Sixteen Different Flavours of Hell

by David Thorne

An all new adventure featuring Carl the telepathic cow and his best friend Steven, a sentient packet of chewing gum. Join them as they swim in shark-infested creeks, base jump from the world’s tallest hill, and spend the night in an abandoned house said to be haunted by Taylor Swift.

"A solid belly laugh at every page turn. Outrageously funny."
The Sydney Morning Herald

"This may be the best book about paddleboards and telepathic cows ever written."
John Oliver

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Comedy

154 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 16, 2020

About the author

David Thorne is an Australian humourist, satirist, Internet personality and New York Times best-selling author. His work has been featured on the BBC, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Thorne gained public recognition in late 2008 for an email exchange in which he attempts to pay an overdue bill with a drawing of a seven-legged spider. The exchange spread virally via email and social networking sites, leading to a surge of visitors to his website 27b/6 (27bslash6). 27b/6 features a collection of humorous emails and articles from Thorne's life. These and additional essays appear in Thorne's book, The Internet is a Playground. Published by Penguin Group and released on 28 April 2011, the book debuted at number four on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Reviews

[jv poore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear Fellow Readers,
Bits from SIXTEEN DIFFERENT FLAVOURS OF HELL just keep popping into my head and I feel as if I would be remiss if I did not make you aware of that. However, I cannot be sure if I'm meaning it as a teaser, or maybe more of a warning....


************* ************** ************* ***************
I don't think I'll ever get tired of David Thorne.

Sixteen Different Flavours of Hell is a bit different than previous books. This one seems more linear, with anecdotes broken by work memos from 2020. It is odd and slightly humbling, in an eerie way, to read about COVID-19 in what was real-time.

[Fred Nanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Thorne is an entertaining author and this new book is once more very funny.

This year we get more societal and political comments than usual, because well this is 2020 after all, but it’s still mainly anecdotes, emails and jokes. Things get pretty serious and emotional at the end and that’s where you see how good a writer Thorne is.

He will probably run out of fun material in the near future but until then I’ll keep buying the books.
Hopefully he’ll turn to complete fiction afterwards...

[Shane · Rating 2 out of 5]

As in his other books, the funniest parts were the work emails (and the Foreward). Outside of that, there was anti-Trump political commentary, some reflections of Covid, some rehashing of old material and an emotional finish.

I did find this quote unintentionally hilarious due to its hypocrisy...
"It could be argued that those without a moral compass are the only ones who need written directions on how to act and treat others, but I won't get into that."
David's grandmother may have been an awful person, but (based solely on his books, which presumably are exaggerated) David himself could do with some written directions on how to treat others.

[Faye-Linn Van Dillen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leest als een lange morbide aflevering van The Office

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

The famous 27slashb6 continues with hilarious emails and some old stuff put together in a new way. Something to look forward to every year for those of us who have a sick dark humor. Thorne takes on Covid using his co-workers and reminisces on the before times in the office like robot desk wars and signing up two certain women into a karate class. Mattress salesmen are abused, facebook friends are unfriended, sharks don’t exist, fat goth girls are shamed.

[Kimmy C · Rating 4 out of 5]

As is expected with David Thorne’s books, humourously scripted slices of life with the odd, unexpected tender touch. He’s the sort of writer who invokes the Author Paradox - you’d love to meet them because it would be such an amusing conversation, however you’d never meet them for fear you’d wind up in a book as a poorly disguised caricature of yourself. 3.75 stars rounded up.

[Thiago d'Evecque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, dark, and inconvenient as usual. Probably the closest thing to a fiction novel that we'll get from David.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um pouco de material repetido (apesar de serem estórias boas e emocionantes) mas num ano de pandemia, dá pra relevar um pouco. David Thorne é um dos autores que, toda vez que lançar algo, eu vou comprar.

[Mani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book. (not by David's definition of using the word awesome lol).
I rarely laugh out when reading a book, but this one was super funny. Surely not for everyone, you'd enjoy it if you are a fan of DT's previous works or his blog.

Cheers to many more.

[aleeshuschin · Rating 3 out of 5]

what can i say he's a funny man

[Megan Shiffler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a different format to his other books, more like one big story rather than short stories, but made up of short stories with COVID-19 as an underlying theme. Trump supporters will probably give this book a bad rating because there's definitely more political jabs in this book than his other books. I would give this book a 4.5 rather than a 5 because it's shorter than his other books but it's very funny.

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Politically incorrect? Sometimes. Hilarious? Always.

[Jim McCulloch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deeper message for a darker year.

Mr. Thorne has, in this book, cut through the politicisation of American Coronavirus response. He has shown both sides of divide and used his usual humour and in-depth personal analysis to do so, while keeping an overarching narrative that finally plays out towards the end of the book.

My favourite book by David Thorne. Looking forward to the next.

[Max Fierke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I got to the last section of the book, I was expecting to write something about it being “not his best” and “worth it for the updates on the unusual recurring characters”, but I’m not sure that’s exactly fair after finishing it. I would maybe rate it as a 3/5 for someone who hasn’t read a David Throne book before and lacks a lot of the context explored in earlier books, but a 4/5 for anyone who has.

This is not a normal David Thorne book about not-a-normal year. There are funny parts, of course, but they’re used more as small reliefs from a through-line of the growing pandemic, grief, and loss. There are a few “yikes” passages, as well, where you would have hoped an editor would have stepped in. Overall, the normally misanthropic Australian funnyman comes off more as someone just trying to cope through the pandemic & personal loss, while revealing a hidden care for many of the humans he’s previously made subject to his antics in prior writings.

The last two stories, one a flashback to his youth, the other more recent, cap off a book that serves more as an exploration of using humor to deal with a lifetime of trauma and loss, than a humorous endeavor itself.

[Mike Dominic · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Thorne's books are epics of pathos and humanity wrapped up sarcasm and font jokes. If Kafka live today and worked in a cubicle farm, was not Russian and...you know what, the metaphor is not extending well, and that sentence was going nowhere. Suffice to say, Thorne's writing swings from absurd comedy to personal pain very quickly and without warning. One does not expect to approach a book featuring a cover with a paddleboarding cow and encounter sudden tragedy encapsulated in a chocolate bunny. Although, having read every one of his books up to now, maybe I should know better.

Look...just read the book. You'll get it.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

The parts of this book that take place in 2020 are an amazingly accurate history of the mundane, mind-numbingly boring, infuriating and sudden events that occurred over that year; transitioning into work-from-home and stuck in quarantine and then just living in that space. And while I agree that he reused, I think verbatim, parts of his other book in regards to Simon's funeral, by the end it made sense as he did focus more on Jennifer and events that happened at that time as they pertained to her.

I look forward to buying each new book when they come out once a year. And I like the transition into more of essays with a common theme (even though they diverge quite a bit).

[Colin Murtagh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thorne is one of those odd writer who are sometimes really funny, and other times a bit cringe worthy. This though is a different side to him.
Still portrayed as a slice of life in his design office, it has a more sombre, and a little more of a grown up feel to it. While some of it is duplicated from earlier works, the newer stuff, especially the plot twist near the end, shows him in virtually a new light. Away from the robot toys, the fat shaming goth girls, the winding up the office staff, there's actually a hidden depth to him, brought out by the pandemic. Be interesting to see if he continues down this path, or if he goes back to his old ways next time round

[Amanda MacKinnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comedy or Therapy?

David Thorne's dry (even: wry) humour is always snigger worthy, with slight hints, like acne scars, of childhood memories bubbling to the surface. This book, with COVID19 hanging over it like several missed haircuts, seems more like sitting in on a Johari therapy session, revisiting some of those moments which have pockmarked David's psyche as well as evaluating himself in an abstract sense through his family, friends, workmates and adversaries (a few fall into more than one category). A little bit more than tossed aside humour..

[Jean-Sébastien Goulet · Rating 4 out of 5]

That one had some very funny moments as expected, but the end was a bit depressing (and funny at the same time).

It's a collection of short stories with a bunch of wild and funny tangents here and there. He gets a bit political and has some reflections on what happened during the pandemic in this one.

It still was what you'd expect from David Thorne and I'd recommend it to any fan of his work.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark book for a dark year.

I've written before that David's books make me cry but usually it's from sheer laughter. This one has a bit of a darker theme and some of the content from previous books was used to help maintain that theme, but it's definitely still good for a few laughs.

[Vasili Sviridov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nobody can live in USA for 10 years and escape politics. It tints everything...

This book is more partisan and bitter, it has its moments, but overall it seems more malicious and less of "just poking fun at stupid people". Now it's "I proclaim these people stupid and now I mock them".

Oh well, it's been a stressful year and democrats need to laugh too...

[Karrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for 2021. A MUST READ!

Sharing this book with everyone I know with any sense because it HAS been a “morbid” year and we’ve lost too many loved ones. I can’t deal with the fools anymore and this book was perfect.

Almost perfect. Please spell BREATHE correctly. “Breath” is just a breath you take when you see sheep memes.

[Claire Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simultaneously the funniest and saddest book about this year. Read it through in one sitting and planning on passing it along to several friends. Thorne blurs the line between reality and fiction in a way that I never know how much is true, but it mades a damn good story.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent David Thorne work! Really great to get this just as 2020 is coming to an end and have a comedic way to reflect back on the year. Highly recommend for a great chuckle throughout.

[Ally Philp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never fails to deliver

What can I say, I've never disliked anything he's written . This is no exception. I giggle like a nutcase for a solid few hours, while I binge read.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little different than Thorne's previous books but in a good way. Still outrageously over the top funny commentary but a little more feeling than previous books.

[Reggie Malz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all of his books... hilarious!

[Leanne Zerby lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite possibly the funniest book I’ve ever read.

[David Streb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as snarky as the last book of his that I read. Genuinely funny most of the time. I’m glad I got our library to buy this, and now they’re the only library in the region that has it!

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a quick and funny read. Randomly chosen from kindle unlimited, perhaps should have read some of the earlier books as I was initially confused by the satirical style.