn’t like Lucy, and I wanted to. I really did.
Be warned: EVERYTHING BELOW IS A SPOILER FOR THE BOOK.
I understand that not all books are supposed to take a serious look at the Apocalypse. I understand that, for better or worse, this book was supposed to be a parody of sorts to all other books in the genre. I went into this book expecting to laugh. I didn't, not even at the Babyhands joke. Yeah, yeah, we all live in fear that Trump might just do something really stupid one day that will have very bad consequences, but couldn't you have come up with something better?
A book might be a parody of a genre, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. It doesn’t mean it did a good job at it.
Because it didn’t.
And I think the author never intended to make it good.
I don't know if he intended to make it the WORST PRO-LIFE propaganda I've ever read, but there you go.
That's what we have.
My advice to anyone even considering this book: don't bother. It just doesn't deliver.
And I wish it was in a good way.
But it’s not. Far from it.
The premise is amazing: everyone, besides suicidal teenagers ready to commit suicide, is dead. Dead, dead, dead.
But they’re not gone. No, they just lie there, wherever they’d fallen during the whatever-happened, and mostly just stink up the place.
And I’m still trying to figure out what the rest of it was supposed to mean.
In this story, we follow three characters:
Dev: he has Asperger’s, but has never been taken to a real doctor for this. He’s on the spectrum, and most of the time, I wanted to like him. I really did.
Marcus: Previously, he was Mohammad, or just Mo for short, and he was the one that I, unexpectedly, almost fell in love with. But not completely.
The girl: I had to actually go back and read her name because I kept thinking Lily. It’s actually Lucy. Not that her name matters. I didn’t like Lucy, and I wanted to. I really did.
Be warned: EVERYTHING BELOW IS A SPOILER FOR THE BOOK.
I understand that not all books are supposed to take a serious look at the Apocalypse. I understand that, for better or worse, this book was supposed to be a parody of sorts to all other books in the genre. I went into this book expecting to laugh. I didn't, not even at the Babyhands joke. Yeah, yeah, we all live in fear that Trump might just do something really stupid one day that will have very bad consequences, but couldn't you have come up with something better?
A book might be a parody of a genre, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. It doesn’t mean it did a good job at it.
Because it didn’t.
And I think the author never intended to make it good.
I don't know if he intended to make it the WORST PRO-LIFE propaganda I've ever read, but there you go.
That's what we have.
My advice to anyone even considering this book: don't bother. It just doesn't deliver.
April 3, 2024
I got this for free from the Kindle First (or whatever it's called now) program where Amazon Prime members get a free book each month.
It's been a while since I disliked a book a much as I disliked this one. I kept reading in hopes of redemption because that has happened once or twice. But, alas, it was not meant to be.
There are 2 reasons I didn't like this book. 1) I hated the narrative style. I don't know how to describe it other than "sarcastically conversational". It was also weirdly political in points - which doesn't mean I disagreed with the political points. I often found myself either in agreement or at least indifferent. But I just hated the way it was done.
2) Despite directly referencing Chekov's Gun in the book, I feel like the author failed at this - or at least failed at a related narrative trope. We start the book in media res. Our first protagonist (there are three) wakes up after said doomsday event. He finds 2 humans in front of his house and he is deciding whether to shoot them. Cut to 1 year prior. We get to see the characters in the days/months leading up to the doomsday event. So far, so good. We can get to know the characters and have some personal stakes in their stories. But here's where it went off the rails for me: in a book that is (in the PDF I converted it to) 400-ish pages, we don't get back to that first scene until around page 380! We spend almost the entire book getting to that point. I feel like the author made a promise to me and then just about broke that promise. After the characters meet up, the next few chapters each jump forward in time, ending 4 years later. I would have had such a much better time reading the book if we just never had the prologue. If we were just following 3 characters and I wasn't waiting almost the whole book to see if one of them gets shot, I would still have had the horrible narration (at least to my sensibilities), but not that PLUS the narrative tension.
This might be a book that works well for you, but I found it excruciating. At one point I was doing anything else with my reading time EXCEPT reading this book. I dreaded coming back to it. But I wanted to give it a chance at redemption. At least I didn't pay for it.
It's been a while since I disliked a book a much as I disliked this one. I kept reading in hopes of redemption because that has happened once or twice. But, alas, it was not meant to be.
There are 2 reasons I didn't like this book. 1) I hated the narrative style. I don't know how to describe it other than "sarcastically conversational". It was also weirdly political in points - which doesn't mean I disagreed with the political points. I often found myself either in agreement or at least indifferent. But I just hated the way it was done.
2) Despite directly referencing Chekov's Gun in the book, I feel like the author failed at this - or at least failed at a related narrative trope. We start the book in media res. Our first protagonist (there are three) wakes up after said doomsday event. He finds 2 humans in front of his house and he is deciding whether to shoot them. Cut to 1 year prior. We get to see the characters in the days/months leading up to the doomsday event. So far, so good. We can get to know the characters and have some personal stakes in their stories. But here's where it went off the rails for me: in a book that is (in the PDF I converted it to) 400-ish pages, we don't get back to that first scene until around page 380! We spend almost the entire book getting to that point. I feel like the author made a promise to me and then just about broke that promise. After the characters meet up, the next few chapters each jump forward in time, ending 4 years later. I would have had such a much better time reading the book if we just never had the prologue. If we were just following 3 characters and I wasn't waiting almost the whole book to see if one of them gets shot, I would still have had the horrible narration (at least to my sensibilities), but not that PLUS the narrative tension.
This might be a book that works well for you, but I found it excruciating. At one point I was doing anything else with my reading time EXCEPT reading this book. I dreaded coming back to it. But I wanted to give it a chance at redemption. At least I didn't pay for it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 437 reviews