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Go, Mutants!
Larry Doyle, the author of I Love You, Beth Cooper , returns with Go, Mutants! , a hilariously outrageous novel of teenage angst and restlessness, populated with heroes and villains straight out of the classic sci-fi and teen movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Soon to be a major motion picture from Universal Studios, Larry Doyle’s Go, Mutants! is the funniest, most original bit of genre-bending since Pride, Prejudice and Zombies . This story of alien high school rebels without a cause is sure to bring out the unabashed B-movie fan in everyone.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
21 people are currently reading
322 people want to read
About the author
Larry Doyle
13 books71 followersLarry Doyle's first novel, I Love You, Beth Cooper, won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor.
His second novel, Go, Mutants!, was named one of the best novels of 2010 by the Washington Post.
Deliriously Happy, a 2011 collection of humor pieces from the New Yorker and elsewhere, didn't win any awards but some people liked it.
The Next One, an e-booklet was released in 2017. It's fate has yet to be determined.
Larry Doyle was a writer and producer of The Simpsons for four years; he wrote the films Duplex, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and I Love You, Beth Cooper. He also wrote a bunch of Beavis and Buttheads, a couple Rugrats and Daria.
He was an editor at the National Lampoon, SPY, and New York, and wrote for Esquire, Rolling Stone, Time and other magazines, which were things made out of paper.
More information, mostly reliable, is available at larrydoyle.com
His second novel, Go, Mutants!, was named one of the best novels of 2010 by the Washington Post.
Deliriously Happy, a 2011 collection of humor pieces from the New Yorker and elsewhere, didn't win any awards but some people liked it.
The Next One, an e-booklet was released in 2017. It's fate has yet to be determined.
Larry Doyle was a writer and producer of The Simpsons for four years; he wrote the films Duplex, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and I Love You, Beth Cooper. He also wrote a bunch of Beavis and Buttheads, a couple Rugrats and Daria.
He was an editor at the National Lampoon, SPY, and New York, and wrote for Esquire, Rolling Stone, Time and other magazines, which were things made out of paper.
More information, mostly reliable, is available at larrydoyle.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
July 25, 2010
Reading the other reviews of Larry Doyle's follow up to I Love You, Beth Cooper got me thinking two things:
1. Why the hell aren't I getting free books from Good Reads?
2. Have these people never read sci-fi before? Many of them complain that the first 75 pages or so are slow going, that he's taking forever to set up the characters and the setting. Helloooo, he's creating an alternate universe here. God may have done it in 6 or 5 days (depending on your religion) but in a book it takes time. And I found those pages the most enjoyable of all. When the plot picks up, it becomes just that - plot. Character and setting takes something of a back seat, altho there are lots of jokes about Nixon, Kissinger, Kennedy, Nancy Reagan, et al, later on.
Ultimately, it's not as affecting a book as Beth Cooper, but I still enjoyed it. Doyle's humor is less slapstick and more allusionary, which I appreciate. And he obviously loves '50s monster movies as much as he loved '80s teen movies (the structure for Beth Cooper). A light read, but still a fun read.
1. Why the hell aren't I getting free books from Good Reads?
2. Have these people never read sci-fi before? Many of them complain that the first 75 pages or so are slow going, that he's taking forever to set up the characters and the setting. Helloooo, he's creating an alternate universe here. God may have done it in 6 or 5 days (depending on your religion) but in a book it takes time. And I found those pages the most enjoyable of all. When the plot picks up, it becomes just that - plot. Character and setting takes something of a back seat, altho there are lots of jokes about Nixon, Kissinger, Kennedy, Nancy Reagan, et al, later on.
Ultimately, it's not as affecting a book as Beth Cooper, but I still enjoyed it. Doyle's humor is less slapstick and more allusionary, which I appreciate. And he obviously loves '50s monster movies as much as he loved '80s teen movies (the structure for Beth Cooper). A light read, but still a fun read.
January 24, 2019
A pastiche of 50s sci-fi and timeless deadpan sarcasm. Style over story, but Oh, what style. There were times while reading I just burst out laughing. Clever without being too twee, it's all the good parts of of a Wes Anderson movie. Goes down easily and just as easily forgettable once you finish.
There are worse things you could read...
There are worse things you could read...
August 18, 2010
I received Go, Mutants! by Larry Doyle as an advanced readers’ copy.
Having never read anything by Larry Doyle before, but having heard his name quite often, I was so happy to get Go, Mutants! in the mail. On top of that, it has the theme of B-movies - sci-fi/horror specifically - of which I spent a scary amount of time watching. Yes, I am one of those people who goes to Pathmark and browses through the $1 movie section. Yes, you can find real winners there!
A brief summary of the novel: J!m is the son of the alien who made First Contact during the middle of the ‘51 World Series. He goes to Manhattan High School, which is a not-so-integrated mix of mutants and humans. You’ll meet Russ and Rusty Ford; Johnny, the son of King Kong; Jelly Sweeney, gelatinous mass in the shape of the stereotypical fat kid; and Marie Rand, daughter of a mad scientist and the girl who wants to be Class President to make the not-so-integration much more integrated.
I found, in my search of the author, that he wrote a lot of TV/Movie scripts including The Simpsons. That humor I can see in every page of this book. I also learned the novel will be filmed, and in my mind’s eye, it would be better animated. There were cameos of characters that came in and out of the story that you could just see as the brief glimpses on a TV show that serves up laughter.
My initial reaction was that this is a book perfect for teenaged boys. Especially those in that awkward age of high school. You know what I’m talking about; what every teenager complains their way through (and as someone who is in her early twenties, I can related). It’s a sexed up book, but as we’re in J!m’s POV, what stereotypical teenaged boy isn’t sexed up? It comes with the hormones.
This, though, makes the pacing suffer. The beginning of the book was slow because we have to learn about J!m (better known as just Jim because that ! is subsonic) and his past and his feelings. World building a-plenty here, and necessarily as this is an alternate 1962. You will see people you’ve learned about in school, just a bit twisted.
The beginning is akin to a mutated version of The Catcher in the Rye but since we’re not in J!m’s first-person POV, we’re distanced a bit. We go to school dances, witness the bullying, and even see how his mother simultaneously gets on his nerves and comforts him.
The end of the book, however, speeds through in a high action paced B-movie-like plot. I couldn’t put it down, even in the slow part, but especially after the Intermission. The way things happen is a domino effect into the ending that satisfies everything I wanted to happen to everyone by the end of the novel. The ending is one of those things that make you pause and go, “Wait? Huh?” which is never a bad thing.
One thing I liked especially was the use of songs in the novel. You’ll have fun recognizing the original tunes and seeing just where they are now that aliens and mutants have invaded the world. I also enjoyed the vocabulary in the novel. It’s a breath of fresh air to see words fitting of the SATs used in a novel. Too many novels I’ve read use more common words and I think it’s just more educational to read something which makes you crack the spine on the dictionary. Especially if I don’t have to read much fiction from the 18th century to do so.
There is one thing I’m a bit torn about. Some teenage matters that could be considered series are brought up, but brushed over with humor or associated with people a teenager would never want to be like in a million years. On one hand, I think addressing these issues with humor could be a good way of saying, “See? These aren’t even conceivable except to laugh at so don’t do it.” On the other hand, some of these things can be serious problems and may end up hurting someone. As this is a humor book, I didn’t let it detract too much from my enjoyment.
So after this incredibly long review, I will say that I enjoyed the book. While sometimes I was a bit confused - mainly when it was a lot of world building or in a few spots, when the plot made me blink - I kept reading until the end and was honestly interested in what happened to J!m and his friends. I give this book a 3/5.
Having never read anything by Larry Doyle before, but having heard his name quite often, I was so happy to get Go, Mutants! in the mail. On top of that, it has the theme of B-movies - sci-fi/horror specifically - of which I spent a scary amount of time watching. Yes, I am one of those people who goes to Pathmark and browses through the $1 movie section. Yes, you can find real winners there!
A brief summary of the novel: J!m is the son of the alien who made First Contact during the middle of the ‘51 World Series. He goes to Manhattan High School, which is a not-so-integrated mix of mutants and humans. You’ll meet Russ and Rusty Ford; Johnny, the son of King Kong; Jelly Sweeney, gelatinous mass in the shape of the stereotypical fat kid; and Marie Rand, daughter of a mad scientist and the girl who wants to be Class President to make the not-so-integration much more integrated.
I found, in my search of the author, that he wrote a lot of TV/Movie scripts including The Simpsons. That humor I can see in every page of this book. I also learned the novel will be filmed, and in my mind’s eye, it would be better animated. There were cameos of characters that came in and out of the story that you could just see as the brief glimpses on a TV show that serves up laughter.
My initial reaction was that this is a book perfect for teenaged boys. Especially those in that awkward age of high school. You know what I’m talking about; what every teenager complains their way through (and as someone who is in her early twenties, I can related). It’s a sexed up book, but as we’re in J!m’s POV, what stereotypical teenaged boy isn’t sexed up? It comes with the hormones.
This, though, makes the pacing suffer. The beginning of the book was slow because we have to learn about J!m (better known as just Jim because that ! is subsonic) and his past and his feelings. World building a-plenty here, and necessarily as this is an alternate 1962. You will see people you’ve learned about in school, just a bit twisted.
The beginning is akin to a mutated version of The Catcher in the Rye but since we’re not in J!m’s first-person POV, we’re distanced a bit. We go to school dances, witness the bullying, and even see how his mother simultaneously gets on his nerves and comforts him.
The end of the book, however, speeds through in a high action paced B-movie-like plot. I couldn’t put it down, even in the slow part, but especially after the Intermission. The way things happen is a domino effect into the ending that satisfies everything I wanted to happen to everyone by the end of the novel. The ending is one of those things that make you pause and go, “Wait? Huh?” which is never a bad thing.
One thing I liked especially was the use of songs in the novel. You’ll have fun recognizing the original tunes and seeing just where they are now that aliens and mutants have invaded the world. I also enjoyed the vocabulary in the novel. It’s a breath of fresh air to see words fitting of the SATs used in a novel. Too many novels I’ve read use more common words and I think it’s just more educational to read something which makes you crack the spine on the dictionary. Especially if I don’t have to read much fiction from the 18th century to do so.
There is one thing I’m a bit torn about. Some teenage matters that could be considered series are brought up, but brushed over with humor or associated with people a teenager would never want to be like in a million years. On one hand, I think addressing these issues with humor could be a good way of saying, “See? These aren’t even conceivable except to laugh at so don’t do it.” On the other hand, some of these things can be serious problems and may end up hurting someone. As this is a humor book, I didn’t let it detract too much from my enjoyment.
So after this incredibly long review, I will say that I enjoyed the book. While sometimes I was a bit confused - mainly when it was a lot of world building or in a few spots, when the plot made me blink - I kept reading until the end and was honestly interested in what happened to J!m and his friends. I give this book a 3/5.
May 20, 2012
Like Doyle's previous novel, I LOVE YOU BETH COOPER, GO MUTANTS contains a mind-boggling number of jokes, several per page. So much of the humor is understated that I purposely had to slow down my reading to make sure I didn't miss anything.
I'm a horror geek but not really a SF geek, so I'm sure there are plenty of references I didn't get, and I can't honestly say that I was truly invested in the story...but as a pure comedy novel, it works brilliantly.
I'm a horror geek but not really a SF geek, so I'm sure there are plenty of references I didn't get, and I can't honestly say that I was truly invested in the story...but as a pure comedy novel, it works brilliantly.
May 21, 2010
The plot is a mashup of 1950s and 60s teen culture and classic science fiction/monster movies, but that's not really the point. In fact, the plot is kind of a mess, predictable in spots, jumbled in others. The opening exposition--which reveals a world which diverged from the historical timeline as we know it when aliens revealed themselves, arriving at the 1951 World Series--is a bit too slow to develop, making the first 75 pages or so confusing. And I'm still not quite sure what happened at the end.
What does work, however, is the humor. Doyle uses his setting--a la Pratchett or Douglas Adams--as a starting point for satire. He gleefully sends up a variety of America's paranoias and foibles, our xenophobia, our schools and politics, and in particular, our mating rituals, along the way. It's good fun whenever the muddled plot doesn't get in the way.
What does work, however, is the humor. Doyle uses his setting--a la Pratchett or Douglas Adams--as a starting point for satire. He gleefully sends up a variety of America's paranoias and foibles, our xenophobia, our schools and politics, and in particular, our mating rituals, along the way. It's good fun whenever the muddled plot doesn't get in the way.
August 4, 2012
Think your teenage years were awkward? Try being J!m. He is a blue mutant who has a mother that resembles a cat, and a father who he has never known, yet is rumored to have "come in peace" years ago, then waged war against the planet. The story does a great job at capturing the difficulties of being a teenager, while mixing in your typical sci-fi/horror from the 50s, humor, and action. Overall, a fun, yet heartfelt story that makes you really root for J!m.
June 20, 2010
Way more fun than my last trip to the drive-in.
Read
February 16, 2025b-movie pastiche w/ healthy pinch of t-pynch
July 10, 2010
Note: This review is based on an uncorrected proof. Changes may have taken place in the published copy.
This was a very slow read at first. It wasn't until a hundred or so pages in that I really got a feel for the characters and their relationships. Happily enough, I was able to sit down and finish the last hundred or so pages in a single go, a sign that this was definitely worth reading.
I was attracted to this book by the promise of a mixing of 50's and 60's schlock horror and sci-fi B-movies with a tale of high-school teenage angst and a dash of rock and roll, and that's just what I got. I don't know if this is being marketed as a YA novel, but I think a lot of it might go over their heads, to be honest, unless they're really into Mystery Science Theater. This is definitely a novel for adults to enjoy. There's lots of humor, and TONS of cameos, both generic tropes and all-too-specific references (Old Man Mxyzptlk? really?)
The one downside of this novel is that the writing is often a little too clever for its own good. I have never in my life complained aloud about the overabundance of zeugmas in a work. Numerous turns of phrase are overwrought to the point of being confusing. Sometimes, it feels like the author was trying too hard.
That said, there are numerous flashes of pure brilliance (notably, the chapter dealing with religion's reaction to the alien invasion, and the Bully's Code of Conduect). With a lot of wit, a good sense of the fantastic, and a handle on what it's like to be a teen, the author wraps it all up in a very charming movie-based presentation. And that ending: vat a tweest!
This work was an advanced reader copy received as part of the Goodreads First Reads program.
This was a very slow read at first. It wasn't until a hundred or so pages in that I really got a feel for the characters and their relationships. Happily enough, I was able to sit down and finish the last hundred or so pages in a single go, a sign that this was definitely worth reading.
I was attracted to this book by the promise of a mixing of 50's and 60's schlock horror and sci-fi B-movies with a tale of high-school teenage angst and a dash of rock and roll, and that's just what I got. I don't know if this is being marketed as a YA novel, but I think a lot of it might go over their heads, to be honest, unless they're really into Mystery Science Theater. This is definitely a novel for adults to enjoy. There's lots of humor, and TONS of cameos, both generic tropes and all-too-specific references (Old Man Mxyzptlk? really?)
The one downside of this novel is that the writing is often a little too clever for its own good. I have never in my life complained aloud about the overabundance of zeugmas in a work. Numerous turns of phrase are overwrought to the point of being confusing. Sometimes, it feels like the author was trying too hard.
That said, there are numerous flashes of pure brilliance (notably, the chapter dealing with religion's reaction to the alien invasion, and the Bully's Code of Conduect). With a lot of wit, a good sense of the fantastic, and a handle on what it's like to be a teen, the author wraps it all up in a very charming movie-based presentation. And that ending: vat a tweest!
This work was an advanced reader copy received as part of the Goodreads First Reads program.
May 20, 2010
This was my first alien/mutant book and, honestly, I didn't really like it. It wasn't the mutants or the aliens, it was that I found the book to be rather boring. I found it fairly cliche, but I suspect part of that was done on purpose by the author. I also found it rather uneventful. I kind of enjoyed it near the end, however, even there I ended up rather disappointed.
December 17, 2018
I hope Guillermo Del Toro directs this movie, y'all. From plotting robotic lawn gnomes to unforgettable semi-sentient shed skin, this world is chock full of pop culture references. Lost points for gross misogyny throughout that even a 1950s theme can't excuse.
August 13, 2010
Super duper fun!
It's Rebel Without a Cause with Extraterrestrials.
It's Rebel Without a Cause with Extraterrestrials.
September 30, 2018
I have no idea what happened here. Pretty sure there isn't a storyline. But it's interesting to read....
July 22, 2013
Okay, so, the rundown is as follows: This is a book that is at times funny, and at times very clever. It's a good look at being a teenager and at the same time being a monster, and while the metaphor for puberty and understanding one's body is a little heavy-handed, I can't say it's exactly un-clever, either. The book's a teen comedy that turns very weird, and I can't say I don't get behind that, especially with the kind of stuff I read, and my love of retro-future and B-movies. It's clear that Larry Doyle has a clear interest in a lot of the culture, and he loves both his audience and the world he's created. Add to this some very good narrative voice and some incredible imagery, and you have a book well worth the read.
The problem is, this is a book for a very specific audience, and when it misses, it misses pretty badly. The tone gets really in-jokey at times, bringing famous monsters and concepts in with nary a thought, and while most of them actually work, occasionally they wind up being more "Really? You put that in there?" Apart from the self-conscious referencing, I felt there were a few gags that needed to have a payoff but...didn't (The one involving The Brain Who Wouldn't Die as a reference in particular). Overall, though, this is a great book, one I'd suggest reading as soon as you can get it out of the library.
More, as always, below.
"I come in peace." *beat* "A bit awkward. Is this a bad time?"
- Andi Ra'
It comes as no great surprise to any regular readers (all four of you) that I am something of a B-movie and horror movie fanatic. It's something I've had with me since an early age, when I dutifully sat down in front of the TV and watched the WPIX Saturday Afternoon Movie (Giving a little of my location away when I say that. Ah, well, the network had a decent coverage). I was raised, even, on a steady diet of black-and-white horror flicks that never failed to both freak me out and fascinate me. And to this day, I still hold a soft spot for those movies and their offspring. And so, one day when I looked through the public library, I happened upon a copy of Go Mutants, and immediately I was intrigued.
Well, okay, first I had to read the jacket flap to make sure it was the sort of book I thought it was. But then I was intrigued. The book created a weird mix of film references, snarky self-referential humor, and a pretty good insight into being a teenager and having weird issues with a changing body and issues you no longer quite understand. It also kept a lot of the same beats as the films, which is something essential to the process. In short, as I read this book, I found myself actually wishing I could write something like it. And while that definitely informs my bias, the book being written for someone like me, I have to say I liked what Larry Doyle has done.
Go, Mutants! is about J!m Anderson, a big-brained blue alien who was the son of a would-be conqueror of Earth, Andi Ra. And if the combined bad feelings of having both a father who is responsible for most of the destruction of the earth and a hot cat-person mother wasn't all, J!m is shedding his skin on a regular basis and an outcast at school. His only friends are the girl next door, a radioactive half man half-ape, and a large sentient blob trying very hard to pose as a fat kid. He spends his time listening to rock over the "domes", a device sort of like futuristic headphones, and working at the local drive-in theater while dreaming of the movies he wants to make. While he's hassled by the local sheriff's kid and tormented by children singing nursery rhymes about the death of his father ("It looked just like Chow Mein!"), he tends to get by okay.
And then things get weird.
J!m's body is going through its final stages of puberty, causing "brainstorms" that may be fatal to his health. The local human boys get rougher than normal and their teasing may be turning a little vicious and possibly fatal. But no one can predict what happens when J!m finally emerges from puberty, throwing the lives of friend and enemy alike into chaos.
I think the thing I like the most about this (and this seems to be a theme this month. Shhhhh) is the atmosphere behind it. Doyle captures some of the 50s and 60s teenage monster movie feel, but somehow makes it not feel too hokey. While it may not have much of the stylings of the actual decade behind it, Go, Mutants! doesn't need to. Instead, it hits all the pop culture notes, things that people would remember from the movies and even the movies at the time. While this may normally lend itself to a certain artificial quality, it actually helps to familiarize the setting-- One can tell where it takes place because one has all the right visual references. It creates a very odd but believable setting where things like radioactive biker apes and a gigantic firebreathing lizard running for public office are things that could feasibly exist. It's colorful, a kind of odd cross between old sitcom and old monster movie, with some bizarre modern touches here and there (the nightclub where J!m's mom waitresses, for example). Overall, the setting handles most of the load, and while it's shorthand, it's at least shorthand that works.
Doyle populates his book with interesting characters, as well. J!m is suitably surly, and since we see most of his difficulties through his eyes, at least somewhat relatable. The villains are harmless until the end of the story, where they suddenly pull out the big guns and kick off the last bit of the conflict. The one weak character seems to be Marie, who while a POV character for a bit in her own way is kind of less an effective heroine and more someone whom the plot happens around. While this is true to the source material, it does kind of suck for Marie. And I know, time period appropriacy and all that, but still, give her some knowledge, some idea of what's going on...something. Larry "Jelly" Sweeney (the blob monster...he's adopted), and Johnny Love (the biker ape) are given wonderful characterization, as well as just about all the supporting cast, so the Marie issue is a little more glaring.
And in a book like this, that there's a glaring issue stands out, but isn't too terrible. The book knows its audience and handles its subject matter with gentle (if occasionally dark) humor. At the center of the book is a narrative voice that is warm, friendly, and has a lot of heart. And that Doyle knows his way around a joke helps immensely. He handles the subject matter and dialogue with a lot of wit, and knows his way around a joke. One in particular took a long time to build, but when it finally got where it was going, it was well-received. Also, the alien invader learning his humor and english from British comedies was a nice touch. Even if it did make me want to see a movie with Stephen Fry playing Andi Ra'. And then get disappointed because in all likelihood, that wouldn't happen.
But despite its nature of being steeped in nostalgia and the like (or in spite of), there were some issues with the book I have to address. While I liked a lot of the in-jokes, the book did get too in-jokey at times, mentioning references from Day of the Triffids or It Conquered the World just seemingly to keep in the setting, not for much of a real purpose. While this creates a fun game of spotting references in the work, and trying to figure out what came from where, it does detract from the story. Also, while I was pleasantly surprised by the climax, I felt like things were wrapped up in kind of a weird way. It fit the setting and all, but it just felt kind of odd to me. And again, I wish Marie had more characterization than being the one normal human being in the story. Yes, she was needed as a rock and a safe spot to anchor things, but, and this is something I find myself repeating, not every story needs an audience surrogate.
In the end, however, it's charming. Go, Mutants! knows its audience and how to play to them, and while that audience isn't everyone, it's an audience that I happen to be part of. The book pulls itself off with relative grace, and it's well worth the read. Take this one out of the library, it's not a classic, but since this is summer and the book is relatively light fun, I'd say read it as soon as you can.
LATER THIS WEEK:
Pop Hits of the Showa Era by Ryu Murakami
AND THEN:
Everyone Loves You When You're Dead by Neil Strauss
April 18, 2018
3.5 stars. Every 1950s B-movie gets a nod in this tongue-in-cheek tribute to the genre, following a troubled teen who just happens to be the son of a notorious (now dead) evil alien mastermind as he tries to survive high school in a town populated by disgruntled humans and various alien and mutant creatures just trying to get by, and work up the courage to ask out the (human) girl of his dreams despite his Megamind-y appearance and media-vilified father. A quick and easy light read (I read it in 2 days), entertaining for anyone who has seen a lot of cheesy, black-and-white, Atomic Age horror films.
Can get a bit uncomfortable in the teen lust-capades (though some of that is creep characters being creeps, which *should* be uncomfortable), but when it gets back to the core struggle for identity, rumblings of xenophobia, and satire of trial-by-media society, it gets better.
Can get a bit uncomfortable in the teen lust-capades (though some of that is creep characters being creeps, which *should* be uncomfortable), but when it gets back to the core struggle for identity, rumblings of xenophobia, and satire of trial-by-media society, it gets better.
February 25, 2019
So I got what the author was going for but it just kept on going, the "what if all that stuff in 50s sci-fi movies was real?" It was fun but all of the main character's teenage angst grew boring and halfway through the book I kept wondering when the real plot would appear. It finally does with no subtlety and a predictable deus ex machina. In addition, the clean up was way too quick and clean and the resolution on the J!m's antagonist was non-existent.
I did enjoy the side characters and I was compelled enough to finish it, although again near the middle I decided to read one more section and if the story didn't pick up, I would put the book away.
I wanted to like it more, but unfortunately, I didn't. I finished it, glad to have the resolution, and then moved on.
I did enjoy the side characters and I was compelled enough to finish it, although again near the middle I decided to read one more section and if the story didn't pick up, I would put the book away.
I wanted to like it more, but unfortunately, I didn't. I finished it, glad to have the resolution, and then moved on.
April 9, 2019
Call this "science fiction adventure." Doyle's second novel is a fun read not only for its brisk story, but for the visuals that are an homage to 1950s sf movies. I found it hard going at first because Doyle creates a chaotic alternate history full of aliens (drawn to Earth by our first atomic bomb tests) and mutants. He lets the details unfold gradually through his main character, J!m, who struggles with normal teenage problems along with some unique alien-mutant hybrid problems. Give the book a chance, though, and you'll be rewarded with a fascinating and often hilarious scenario, likable characters, and lots of surprises.
July 24, 2019
Really enjoyed this book. It is sci-fi and retro but ultimally a book about accepting people for who they are be they blond and blue eyed, half human/half blue alien, or just a manufactured blob of jelly with sentience.
This book takes place in an alternate universe 50'S era town where Aliens and mutants are living together with humans. Our protagonist is the son of a former starlet who fell in love with an alien. The alien father has died, leaving his son to navigate in a world where he is regarded with suspician and everyone regards his father as evil. He has a few friends, some human, some not and is trying hard to win the live of the girl next store.
This book takes place in an alternate universe 50'S era town where Aliens and mutants are living together with humans. Our protagonist is the son of a former starlet who fell in love with an alien. The alien father has died, leaving his son to navigate in a world where he is regarded with suspician and everyone regards his father as evil. He has a few friends, some human, some not and is trying hard to win the live of the girl next store.
May 25, 2017
A very "meh" book. I just absolutely did not like the author's writing style. It was so jumpy, I could never tell who's point of view the story was in. I also just didn't understand most of the humor in it either, so that was also part of the problem. I loved the actual concept of the story, I just wish it would have been done differently.
August 14, 2020
This is not a deep book. But it’s a fun read.
October 12, 2023
Read this book for a friend- definitely could see how sci fi readers would love it, it was just hard for me to keep up with the lore of the world developing
October 15, 2024
Don't expect much, just enjoy it!
December 29, 2020
Sci-Fi pulp with witty irony makes for a fun read!
September 17, 2010
Go, Mutants! has a lot going on. It’s set a genaration after pretty much every 50’s sci-fi/horror flick ever made actually happened. J!m, the son of a prominent but disgraced and deceased alien invader, is in high school, struggling with high school issues like how to fend off bullies and get a girl to go the big dance with him.
Two thematic thrusts vie with each other for prominence. One one hand, Doyle twists the familiar trope of adolescents with fantastic abilities. Usually there’s a strong component of wish-fulfillment in identifying with the protagonist of these stories: you are special and unique; you do carry the weight of the world; you’re not related to the intensely embarrassing creatures that raised you. Instead, Doyle pushes his characters’ natural anxieties about what the adolescent hormonal storm is doing to their bodies to absurd, even nightmarish extremes. Doyle is not particularly subtle about serving this up; one of his characters is revealed at one point to literally not have a penis; another suffers a malady in which secondary sexual characteristics assume unbalanced prominence.
The other major thematic aspect is more generalized socio-politcal satire. The actual monster/sci-fi flicks of the 50’s were clearly informed by the twin fears of nuclear annihilation and the Red Peril; in Doyle’s version the saucer folk literally replace these fears, with Joe McCarthy ranting against Hollywood’s secret aliens. Doyle’s PLEX, a sort of Internet with Orwellian and Tesla-esque attributes, arises, representing the loss of faith in the benevolence of our government with which often we endow the idealized retrospective view of the fifties.
Both of these angles seem well capable of supporting a novel on its their own, so it didn’t surprise me that Doyle, among other credits, has written for The Simpsons, a show which often managed to cram what on almost any other show would be an hour-long plot into a half hour. And Go, Mutants!, like The Simpsons, is ridiculously dense with explicit allusions to other creative works. The Day the Earth Stood Still is probably the most important touchpoint for Go, Mutants!, but there are sly nods to literally dozens of other sci-fi/horror movies — everything from classics like Invasion of the Body Snatchers to schlocky, sub-B-grade fare like Robot Monster. It’s hard for me to imagine anyone with a Mystery Science Theater 3000-flavored appreciation of cinema not fun playing “spot-the-reference.” (I suspect nods to juvenile delinquent cinema are nearly as thick on the ground in Go, Mutants! as the sci-fi, but I’m not nearly as well versed in the arcana of that.)
I can’t write about this book without mentioning how gorgeous a physical object it is, and just how note-perfect the design choices are. The cover is a wonderful pastiche of one of the sleazier paperback houses (Beacon, for instance), right down to the relative position and size of “A novel by” and “Larry Doyle.” And the left-side drop-shadow. The opening page of each chapter is printed in white-on-black, with titles like “Science Gone Wild!” and “Charged with Million-Volt Excitement!” in the same screamingly dramatic typefaces as the posters and movie title frames they evoke –sometimes the crazy typefaces even creep into the main body of the text. (The book’s website, gomutants.com ably embodies its aesthetic, but might spoil some of the surprises.)
Doyle’s language is frequently colorful and dramatic. I clogged up the book with strips of paper identifying especially noteworthy passages, from the opening “Enter right, SCREAMING: THE GIRL, in high distress and heels,” to
and
or just lovely coinages like the, “Rattarachirotacacean, a rat-spider-bat-crab from Mars.”
I loved a lot of things about this book, but still found it less than completely satisfying. I’m sure that’s partly because the opening handful of chapters set my expectations stratospherically high, but I think the book also has some pacing/structural issues. It would be stronger if it was shorter and punchier, or alternatively if the plot delivered more actual surprises, or perhaps even if Doyle didn’t hold his characters at such an emotional remove — the narrative voice is arch and omniscient, which seems appropriate, but is more than a little distancing.
Two thematic thrusts vie with each other for prominence. One one hand, Doyle twists the familiar trope of adolescents with fantastic abilities. Usually there’s a strong component of wish-fulfillment in identifying with the protagonist of these stories: you are special and unique; you do carry the weight of the world; you’re not related to the intensely embarrassing creatures that raised you. Instead, Doyle pushes his characters’ natural anxieties about what the adolescent hormonal storm is doing to their bodies to absurd, even nightmarish extremes. Doyle is not particularly subtle about serving this up; one of his characters is revealed at one point to literally not have a penis; another suffers a malady in which secondary sexual characteristics assume unbalanced prominence.
The other major thematic aspect is more generalized socio-politcal satire. The actual monster/sci-fi flicks of the 50’s were clearly informed by the twin fears of nuclear annihilation and the Red Peril; in Doyle’s version the saucer folk literally replace these fears, with Joe McCarthy ranting against Hollywood’s secret aliens. Doyle’s PLEX, a sort of Internet with Orwellian and Tesla-esque attributes, arises, representing the loss of faith in the benevolence of our government with which often we endow the idealized retrospective view of the fifties.
Both of these angles seem well capable of supporting a novel on its their own, so it didn’t surprise me that Doyle, among other credits, has written for The Simpsons, a show which often managed to cram what on almost any other show would be an hour-long plot into a half hour. And Go, Mutants!, like The Simpsons, is ridiculously dense with explicit allusions to other creative works. The Day the Earth Stood Still is probably the most important touchpoint for Go, Mutants!, but there are sly nods to literally dozens of other sci-fi/horror movies — everything from classics like Invasion of the Body Snatchers to schlocky, sub-B-grade fare like Robot Monster. It’s hard for me to imagine anyone with a Mystery Science Theater 3000-flavored appreciation of cinema not fun playing “spot-the-reference.” (I suspect nods to juvenile delinquent cinema are nearly as thick on the ground in Go, Mutants! as the sci-fi, but I’m not nearly as well versed in the arcana of that.)
I can’t write about this book without mentioning how gorgeous a physical object it is, and just how note-perfect the design choices are. The cover is a wonderful pastiche of one of the sleazier paperback houses (Beacon, for instance), right down to the relative position and size of “A novel by” and “Larry Doyle.” And the left-side drop-shadow. The opening page of each chapter is printed in white-on-black, with titles like “Science Gone Wild!” and “Charged with Million-Volt Excitement!” in the same screamingly dramatic typefaces as the posters and movie title frames they evoke –sometimes the crazy typefaces even creep into the main body of the text. (The book’s website, gomutants.com ably embodies its aesthetic, but might spoil some of the surprises.)
Doyle’s language is frequently colorful and dramatic. I clogged up the book with strips of paper identifying especially noteworthy passages, from the opening “Enter right, SCREAMING: THE GIRL, in high distress and heels,” to
The story on [her] was that she had been engaged to a soldier before the unpleasantness, and when her fiancé was devoured by a tree that ate women but was bi-curean, she went to work for the CIA, using the nom de guerre Ida Day, where she seduced and tortured hundreds of alien combatants, often at the same time, which led to her career in higher education.
and
Like most of Manhattan’s matrons, [she] had been a great beauty in her youth, but time and decapitation had taken their toll. Years of meanness were gouged into her face, which no amount of cosmetic troweling could ameliorate.
or just lovely coinages like the, “Rattarachirotacacean, a rat-spider-bat-crab from Mars.”
I loved a lot of things about this book, but still found it less than completely satisfying. I’m sure that’s partly because the opening handful of chapters set my expectations stratospherically high, but I think the book also has some pacing/structural issues. It would be stronger if it was shorter and punchier, or alternatively if the plot delivered more actual surprises, or perhaps even if Doyle didn’t hold his characters at such an emotional remove — the narrative voice is arch and omniscient, which seems appropriate, but is more than a little distancing.
April 23, 2015
Go, Mutants!
Author: Larry Doyle
Publisher: Ecco, HarperCollinsPublisher
Published In: New York City, NY, USA
Date: 2010
Pgs: 354
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
What if all those 50s sci fi movies were Earth’s actual history of the era? What would the world look like by 1959 or the early 60s? Earth has survived repeated alien invasions, attacks by hordes of mutants, and the ravages of ancient beasts coming back to life. Now we’re in the blissful future...for most. J!m, the son of the alien who nearly destroyed the planet, is a brooding, megacephalic rebel with a big forehead and exceptionally oily skin. Along with Johnny, a radioactive biker ape, and Jelly, a gelatinous mass passing as a fat kid, J!m navigates a particularly unpleasant adolescence in which he really is as alienated as he feels, the world might actually be out to get him, and true love is complicated by misunderstanding and incompatible parts. As harmless school antics escalate into explosive events with tragic consequences, J!m makes a discovery that will alter the course of civilization, though it may help his dating life. Replete with all the rock ‘n’ roll, hot rod racing, and heavy petting of classic teen cinema.
Genre:
Adventure
Apocalypse
End of the World
Fiction
Pulp
Quirk
Science fiction
Space opera
Superheroes
Zombies
Why this book:
The big headed teen on the cover looking very Mindflayer-ish in a 50s high school, angsty, James Dean sorta way.
______________________________________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
J!m the hypercephalic, metazoid alien.
Johnny the radioactive biker ape.
Least Favorite Character:
Russ the human bully and his grandpa, the General.
The Feel:
Amongst the aliens and mutants and teenagers, there’s some echoes of a horrible high school experience playing out here. Well done.
Favorite Scene:
The scene where Jelly the protoplasmic mutant gets a swirly and is sucked down the High School bathroom toilet and loses his way coming back out ending up in the Principal Brook’s bathroom eliciting a scream though whether delight or fright is never stated. This is very Porky’s like.
When J!m gets excited and isn’t paying attention to the way he is walking and let’s slip his human gait and starts walking up on his phalanges and looking like a speedwalking T-Rex.
When Tubesteak is in the backseat at the Drive-In with his date and she asks him why he’s called Tubesteak as she snuggles up to him and he says, “Because I love me some tubesteak.” No explanation. She’s disappointed. And the reader is left to wonder if Tubesteak just came out of the closet, is bi, or if tubesteak in this mutant world is some odd form of mutant worm or cattle snake. ...I doubt the last one.
Pacing:
The pacing was good. But after wandering through the plot, the climax seemed rushed.
Hmm Moments:
Not so much a hmm moment as a yuck moment, J!m has a brainstorm with lightning and cracking thunder causing him to momentarily lose consciousness. And as he regains himself, Dr. Rand puts his finger on the area where the lightning was visible on J!m’s megacephalic brain. Then, as J!m walks away the Doc sniffs the jellylike stuff from the surface of J!m’s brain...and, then, sucks it off his finger. Yuck!!!.
Doc Rand hanging out at the strip club where J!m’s mother works while he is supposed to be out trying to find a “fresh” body for his wife’s head. Very Reanimator.
The government didn’t control the Plex. “They had learned, as Stalin had not, that the truth could not be destroyed, but could be lost among lies.” Great line and social commentary on modern America.
Why isn’t there a screenplay?
Too much to the story. Couldn’t do it justice in a 3 hour movie. Too many references to other copyrighted materials. Would never fly on the big screen.
______________________________________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
That was weird.
Author Assessment:
This is very Grant Morrison-y. Depending on the payoff of this story, I will give more stuff by this author a look.
Knee Jerk Reaction:
really good book
Disposition of Book:
Half Price Books
Would recommend to:
genre fans
____________________________________________________________________________
Errata:
The Thing being mentioned as being at the Pole and in opposition with the Army is a cool shout out to a great classic movie. In the same paragraph, the Army is mentioned as being active in the Ozarks and in Brazil. I wonder what is going on in those two places.
Author: Larry Doyle
Publisher: Ecco, HarperCollinsPublisher
Published In: New York City, NY, USA
Date: 2010
Pgs: 354
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
What if all those 50s sci fi movies were Earth’s actual history of the era? What would the world look like by 1959 or the early 60s? Earth has survived repeated alien invasions, attacks by hordes of mutants, and the ravages of ancient beasts coming back to life. Now we’re in the blissful future...for most. J!m, the son of the alien who nearly destroyed the planet, is a brooding, megacephalic rebel with a big forehead and exceptionally oily skin. Along with Johnny, a radioactive biker ape, and Jelly, a gelatinous mass passing as a fat kid, J!m navigates a particularly unpleasant adolescence in which he really is as alienated as he feels, the world might actually be out to get him, and true love is complicated by misunderstanding and incompatible parts. As harmless school antics escalate into explosive events with tragic consequences, J!m makes a discovery that will alter the course of civilization, though it may help his dating life. Replete with all the rock ‘n’ roll, hot rod racing, and heavy petting of classic teen cinema.
Genre:
Adventure
Apocalypse
End of the World
Fiction
Pulp
Quirk
Science fiction
Space opera
Superheroes
Zombies
Why this book:
The big headed teen on the cover looking very Mindflayer-ish in a 50s high school, angsty, James Dean sorta way.
______________________________________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
J!m the hypercephalic, metazoid alien.
Johnny the radioactive biker ape.
Least Favorite Character:
Russ the human bully and his grandpa, the General.
The Feel:
Amongst the aliens and mutants and teenagers, there’s some echoes of a horrible high school experience playing out here. Well done.
Favorite Scene:
The scene where Jelly the protoplasmic mutant gets a swirly and is sucked down the High School bathroom toilet and loses his way coming back out ending up in the Principal Brook’s bathroom eliciting a scream though whether delight or fright is never stated. This is very Porky’s like.
When J!m gets excited and isn’t paying attention to the way he is walking and let’s slip his human gait and starts walking up on his phalanges and looking like a speedwalking T-Rex.
When Tubesteak is in the backseat at the Drive-In with his date and she asks him why he’s called Tubesteak as she snuggles up to him and he says, “Because I love me some tubesteak.” No explanation. She’s disappointed. And the reader is left to wonder if Tubesteak just came out of the closet, is bi, or if tubesteak in this mutant world is some odd form of mutant worm or cattle snake. ...I doubt the last one.
Pacing:
The pacing was good. But after wandering through the plot, the climax seemed rushed.
Hmm Moments:
Not so much a hmm moment as a yuck moment, J!m has a brainstorm with lightning and cracking thunder causing him to momentarily lose consciousness. And as he regains himself, Dr. Rand puts his finger on the area where the lightning was visible on J!m’s megacephalic brain. Then, as J!m walks away the Doc sniffs the jellylike stuff from the surface of J!m’s brain...and, then, sucks it off his finger. Yuck!!!.
Doc Rand hanging out at the strip club where J!m’s mother works while he is supposed to be out trying to find a “fresh” body for his wife’s head. Very Reanimator.
The government didn’t control the Plex. “They had learned, as Stalin had not, that the truth could not be destroyed, but could be lost among lies.” Great line and social commentary on modern America.
Why isn’t there a screenplay?
Too much to the story. Couldn’t do it justice in a 3 hour movie. Too many references to other copyrighted materials. Would never fly on the big screen.
______________________________________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
That was weird.
Author Assessment:
This is very Grant Morrison-y. Depending on the payoff of this story, I will give more stuff by this author a look.
Knee Jerk Reaction:
really good book
Disposition of Book:
Half Price Books
Would recommend to:
genre fans
____________________________________________________________________________
Errata:
The Thing being mentioned as being at the Pole and in opposition with the Army is a cool shout out to a great classic movie. In the same paragraph, the Army is mentioned as being active in the Ozarks and in Brazil. I wonder what is going on in those two places.
September 17, 2018
I could not finish reading this book. The plot was there but was uninteresting and flimsy. This book reads like a contract book that the author had to do and threw together the night before it went to press.
Do yourself a favor and enjoy the cover but don't read the book.
Do yourself a favor and enjoy the cover but don't read the book.
September 3, 2012
3.5 Stars.
If anyone was expecting this to be like I Love You, Beth Cooper, they would be disappointed in many ways. It does take place in high school, but mutants aside, this story is still completely different. J!m is an outcast, but mostly due to his currently soft skin and the what everyone believes his father did.
What this review is going to boil down to though is that I found the story and social commentary very interesting but the prose and pacing to be a bit much and often irritating.
The story itself is brave in many ways in that it uses this alternate universe where monsters and aliens are very real and shoves them into the hostility of our current political environment. Commentary on Racism (or really prejudice of any kind) is the most prevalent thing to be gleaned from the text, the lessons often being what we expect and then taking it a little bit further. Then comes the commentary on the internet, our use and trust in it. The Plex being the thinly disguised mode for this. Political atrocities abound, the stereotypes of government rearing their ugly heads: The republicans as tricky, malicious, and far too invested in keeping the fanatics happy. The democrats quiet and useless, letting it all happening whether they agree or not. The Government as a whole is criticized, as both having more and less power and knowledge than they should. Humans take the biggest hit though, or rather, humanity. Our greedy selfish instincts. Our need to be both unique and exactly the same and accepted at the same time. Our gullibility and fear.
Commentary aside, the story is refreshing and different, even if it is riddled with predictable and stereotyped characters -- likely a result from including so many of them. Even J!m and Marie have their cardboard moments.
So regardless of whether I agreed with all that was implied or all that happened, it sure made it interesting. The intrigue surrounding J!m's dad also kept me turning pages toward the end.
But the prose was almost a monster of its own. At times fun and different, but more often just annoying.
Since J!m is obsessed with movies, there are often parts (usually dreams) that are literally written in movie script. It is interesting, and perhaps on its own or if used with a bit more discretion wouldn't be so bad. Similarly, the round-about ways that Doyle explains things can sometimes be insightful and amusing, perhaps even a bit sarcastic, but sometimes it is over done resulting in an annoying or unclear description of events. There are a lot of characters, so we jump from scene to scene, sometimes never returning to fully close up one we left. In the greater scheme of things, this is ok, and sometimes it helps to build suspense, but others, especially toward the end, it just gets irritating and feels like a lack of focus.
I understand that Doyle had envisioned this very detailed and different world, but it almost seems like a movie would have better fitting for this story (ironic considering his other book and the style of parts of this one). A picture is worth a thousand words, and well, by page 76 barely anything has happened but I have clear picture of the world it hasn't yet happened in yet. Some details are more fun than they are important or add to that almost B-movie appeal he seems to be going for, but they are also tiring.
In the end, after everything (and there is SO much), I found the end somewhat disappointing. When J!m finally acts, we are no longer in his close third person view, but clearing in the p.o.v of the revealed narrator, which unfortunately makes the whole thing feel anticlimactic, and the ending (what is agreed upon) is not entirely clear, but peace is suggested, while the final words suggest the exact opposite. An attempt to make us question everything?
This could be worth the read, but just be prepared for pinata of ideas.
If anyone was expecting this to be like I Love You, Beth Cooper, they would be disappointed in many ways. It does take place in high school, but mutants aside, this story is still completely different. J!m is an outcast, but mostly due to his currently soft skin and the what everyone believes his father did.
What this review is going to boil down to though is that I found the story and social commentary very interesting but the prose and pacing to be a bit much and often irritating.
The story itself is brave in many ways in that it uses this alternate universe where monsters and aliens are very real and shoves them into the hostility of our current political environment. Commentary on Racism (or really prejudice of any kind) is the most prevalent thing to be gleaned from the text, the lessons often being what we expect and then taking it a little bit further. Then comes the commentary on the internet, our use and trust in it. The Plex being the thinly disguised mode for this. Political atrocities abound, the stereotypes of government rearing their ugly heads: The republicans as tricky, malicious, and far too invested in keeping the fanatics happy. The democrats quiet and useless, letting it all happening whether they agree or not. The Government as a whole is criticized, as both having more and less power and knowledge than they should. Humans take the biggest hit though, or rather, humanity. Our greedy selfish instincts. Our need to be both unique and exactly the same and accepted at the same time. Our gullibility and fear.
Commentary aside, the story is refreshing and different, even if it is riddled with predictable and stereotyped characters -- likely a result from including so many of them. Even J!m and Marie have their cardboard moments.
So regardless of whether I agreed with all that was implied or all that happened, it sure made it interesting. The intrigue surrounding J!m's dad also kept me turning pages toward the end.
But the prose was almost a monster of its own. At times fun and different, but more often just annoying.
Since J!m is obsessed with movies, there are often parts (usually dreams) that are literally written in movie script. It is interesting, and perhaps on its own or if used with a bit more discretion wouldn't be so bad. Similarly, the round-about ways that Doyle explains things can sometimes be insightful and amusing, perhaps even a bit sarcastic, but sometimes it is over done resulting in an annoying or unclear description of events. There are a lot of characters, so we jump from scene to scene, sometimes never returning to fully close up one we left. In the greater scheme of things, this is ok, and sometimes it helps to build suspense, but others, especially toward the end, it just gets irritating and feels like a lack of focus.
I understand that Doyle had envisioned this very detailed and different world, but it almost seems like a movie would have better fitting for this story (ironic considering his other book and the style of parts of this one). A picture is worth a thousand words, and well, by page 76 barely anything has happened but I have clear picture of the world it hasn't yet happened in yet. Some details are more fun than they are important or add to that almost B-movie appeal he seems to be going for, but they are also tiring.
In the end, after everything (and there is SO much), I found the end somewhat disappointing. When J!m finally acts, we are no longer in his close third person view, but clearing in the p.o.v of the revealed narrator, which unfortunately makes the whole thing feel anticlimactic, and the ending (what is agreed upon) is not entirely clear, but peace is suggested, while the final words suggest the exact opposite. An attempt to make us question everything?
This could be worth the read, but just be prepared for pinata of ideas.
September 24, 2011
Occasionally I visit Goodreads and enter giveaways that allow people to win books before they are released in stores. After a couple of months of not winning anything I stopped for awhile before visiting again in May. I now restrict the books I enter to win to only ones that have 10 copies or more available unless the ones with less copies seem interesting. As I was scanning the list last month I noticed Go, Mutants! I probably noticed this book because I'm a X-Men fan and the word "mutants" was in the title, and also because the cover catches your eye. There were also 25 copies of this book available for giveaway, so I entered to win. It's obvious I won the book since I'm now reviewing it, which is what the publishers hope people will do after recieving this copy that other reviewers are given to read.
The book has an interesting premise. Aliens, mutants, ancient beast, and humans are finally living peacefully after years of fighting one another. The story mainly focuses on the alien J!m who is the son of the alien who is blamed for almost destroying Earth. There is also a dozen other characters who seem to be important to the story. Since there were so many characters, the character development is slow. The main character J!m doesn't seem to be developed until almost halfway into the story, and his friends more till the end. The characters remain shallow, and whenever something serious is presented it is handled without much depth at all. I know this must be apart of the way a comedy book is, and I guess that's why I tend to read more serious books. I believe characters are the most essential part of the story, and the better developed the characters are the better the audience will recieve them.
The story switches POVs constantly, and at the very end we have one character in the first person telling the story. The transitions contributed to the story being confusing at times. The story does have a unique way of dividing the chapters adding to the era of the 50s element. Since I haven't explored much pop culture from that era though the jokes in the story were not obvious to me. The story wasn't boring, but the transitioning would make it easier to follow.
The thing that was the most difficult for me to get past in this book was the
offensive subject matter. I have read books with vulgar and bad language, but this book goes beyond just that. It was so much that I had to at least mention it in a review. I can't tolerate when my beliefs are attacked in a book.
I learned this book might be possibly be made into a movie. I assume since he was a writer for a television show before books that he already has a step in doing that. I haven't read Doyle's other book, I Love You, Beth Cooper, but from what I know it didn't do the best at the box office, which is why I'm surprised they are already considering this book for a movie. I find this unfair to other authors who have bestselling books that fans would like to see translated on screen, but they haven't yet because Nicholas Sparks and Larry Doyle are already being paid to write books that are guaranteed movies. I will admit that Nicholas Sparks movies do perform better at the box office, so it at least makes a little more sense.
Go, Mutants! has an interesting story, and after the story progresses it becomes clearer. The story remains bogged down by a lot of other faults that keeps it's potential held back. The book went on sale today. For further information you can check out the book's site at http://gomutants.com/ .
The book has an interesting premise. Aliens, mutants, ancient beast, and humans are finally living peacefully after years of fighting one another. The story mainly focuses on the alien J!m who is the son of the alien who is blamed for almost destroying Earth. There is also a dozen other characters who seem to be important to the story. Since there were so many characters, the character development is slow. The main character J!m doesn't seem to be developed until almost halfway into the story, and his friends more till the end. The characters remain shallow, and whenever something serious is presented it is handled without much depth at all. I know this must be apart of the way a comedy book is, and I guess that's why I tend to read more serious books. I believe characters are the most essential part of the story, and the better developed the characters are the better the audience will recieve them.
The story switches POVs constantly, and at the very end we have one character in the first person telling the story. The transitions contributed to the story being confusing at times. The story does have a unique way of dividing the chapters adding to the era of the 50s element. Since I haven't explored much pop culture from that era though the jokes in the story were not obvious to me. The story wasn't boring, but the transitioning would make it easier to follow.
The thing that was the most difficult for me to get past in this book was the
offensive subject matter. I have read books with vulgar and bad language, but this book goes beyond just that. It was so much that I had to at least mention it in a review. I can't tolerate when my beliefs are attacked in a book.
I learned this book might be possibly be made into a movie. I assume since he was a writer for a television show before books that he already has a step in doing that. I haven't read Doyle's other book, I Love You, Beth Cooper, but from what I know it didn't do the best at the box office, which is why I'm surprised they are already considering this book for a movie. I find this unfair to other authors who have bestselling books that fans would like to see translated on screen, but they haven't yet because Nicholas Sparks and Larry Doyle are already being paid to write books that are guaranteed movies. I will admit that Nicholas Sparks movies do perform better at the box office, so it at least makes a little more sense.
Go, Mutants! has an interesting story, and after the story progresses it becomes clearer. The story remains bogged down by a lot of other faults that keeps it's potential held back. The book went on sale today. For further information you can check out the book's site at http://gomutants.com/ .
May 15, 2012
Or, "I Was A Teenaged Mutant Alien Monster Baby from Beyond."
Larry Doyle's Go, Mutants! pops from the page in lurid, livid 3-D, a nearly pitch-perfect sendup of the Fifties of our imaginations (the 1950s, that is), as they never were but always should have been.
It all starts with J!m, just about as normal a teenager as could be (never mind that exclamation mark in the middle of his name)—working up his nerve to ask pretty Marie Rand to the big harvest dance; nodding off in classes at Manhattan High after staying up late at the drive-in; dodging big, mean Russ and the other bullies on the football team; worrying about his straight-leg Lees jeans and plain white tee-shirt; hanging out with his friends Johnny and Larry over fried carbohydrates at Googie's... Of course, Johnny's a radioactive ape-boy, and Larry's nickname is Jelly because he's a mountain of gelatinous goo—and J!m himself is a blue-skinned double-domed being whose father once tried to take over the world and whose mother is a catwoman named Miw—but that's as normal as life gets, in the bucolic town of Manhattan in the glorious tenth year E.I.
See, J!m was born on Earth, but he's not from this Earth. J!m's planet Earth got invaded—multiple times—by pretty much all of the aliens, giant monsters, radioactive mutants and ridiculous B-movie menaces that in our timeline were confined to the silver screens of the local cinematheque or drive-in. Every thing, from Gojira and the 50-Foot Woman to the deadly Mantis and the Ro-Man, seems to have put in an appearance. These cataclysmic events both spurred this Earth's technological development and, paradoxically, held back its social evolution. All the best stuff from the future of the Fifties, the things we didn't get, like the nuclear-powered Ford Fissionaire, houses you can hose down to clean inside and out, and 3-D color home visualizers (herein called the Plex), are realized—but America's pretty much frozen into its big-finned, paranoid, jingoistic Atomic Age mindset as well.
Doyle used to write for The Simpsons, and it shows. By turns raunchy, bloody, touching and tender, radioactive, toxic and vitriolic, Doyle manages to keep up the hectic pace pretty much throughout this satiric novel, mixing in cinematic effects like script fragments, title cards, and even an Intermission in the middle of the book.
Sometimes it's really hard to see how J!m's going to get out of the scrapes he gets into, and sometimes all that typographical exuberance comes across as trying too hard... but there are also occasional moments of brilliance, like this one from p.97:
The website for the book is also worth a look (warning: embedded autoplaying YouTube video!). Doyle's collected snapshots of the movie posters, music and other cultural detritus that inspired him—what isn't already a remembrance of things past may be a guide to further entertaining research. And, who knows, maybe being familiar with this stuff will help you when the flying saucers attack our dreaming Earth.
Keep watching the skies...
Larry Doyle's Go, Mutants! pops from the page in lurid, livid 3-D, a nearly pitch-perfect sendup of the Fifties of our imaginations (the 1950s, that is), as they never were but always should have been.
It all starts with J!m, just about as normal a teenager as could be (never mind that exclamation mark in the middle of his name)—working up his nerve to ask pretty Marie Rand to the big harvest dance; nodding off in classes at Manhattan High after staying up late at the drive-in; dodging big, mean Russ and the other bullies on the football team; worrying about his straight-leg Lees jeans and plain white tee-shirt; hanging out with his friends Johnny and Larry over fried carbohydrates at Googie's... Of course, Johnny's a radioactive ape-boy, and Larry's nickname is Jelly because he's a mountain of gelatinous goo—and J!m himself is a blue-skinned double-domed being whose father once tried to take over the world and whose mother is a catwoman named Miw—but that's as normal as life gets, in the bucolic town of Manhattan in the glorious tenth year E.I.
See, J!m was born on Earth, but he's not from this Earth. J!m's planet Earth got invaded—multiple times—by pretty much all of the aliens, giant monsters, radioactive mutants and ridiculous B-movie menaces that in our timeline were confined to the silver screens of the local cinematheque or drive-in. Every thing, from Gojira and the 50-Foot Woman to the deadly Mantis and the Ro-Man, seems to have put in an appearance. These cataclysmic events both spurred this Earth's technological development and, paradoxically, held back its social evolution. All the best stuff from the future of the Fifties, the things we didn't get, like the nuclear-powered Ford Fissionaire, houses you can hose down to clean inside and out, and 3-D color home visualizers (herein called the Plex), are realized—but America's pretty much frozen into its big-finned, paranoid, jingoistic Atomic Age mindset as well.
Doyle used to write for The Simpsons, and it shows. By turns raunchy, bloody, touching and tender, radioactive, toxic and vitriolic, Doyle manages to keep up the hectic pace pretty much throughout this satiric novel, mixing in cinematic effects like script fragments, title cards, and even an Intermission in the middle of the book.
Sometimes it's really hard to see how J!m's going to get out of the scrapes he gets into, and sometimes all that typographical exuberance comes across as trying too hard... but there are also occasional moments of brilliance, like this one from p.97:
The world never stopped spinning, though, except that one time.
The website for the book is also worth a look (warning: embedded autoplaying YouTube video!). Doyle's collected snapshots of the movie posters, music and other cultural detritus that inspired him—what isn't already a remembrance of things past may be a guide to further entertaining research. And, who knows, maybe being familiar with this stuff will help you when the flying saucers attack our dreaming Earth.
Keep watching the skies...
July 8, 2010
Yay for book giveaways on Good Reads!
I was anticipating reading this novel when I read a joint review for it over at The Book Smugglers. Hilariously enough, the very next day after I read that review, I was notified by GR that I had won this book in a giveaway!
Go, Mutants! is a hilarious send-up to the 1950s B-horror movie obsession. Imagine that the aliens really did land in Red Scare 1950s America. Now imagine it's twenty years later, and the aliens are living comfortably in suburbia, their kids attending high school along with the rest of the human populace.
J!m is one of those alien kids, suffering through high school like any other loner kid. Except he's got blue, oily skin, his brains are on display for the world to see, and he's a budding empath. J!m's an outcast. His status as an outsider is further defined by humanity's collective memory of his father as the alien that nearly caused the apocalypse. Yeah, it's a lot to live up to.
The premise of aliens injected into angsty high school is a perfect metaphor for those awkward teenage years. When you feel different than anyone else, when you feel like you'll never fit it, when you think you'll never find who you really are. J!m is experiencing all of that and more. And he's got a few friends to help him out: Larry, aka Jelly, an anthropomorphous blob of goo, Johnny, a radioactive half-man-half-ape-beast, Rusty, the guy's gal, and Marie. Marie, the source of his heartbreak, his best friend, his biggest crush... Marie, who's pseudo-dating the resident jackass and king jock, Russ.
Go, Mutants! is a really fun send-up to the cult classics of yesteryear. It's got satire, wit, and smarts. The vocabulary in this book is twisty, and the sentences at points seem to be bleeding violet. While I love a little word play, Go, Mutant!'s complicated language and syntax can sometimes be a deterrent. The overstylization at points ends up mucking up the meaning of some of the sentences. There's actually a narrative explanation for the verbal gymnastics (and I won't spoil it), but it doesn't make the book any less complicated to read. I kept wavering between loving all the little intricacies and being mildly disgruntled when obtuse descriptions were weighed down by the heavy prose.
The entire cast is lovable, the structure of the story is intriguing (gotta love the random screenplay elements) and the design is fan-freaking-tastic (complete with classic B-movie fonts and structuring at points). There's a lot to really sink your teeth into a love about this novel.
Besides some clumsy wordplay, Go, Mutants! is a fun and filling piece of genre fiction. It's smarter than it looks.
I was anticipating reading this novel when I read a joint review for it over at The Book Smugglers. Hilariously enough, the very next day after I read that review, I was notified by GR that I had won this book in a giveaway!
Go, Mutants! is a hilarious send-up to the 1950s B-horror movie obsession. Imagine that the aliens really did land in Red Scare 1950s America. Now imagine it's twenty years later, and the aliens are living comfortably in suburbia, their kids attending high school along with the rest of the human populace.
J!m is one of those alien kids, suffering through high school like any other loner kid. Except he's got blue, oily skin, his brains are on display for the world to see, and he's a budding empath. J!m's an outcast. His status as an outsider is further defined by humanity's collective memory of his father as the alien that nearly caused the apocalypse. Yeah, it's a lot to live up to.
The premise of aliens injected into angsty high school is a perfect metaphor for those awkward teenage years. When you feel different than anyone else, when you feel like you'll never fit it, when you think you'll never find who you really are. J!m is experiencing all of that and more. And he's got a few friends to help him out: Larry, aka Jelly, an anthropomorphous blob of goo, Johnny, a radioactive half-man-half-ape-beast, Rusty, the guy's gal, and Marie. Marie, the source of his heartbreak, his best friend, his biggest crush... Marie, who's pseudo-dating the resident jackass and king jock, Russ.
Go, Mutants! is a really fun send-up to the cult classics of yesteryear. It's got satire, wit, and smarts. The vocabulary in this book is twisty, and the sentences at points seem to be bleeding violet. While I love a little word play, Go, Mutant!'s complicated language and syntax can sometimes be a deterrent. The overstylization at points ends up mucking up the meaning of some of the sentences. There's actually a narrative explanation for the verbal gymnastics (and I won't spoil it), but it doesn't make the book any less complicated to read. I kept wavering between loving all the little intricacies and being mildly disgruntled when obtuse descriptions were weighed down by the heavy prose.
The entire cast is lovable, the structure of the story is intriguing (gotta love the random screenplay elements) and the design is fan-freaking-tastic (complete with classic B-movie fonts and structuring at points). There's a lot to really sink your teeth into a love about this novel.
Besides some clumsy wordplay, Go, Mutants! is a fun and filling piece of genre fiction. It's smarter than it looks.
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