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One Bloody Thing After Another
Jackie has a map of the city on the wall of her bedroom, with a green pin for each of her trees. She has a first-kiss tree and a broken-arm tree. She has a car-accident tree. There is a tree at the hospital where Jackie’s mother passed away into the long good night. When one of them gets cut down, Jackie doesn’t know what to do but she doesn’t let that stop her. She picks up the biggest rock she can carry and puts it through the window of a car. Smash. She intends to leave before the police arrive, but they’re early. Ann is Jackie’s best friend, but she’s got problems of her own. Her mother is chained up in the basement. How do you bring that up in casual conversation? “Oh, sorry I’ve been so distant, Jackie. My mother has more teeth than she’s supposed to, and she won’t eat anything that’s already dead.” Ann and her sister Margaret don’t have much of a choice here. Their mother needs to be fed. It isn’t easy but this is family. It’s not supposed to be easy. It’ll be okay as long as Margaret and Ann still have each other. Add in a cantankerous old man, his powerfully stupid dog, a headless ghost, a lesbian crush and a few unsettling visits from Jackie’s own dead mother, and you’ll find that One Bloody Thing After Another is a different sort of horror novel from the ones you’re used to. It’s as sad and funny as it is frightening, and it is as much about the way families rely on each other as it is about blood being drooled on the carpet. Though, to be honest, there is a lot of blood being drooled on the carpet.
165 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2010
23 people are currently reading
3942 people want to read
About the author
Joey Comeau
44 books662 followersJoey Comeau is a Canadian writer. He is best known for his novels Lockpick Pornography and Overqualified, and as co-creator of the webcomic A Softer World (with Emily Horne).
Comeau currently resides in Toronto, Ontario. He has a degree in linguistics.
Comeau currently resides in Toronto, Ontario. He has a degree in linguistics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 267 reviews
October 27, 2020
this is one of those books...
wait, is it??
i'm not entirely sure what kind of book this is...
it opens with some bloody vomit at the breakfast table and ends on an awkward comic relief rimshot of a line.
and in between. well, there's ghosts and zombie-ish types and a really endearingly stupid dog and good old fashioned teenaged helpless desperation and rage. and if that sounds like a jumbly mess to you, remember that this is the same author who brought you Bible Camp Bloodbath, and if anyone's going to know how to make those disparate elements combine into good fun times, it's him.
this book is almost perfect. it has such a great sense of pacing and wackiness, but it is a wackiness that does not lack taste or a sense of control. this is someone who knows how to edit their imagination before it strays too far into the surreal, wandering just far enough before it becomes a hazard. me, i cannot tolerate weird for weird's sake, and i think this little nightmare of a book captures a tone that is moody and tense, while retaining a purpose to the storytelling that is not all gloss and shock.
the most reductive synopsis is: a girl falls in love with her best friend while both of their lives are falling into chaos and the obstacles to their love turn out to be supernatural in nature. but it's more than that. it is also about putting all your trust in something that seems permanent and immutable only to have it ripped away, piece by piece, leaving only bewilderment and fury. and that feeling - panting in the wake of the places and people you thought you could count on as they recede...i mean, who wouldn't throw a rock through a car window??
let's just say i can relate to this impulse.
there is a weird wonky hiccup about 2/3 of the way through that threw me a little and made this somewhat-less-than-perfect in my eyes. but otherwise, some really gorgeous writing here, and a truly fun book that has a sharp-toothed undercarriage.
do it.
come to my blog!
wait, is it??
i'm not entirely sure what kind of book this is...
it opens with some bloody vomit at the breakfast table and ends on an awkward comic relief rimshot of a line.
and in between. well, there's ghosts and zombie-ish types and a really endearingly stupid dog and good old fashioned teenaged helpless desperation and rage. and if that sounds like a jumbly mess to you, remember that this is the same author who brought you Bible Camp Bloodbath, and if anyone's going to know how to make those disparate elements combine into good fun times, it's him.
this book is almost perfect. it has such a great sense of pacing and wackiness, but it is a wackiness that does not lack taste or a sense of control. this is someone who knows how to edit their imagination before it strays too far into the surreal, wandering just far enough before it becomes a hazard. me, i cannot tolerate weird for weird's sake, and i think this little nightmare of a book captures a tone that is moody and tense, while retaining a purpose to the storytelling that is not all gloss and shock.
the most reductive synopsis is: a girl falls in love with her best friend while both of their lives are falling into chaos and the obstacles to their love turn out to be supernatural in nature. but it's more than that. it is also about putting all your trust in something that seems permanent and immutable only to have it ripped away, piece by piece, leaving only bewilderment and fury. and that feeling - panting in the wake of the places and people you thought you could count on as they recede...i mean, who wouldn't throw a rock through a car window??
let's just say i can relate to this impulse.
there is a weird wonky hiccup about 2/3 of the way through that threw me a little and made this somewhat-less-than-perfect in my eyes. but otherwise, some really gorgeous writing here, and a truly fun book that has a sharp-toothed undercarriage.
do it.
come to my blog!
September 15, 2019
Note: Those of you who follow my reviews know that I try very hard to always be nice when reviewing. Even when I don’t like the book, I try to offer constructive criticism and give out some words of praise.
There will be none of that here. What follows is less a review and more of a rage-induced tirade that was written while in a hazy trance brought about by sheer fury. It will be sarcastic, bitter and with more than a slight hint of a parent pointing at a child saying, “I’m not mad, just disappointed” but they’re lying because if they spoke the truth the child would run away in tears. If this distresses you, stop reading now. If you’re intrigued, I hope you enjoy the ride.
The late Roger Ebert, whether I agreed or disagreed with him, was a witty, and entertaining reviewer. He was thoughtful and usually offered well considered criticism… but every once in a while a movie would hit that seemed to leave him so boggled as to be at a loss for words. Take for example his review of the film North, which had this gem of a line:
“I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Truly, I could just leave this here and end the review with that, but no… as much as I generally hate writing 1 star reviews, I take something of a personal insult that this book was published, as it means a few more trees were removed from the world (something, that would no doubt distress our protagonist) in order to allow people to read it. Those trees could have been used for such better things! Like pamphlets with instructions on how to properly watch paint dry.
In order for me to enjoy a book, I have to get AT LEAST one of three things (preferably all three). Good character, prose, or plot.
Let’s take these on one by one, shall we?
Characters – In a word: shit. I hate the characters. I hate them all so much. I don’t think I was supposed to, but I could only take so much teen angst, and descents into madness that were never properly developed due to a time skip. After 50 pages I was ready for a zombie apocalypse to hit in the hopes that we could pick a couple of them off. 20 pages to the end, I was just hoping to get a bloody final with detailed descriptions of their horrible demises, as it would have been therapeutic after dealing with their bullshit. I mean, there are quite a few disturbing moments of violence in this book, which could possibly be entertaining for a time, but once you're mentally tuned into the Caligula mindset, the bloody details swiftly starts to feel repetitive and unsatisfying. I mean, killing a kitten and a baby, bah, by the point we get to such things, why should I care? Why don’t you make a bomb that kills puppies and grandmas (but only nice ones who bake cookies made with love in every bite) every time someone uses a vowel? It would make as much sense as anything else in the plot… but this is the character section, let’s eviscerate the plot later.
Our main lead is Jackie. She has no characteristics that would be considered realistic human qualities other than rage, sadness and being horny. She comes off less like a real teenager and more like the media’s fear of teenage hooligans that will throw rocks through your window without even the slightest moment’s hesitation because you said the wrong thing (which is actually a scene in the book, as someone cut down a tree on their own property, which just happened to be where Jackie had her first kiss). Seriously, let’s throw out every teen angst cliché we can think of short of smearing makeup on our face while screaming out My Chemical Romance lyrics. The other characters are equally underdeveloped and annoying and about as three dimensional as a cardboard cutout of Pac-Man.
Prose – Now if I were a paranoid man (which I'm not, no matter Fred across the street may be saying about me), I'd say this book was deliberately trying to provoke me. As mentioned, the book is fairly violent and filled with little disturbing moments, which is odd given that it isn’t even up to middle grade level prose Let’s use small sentences that sound like they could mean something, but only if you close your eyes and wish really hard. Perhaps this could explain the simplistic nature of the characters, but I doubt it as most middle grade books have more respect for their characters. The language is insipid, and perhaps the only thing praise worthy is that it occasionally does sound like the sort of thing a teen may write in their diary and look back at and say “Oh dear, glad I outgrew that nonsense,” while trying to hide their embarrassment as they set it on fire. It’s also filled with one page chapters and that are composed of a single paragraph the size of my pinky finger. The short blunt sentences almost have a Hemingway feel to them, except Hemingway could actually upon occasion say something meaningful with those words.
Plot – HA! What plot? This is a series of fragmented snippets of a plot that feel like an outline at best and bad poetry at the worst. It’s about teen angst, and zombies and ghosts. These come together to a point, but never in a satisfying way. I mean sure there’s some nightmarish sequences, but after a while they get boring because it seems to be implying that life is one giant nightmarish delusion even when we aren’t dealing horrific abominations… it never lets up, and the nightmare becomes the norm.
In closing: If I described this book in a word, I’d say useless. It’s not entertaining, it’s not clever, it’s not even scary. It’s a waste of time. I never regret reading a book, even bad ones at least give me a chuckle and I at least feel like I enjoyed the process of reading them. Not so here. I only finished the damn thing because it was only 165 pages long (and given the one paragraph chapters and spacing, it was probably more like 130) and even with that I feel like I lost time that could have been spent doing… well, practically anything else would be more interesting. 1/5 stars
There will be none of that here. What follows is less a review and more of a rage-induced tirade that was written while in a hazy trance brought about by sheer fury. It will be sarcastic, bitter and with more than a slight hint of a parent pointing at a child saying, “I’m not mad, just disappointed” but they’re lying because if they spoke the truth the child would run away in tears. If this distresses you, stop reading now. If you’re intrigued, I hope you enjoy the ride.
The late Roger Ebert, whether I agreed or disagreed with him, was a witty, and entertaining reviewer. He was thoughtful and usually offered well considered criticism… but every once in a while a movie would hit that seemed to leave him so boggled as to be at a loss for words. Take for example his review of the film North, which had this gem of a line:
“I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Truly, I could just leave this here and end the review with that, but no… as much as I generally hate writing 1 star reviews, I take something of a personal insult that this book was published, as it means a few more trees were removed from the world (something, that would no doubt distress our protagonist) in order to allow people to read it. Those trees could have been used for such better things! Like pamphlets with instructions on how to properly watch paint dry.
In order for me to enjoy a book, I have to get AT LEAST one of three things (preferably all three). Good character, prose, or plot.
Let’s take these on one by one, shall we?
Characters – In a word: shit. I hate the characters. I hate them all so much. I don’t think I was supposed to, but I could only take so much teen angst, and descents into madness that were never properly developed due to a time skip. After 50 pages I was ready for a zombie apocalypse to hit in the hopes that we could pick a couple of them off. 20 pages to the end, I was just hoping to get a bloody final with detailed descriptions of their horrible demises, as it would have been therapeutic after dealing with their bullshit. I mean, there are quite a few disturbing moments of violence in this book, which could possibly be entertaining for a time, but once you're mentally tuned into the Caligula mindset, the bloody details swiftly starts to feel repetitive and unsatisfying. I mean, killing a kitten and a baby, bah, by the point we get to such things, why should I care? Why don’t you make a bomb that kills puppies and grandmas (but only nice ones who bake cookies made with love in every bite) every time someone uses a vowel? It would make as much sense as anything else in the plot… but this is the character section, let’s eviscerate the plot later.
Our main lead is Jackie. She has no characteristics that would be considered realistic human qualities other than rage, sadness and being horny. She comes off less like a real teenager and more like the media’s fear of teenage hooligans that will throw rocks through your window without even the slightest moment’s hesitation because you said the wrong thing (which is actually a scene in the book, as someone cut down a tree on their own property, which just happened to be where Jackie had her first kiss). Seriously, let’s throw out every teen angst cliché we can think of short of smearing makeup on our face while screaming out My Chemical Romance lyrics. The other characters are equally underdeveloped and annoying and about as three dimensional as a cardboard cutout of Pac-Man.
Prose – Now if I were a paranoid man (which I'm not, no matter Fred across the street may be saying about me), I'd say this book was deliberately trying to provoke me. As mentioned, the book is fairly violent and filled with little disturbing moments, which is odd given that it isn’t even up to middle grade level prose Let’s use small sentences that sound like they could mean something, but only if you close your eyes and wish really hard. Perhaps this could explain the simplistic nature of the characters, but I doubt it as most middle grade books have more respect for their characters. The language is insipid, and perhaps the only thing praise worthy is that it occasionally does sound like the sort of thing a teen may write in their diary and look back at and say “Oh dear, glad I outgrew that nonsense,” while trying to hide their embarrassment as they set it on fire. It’s also filled with one page chapters and that are composed of a single paragraph the size of my pinky finger. The short blunt sentences almost have a Hemingway feel to them, except Hemingway could actually upon occasion say something meaningful with those words.
Plot – HA! What plot? This is a series of fragmented snippets of a plot that feel like an outline at best and bad poetry at the worst. It’s about teen angst, and zombies and ghosts. These come together to a point, but never in a satisfying way. I mean sure there’s some nightmarish sequences, but after a while they get boring because it seems to be implying that life is one giant nightmarish delusion even when we aren’t dealing horrific abominations… it never lets up, and the nightmare becomes the norm.
In closing: If I described this book in a word, I’d say useless. It’s not entertaining, it’s not clever, it’s not even scary. It’s a waste of time. I never regret reading a book, even bad ones at least give me a chuckle and I at least feel like I enjoyed the process of reading them. Not so here. I only finished the damn thing because it was only 165 pages long (and given the one paragraph chapters and spacing, it was probably more like 130) and even with that I feel like I lost time that could have been spent doing… well, practically anything else would be more interesting. 1/5 stars
March 25, 2022
I was promised a ghost and a zombie mother chained in the basement. I got very little of that, but an abundance of a couple angsty little twats who stole some poor old dude’s dog and a bunch of kittens in order to make them into dinner . . . .
I wish the mother would have eaten Ann and her friend Jackie and turned this into a five page short story. I’m all for the gross and uncomfortable if you give me some semblance of a plot to go along with it. But when it’s simply for shock and awe? Nope.
What a waste of a great title and cover.
I wish the mother would have eaten Ann and her friend Jackie and turned this into a five page short story. I’m all for the gross and uncomfortable if you give me some semblance of a plot to go along with it. But when it’s simply for shock and awe? Nope.
What a waste of a great title and cover.
June 13, 2010
This book promised me a story about teen lesbians and zombies and ghosts and this book was a story about teen lesbians and zombies and ghosts.
Except for how it wasn't.
It was a story about love, and how awkward it makes us feel, how at that point when we're falling in love, we realize how deeply disconnected we are from others, how unable we are to truly express what we feel, how unlikely it is that we'll convey the right message and that we'll understand correctly what is told to us in return.
It's a story about loss, about the places inside ourselves we inhabit when we're in pain, the ways we live in our private limbo where things are not quite alright but where we're at peace, because we understand and embrace our pain, even if it's senseless.
It's a story about anger, about the things we do to set ourselves free from the pain, from the frustration, from loss. The ways anger liberates us if we let it, even if it doesn't solve anything and it's not socially acceptable.
Who cares about what's socially acceptable. We all have to make sacrifices.
This is a book about sacrifices, too. The things we do for love. The things we let others do for us. It's about understanding and closure.
This is the sweetest, most poignant horror story you'll ever read, and it won't seem like a horror story at all. So. I guess what I'm saying it's that it's an excellent book and everyone should read it!
Except for how it wasn't.
It was a story about love, and how awkward it makes us feel, how at that point when we're falling in love, we realize how deeply disconnected we are from others, how unable we are to truly express what we feel, how unlikely it is that we'll convey the right message and that we'll understand correctly what is told to us in return.
It's a story about loss, about the places inside ourselves we inhabit when we're in pain, the ways we live in our private limbo where things are not quite alright but where we're at peace, because we understand and embrace our pain, even if it's senseless.
It's a story about anger, about the things we do to set ourselves free from the pain, from the frustration, from loss. The ways anger liberates us if we let it, even if it doesn't solve anything and it's not socially acceptable.
Who cares about what's socially acceptable. We all have to make sacrifices.
This is a book about sacrifices, too. The things we do for love. The things we let others do for us. It's about understanding and closure.
This is the sweetest, most poignant horror story you'll ever read, and it won't seem like a horror story at all. So. I guess what I'm saying it's that it's an excellent book and everyone should read it!
December 17, 2011
this book is perfect. i hadn't read a perfect book in quite some time and now i have. no, wait. Lord of Misrule is perfect too (though it's easier for shorter books to be perfect, isn't it?), so now i've read TWO PERFECT books back to back. this is life smiling at me with a big fat grin.
as with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, of which this book reminded me, and as with The History of Love, of which also i was reminded (i just read it), and maybe most of all like An Invisible Sign of My Own, this book depicts horrible pain -- the pain of kids and old people, no less -- with unbelievable charm. these kids are fighters of the first order and you can't but love the heck out of them. and the old man, well, maybe the fight has gone out of him a little, but it's okay, things turn out kinda well for him, and in fact, in a book in which people eat each other, go around with their heads under their arms, and are subjected to terrible losses, things turn out okay for just about everyone, not because they are really okay, but because this is fiction and the power of fiction to bring whimsy and joy and irrepressible awe to the reader is endless. so this morning, when i woke up, i grabbed this little book from near my bed and held it for some twenty minutes, because it's going back to the library and we had to say goodbye proper-like.
as with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, of which this book reminded me, and as with The History of Love, of which also i was reminded (i just read it), and maybe most of all like An Invisible Sign of My Own, this book depicts horrible pain -- the pain of kids and old people, no less -- with unbelievable charm. these kids are fighters of the first order and you can't but love the heck out of them. and the old man, well, maybe the fight has gone out of him a little, but it's okay, things turn out kinda well for him, and in fact, in a book in which people eat each other, go around with their heads under their arms, and are subjected to terrible losses, things turn out okay for just about everyone, not because they are really okay, but because this is fiction and the power of fiction to bring whimsy and joy and irrepressible awe to the reader is endless. so this morning, when i woke up, i grabbed this little book from near my bed and held it for some twenty minutes, because it's going back to the library and we had to say goodbye proper-like.
November 10, 2022
TW: Death of parent, anxiety, animal death, toxic relationships, cancer, murder, language, death of baby, gore
*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:Jackie has a map of the city on the wall of her bedroom, with a green pin for each of her trees. She has a first-kiss tree and a broken-arm tree. She has a car-accident tree. There is a tree at the hospital where Jackie’s mother passed away into the long good night. When one of them gets cut down, Jackie doesn’t know what to do but she doesn’t let that stop her. She picks up the biggest rock she can carry and puts it through the window of a car. Smash. She intends to leave before the police arrive, but they’re early. Ann is Jackie’s best friend, but she’s got problems of her own. Her mother is chained up in the basement. How do you bring that up in casual conversation? “Oh, sorry I’ve been so distant, Jackie. My mother has more teeth than she’s supposed to, and she won’t eat anything that’s already dead.” Ann and her sister Margaret don’t have much of a choice here. Their mother needs to be fed. It isn’t easy but this is family. It’s not supposed to be easy. It’ll be okay as long as Margaret and Ann still have each other. Add in a cantankerous old man, his powerfully stupid dog, a headless ghost, a lesbian crush and a few unsettling visits from Jackie’s own dead mother, and you’ll find that One Bloody Thing After Another is a different sort of horror novel from the ones you’re used to. It’s as sad and funny as it is frightening, and it is as much about the way families rely on each other as it is about blood being drooled on the carpet. Though, to be honest, there is a lot of blood being drooled on the carpet.
Release Date: March 1st, 2010
Genre: Horror
Pages: 165
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
What I Liked:
1. I seriously love Jackie as a character
2. The writing style was beautiful
3. I loved how the book was written
What I Didn't Like:
1. Some parts dragged a little
Overall Thoughts:
I seriously enjoyed this novella. The characters were written so beautifully for how short the book was. There was so much happening that I never lost interest in it. There were moments where I wanted to hit some of the characters and other times I wanted to hug them.
I felt for Jackie who just wanted love and never got over her mother's death. She wanted Ann to love her back
And poor Ann being forced to take care of her mother and then her sister.
I loved that the whole time Charlie had zero idea what the ghost was asking for but the author had spread out what she wanted on random pages. It was an extra bonus of fun to keep the message going to the ending.
Final Thoughts:
This book was wonderful. I will read more books from the author.
Recommend For:
• Gay rep
• Magical realism
• Zombies
• Ghosts
• Novella
• Short chapters
IG | Blog
*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:Jackie has a map of the city on the wall of her bedroom, with a green pin for each of her trees. She has a first-kiss tree and a broken-arm tree. She has a car-accident tree. There is a tree at the hospital where Jackie’s mother passed away into the long good night. When one of them gets cut down, Jackie doesn’t know what to do but she doesn’t let that stop her. She picks up the biggest rock she can carry and puts it through the window of a car. Smash. She intends to leave before the police arrive, but they’re early. Ann is Jackie’s best friend, but she’s got problems of her own. Her mother is chained up in the basement. How do you bring that up in casual conversation? “Oh, sorry I’ve been so distant, Jackie. My mother has more teeth than she’s supposed to, and she won’t eat anything that’s already dead.” Ann and her sister Margaret don’t have much of a choice here. Their mother needs to be fed. It isn’t easy but this is family. It’s not supposed to be easy. It’ll be okay as long as Margaret and Ann still have each other. Add in a cantankerous old man, his powerfully stupid dog, a headless ghost, a lesbian crush and a few unsettling visits from Jackie’s own dead mother, and you’ll find that One Bloody Thing After Another is a different sort of horror novel from the ones you’re used to. It’s as sad and funny as it is frightening, and it is as much about the way families rely on each other as it is about blood being drooled on the carpet. Though, to be honest, there is a lot of blood being drooled on the carpet.
Release Date: March 1st, 2010
Genre: Horror
Pages: 165
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
What I Liked:
1. I seriously love Jackie as a character
2. The writing style was beautiful
3. I loved how the book was written
What I Didn't Like:
1. Some parts dragged a little
Overall Thoughts:
I seriously enjoyed this novella. The characters were written so beautifully for how short the book was. There was so much happening that I never lost interest in it. There were moments where I wanted to hit some of the characters and other times I wanted to hug them.
I felt for Jackie who just wanted love and never got over her mother's death. She wanted Ann to love her back
And poor Ann being forced to take care of her mother and then her sister.
I loved that the whole time Charlie had zero idea what the ghost was asking for but the author had spread out what she wanted on random pages. It was an extra bonus of fun to keep the message going to the ending.
Final Thoughts:
This book was wonderful. I will read more books from the author.
Recommend For:
• Gay rep
• Magical realism
• Zombies
• Ghosts
• Novella
• Short chapters
IG | Blog
April 5, 2019
I just finished this and I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it. It certainly is an odd little book, (you can easily read it in a single, short sitting), but there are deeper themes running through all of the craziness that ensues.
Yes, this is a book about insatiable zombies with huge teeth and headless beseeching ghosts, but it's also about death, loss, and how people cope with terrible situations. It's both ridiculously funny and intensely sad. It's definitely not for everyone, but the insane weirdness of the story is both entertaining and thought provoking at the same time.
If you are looking for a quick read that is funny, a bit disturbing, and ultimately rather melancholy, then look no further.
Yes, this is a book about insatiable zombies with huge teeth and headless beseeching ghosts, but it's also about death, loss, and how people cope with terrible situations. It's both ridiculously funny and intensely sad. It's definitely not for everyone, but the insane weirdness of the story is both entertaining and thought provoking at the same time.
If you are looking for a quick read that is funny, a bit disturbing, and ultimately rather melancholy, then look no further.
May 15, 2018
3.5 Stars
This was a quirky horror story with some fantastic queer representation. There are some incredibly dark and gruesome moments in this little book. Yet, at the same time, there were also beautiful moments, exploring young romance between two girls. The narrative was a bit fragmented in places, but I still found it to be an enjoyable read
This was a quirky horror story with some fantastic queer representation. There are some incredibly dark and gruesome moments in this little book. Yet, at the same time, there were also beautiful moments, exploring young romance between two girls. The narrative was a bit fragmented in places, but I still found it to be an enjoyable read
December 3, 2022
Uhmmmmmm
August 31, 2010
I really liked this odd little book of interlocking weird characters and their stories. In the first two sections there are genuine moments of humor, pathos, and, yeah, even chill inducing creeps. The third section (a dreamlike recounting of previous events) didn't quite work for me, particularly given the work put in to create such cool characters, but the fourth section picked up the threads nicely.
November 13, 2010
This is a very weird book. But it isn't weird just to be weird. It's characters are all psychologically damaged, each dealing with that damage manifested as or caused by ghosts or beasts. It is dark and devastating, causing the reader to question how they would deal with the death of a family member, or the monstrous rebirth of them. It is bloody, and unsettling. Mostly, it's just plain awesome, dark, and strangely beautiful.
February 22, 2012
This is the first book ever that I truly don't know what rating to give it. I like and sort of understand the characters. Yet, I detest the same people. On one hand, I empathize with their emotions, however, on the other hand, I believe they are too weird to contemplate. My range of rating is somewhere between 2 and 5, therefore, I choose to remain befuddled and chicken out on assigning a number rating.
February 26, 2024
I enjoyed this little literary horror story. It had "Nightbitch" and "Monstrilio" vibes with queer teen love mixed in. A quick and entertaining read.
April 11, 2010
If I had read the description of what would be in the book, I would not have taken the time to read it. At any rate, I started the book and it was an extremely fast read so I finished it.
I only have one word to describe this book: CRAZY. Wait, I need two words. My other word would be WEIRD. I think it's supposed to be a horror, but it's not really. Actually it feels like a story from the Twilight zone - though not as good.
Jackie's is the first story that we read. Jackie is really crazy. She just does whatever she wants, whenever she she feels like it. Her mom is a ghost that comes around and helps makes Jackie invisible whenever she needs it. Jackie is very impulsive and basically makes jokes when other people would be scared, mad, or nonchalant. For example, at one point Jackie gets arrested. For her one phone call she calls the desk of the officer near the phone. She has a crush on her friend Ann....
Of course Ann has her own problems. Even though her mom is the zombie in the basement, she is the one that walks around like a zombie. She laughs sometimes and she talks but mostly her behavior is zombielike. When Jackie starts putting the moves on her she doesn't even responds. She just sits there. Ann and her sister have to find their zombie mom fresh meat to eat. Like I said, this book is crazy. And it's pretty awful what they feed their mom. I take that back - it's really disturbing.
This book is an extremely fast read. It is very creepy. I have only read a few horror stories before so I don't know if they are all like this. Most of the book I found myself frowning, mainly it was because Jackie was one big psycho or because something else upset me. The only people I really liked was the old man and his dog. And even then he had a ghost holding her own head in her arms (dripping blood from its mouth). She meets him everyday at the end of his walk. This book was really weird and sometimes things just didn't make sense. There is one section were it's just a repeat of content from a previous section (done on purpose but still weird).
I'd recommend this book if you're looking for something different, weird, creepy, and disturbing.
I only have one word to describe this book: CRAZY. Wait, I need two words. My other word would be WEIRD. I think it's supposed to be a horror, but it's not really. Actually it feels like a story from the Twilight zone - though not as good.
Jackie's is the first story that we read. Jackie is really crazy. She just does whatever she wants, whenever she she feels like it. Her mom is a ghost that comes around and helps makes Jackie invisible whenever she needs it. Jackie is very impulsive and basically makes jokes when other people would be scared, mad, or nonchalant. For example, at one point Jackie gets arrested. For her one phone call she calls the desk of the officer near the phone. She has a crush on her friend Ann....
Of course Ann has her own problems. Even though her mom is the zombie in the basement, she is the one that walks around like a zombie. She laughs sometimes and she talks but mostly her behavior is zombielike. When Jackie starts putting the moves on her she doesn't even responds. She just sits there. Ann and her sister have to find their zombie mom fresh meat to eat. Like I said, this book is crazy. And it's pretty awful what they feed their mom. I take that back - it's really disturbing.
This book is an extremely fast read. It is very creepy. I have only read a few horror stories before so I don't know if they are all like this. Most of the book I found myself frowning, mainly it was because Jackie was one big psycho or because something else upset me. The only people I really liked was the old man and his dog. And even then he had a ghost holding her own head in her arms (dripping blood from its mouth). She meets him everyday at the end of his walk. This book was really weird and sometimes things just didn't make sense. There is one section were it's just a repeat of content from a previous section (done on purpose but still weird).
I'd recommend this book if you're looking for something different, weird, creepy, and disturbing.
April 25, 2020
Accurate title.
December 24, 2022
I can definitely see where this book would split the audience. Having read and enjoyed Joey Comeau before, I fall in the camp of having enjoyed the book. It’s disjointed and switches from character to character quite a bit and you never quite know what’s real and what isn’t. There’s teenage angst, adult loneliness, zombies, a headless ghost, and disappearing trees mashed together into what for me was a pretty fun combination
May 28, 2019
This book has zombies, ghosts, lesbians, and a girl with the ability to become invisible. And even with all that, I'm not really sure what the hell I just read...
January 1, 2025
This book was just nonsense, but in a really good way. The whole thing was absolutely crazy and completely followed the book title. I still don't know what's real or not.
It was a super fun read!
It was a super fun read!
June 23, 2019
A book that actually made me "tee hee." An absurd literary equivalent of a B-horror movie and it is amazing. Recommended for all horror fans with a sense of humor about the genre!
October 22, 2010
One Bloody Thing After Another is not what it seems, Joey Comeau surprise us with a fictional tale filled with gore and death.
Never has a book affected me so deeply. Joey Comeau enters in the person's soul and unveils their true nature. A true master of horror that leaves you hanging with every word.
March 1, 2012
I'll probably need some more distance to figure out what I really think about this. Right now, I think it was mostly great, but maybe a bit too slight, and the weird flashback section, while very nicely done, ate up maybe too much of its word count. Still, mostly great.
November 8, 2016
I'm not even sure what I just read. This has got to be one of the oddest books I have ever read. It was just very random. One part is about feeding live animals to a mother and daughter - just odd.
September 6, 2025
I picked this up based on the title and the cover image and I was not disappointed. This is a well crafted novella with relatable (if a bit clichéd) characters including angry, angsty, violent teenagers and grumpy, lonely, regretful seniors. These characters live separate but intersecting lives and I was impressed with how much I cared about them in such a short time. There is a bit of bizarro mixed in, too, with zombies and headless ghosts and a smattering of gore all of which absolutely worked for me. This bit of weird mixed in with a decent little plot and intriguing protagonists really ticked all the boxes for me.
May 4, 2018
Wow. Wowwowwowwowwow. Wow.
This is somehow the most disturbing and most heart wrenching book I've ever read. The messy matriarchal relationships here touched me deeply, and the unexplained supernatural elements served as a grim backdrop. I love the lack of explanation, makes everything far more interesting. Far more intriguing.
While a horror book, this is also a story about growing up, and discovering that the things you thought were steadfast are in fact unreliable.
This is one beautiful, messed up book.
This is somehow the most disturbing and most heart wrenching book I've ever read. The messy matriarchal relationships here touched me deeply, and the unexplained supernatural elements served as a grim backdrop. I love the lack of explanation, makes everything far more interesting. Far more intriguing.
While a horror book, this is also a story about growing up, and discovering that the things you thought were steadfast are in fact unreliable.
This is one beautiful, messed up book.
July 31, 2017
This book is the embodiment of the what-on-earth-did-I-just-read? reaction. I'm actually having a hard time even describing it. It's crazy, dark and creepy, and it's a quick read. The characters, which include two teenage girls dealing with the weight of grief, anger, confusion and responsibility, and a snarky, grumpy old man that just wants to be left alone, are interesting and unique. It's a pretty good mixture of horror and sentiment, though it's not one of those books that's packed with emotion; the characters are pretty detached and desensitized to the problems of the world, which happen to involve headless ghosts, spirit-channeled supernatural abilities, and zombies. Chaos and confusion in all the right ways, in ways that:
1. Make you put the book down for a second and go, WTF?
2. Gross you out while also intrigue you.
3. Make you laugh right after making you cringe.
4. Allow you to sympathize with characters that do psychotic things.
5. Leave you guessing until the very end.
I really enjoyed it for all its craziness. I actually kind of wish it was a bit darker, or a bit scarier. It didn't quite put me on edge in the way I hoped it would. It had a good build going on leading up to the ending, and I had high hopes that all my questions would be answered and that everything would come together in a flawless, mind-blowing way. It mostly came together, but it didn't blow my mind like I'd hoped. Then again, that may just have been me setting my hopes too high.
1. Make you put the book down for a second and go, WTF?
2. Gross you out while also intrigue you.
3. Make you laugh right after making you cringe.
4. Allow you to sympathize with characters that do psychotic things.
5. Leave you guessing until the very end.
I really enjoyed it for all its craziness. I actually kind of wish it was a bit darker, or a bit scarier. It didn't quite put me on edge in the way I hoped it would. It had a good build going on leading up to the ending, and I had high hopes that all my questions would be answered and that everything would come together in a flawless, mind-blowing way. It mostly came together, but it didn't blow my mind like I'd hoped. Then again, that may just have been me setting my hopes too high.
July 7, 2025
Well!! That was wild!
I loved the style of the writing, it definitely kept me gripped in and I breezed through this in just over an hour.
A lot of nervous laughter, a lot of “what the f**ks uttered - don’t go looking for a lot of closure or characters that you love, but it was fun, funny, and very entertaining
I loved the style of the writing, it definitely kept me gripped in and I breezed through this in just over an hour.
A lot of nervous laughter, a lot of “what the f**ks uttered - don’t go looking for a lot of closure or characters that you love, but it was fun, funny, and very entertaining
December 21, 2023
I finished this very quickly but spent so long deliberating on how much I liked or disliked it and it is decidedly
mid
.
I enjoyed the multiple perspectives, which albeit a little muddled at times, was a good way to split up the sections of the book.
what I didn't really like was. ana? yeah just ana's whole thing but glad that she and her family got along at the end of it all :)
I enjoyed the multiple perspectives, which albeit a little muddled at times, was a good way to split up the sections of the book.
what I didn't really like was. ana? yeah just ana's whole thing but glad that she and her family got along at the end of it all :)
March 17, 2019
A strange little book with very disturbing horror imagery. I loved the start, but the end didn't entirely hold up for me. I did love the little easter egg on the blank pages!
May 4, 2021
super intense little book.
May 5, 2021
hey um- what 😀
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