Personal Rating: 3.75 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.57 Stars Content Rating: PG-13 TW: possible sexual assault trigger warning (nothing graphic, but dang it there are some creepy dudes in this and several very uncomfortable moments) Phoebe Lane is a lightning rod for monsters. She and her mom are forced to flee flesh-eating plants, radioactive ants, and blobs from outer space. They survive thanks to Phoebe’s dad—an invisible titan, whose giant eyes warn them where the next monster attack will take place. All Phoebe wants is to stop running from motel to motel and start living a monster-free life in New York or Paris. But when her mom mysteriously vanishes, Phoebe is left to fend for herself in small-town Pennybrooke. That's when Phoebe starts to transform… (goodreads.com) When I first picked up this book, part of me was convinced that the whole summary was actually metaphorical in some way or poetic or something. I did not want it to be, but I was sure it was going to end up being a contemporary book that featured a teenage girl who was “quirky” and enjoyed old monster movies and compared the bad things in her life to those monster movies. This was not that. I’m not sure exactly what about the synopsis made me think it would be a contemporary book, but I’m certainly glad it wasn’t. Attack of the 50 Foot Wallflower was a wild ride full of monsters, nasty men, and a fun heroine. Also, a huge man in the sky who was really gross and I’m not really sure what to think of him as a plot device. Basically, this book takes place in a world where all of those old monster movies that everyone references in other movies and TV shows. You know the ones, they’re typically black and white, featuring very outdated special effects and even more outdated treatment of women. Frankenstein, Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, King Kong, The Blob, The Fly, The Monkey’s Paw, Them!, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, etc. In the world of this book all of those movies and more take place around the same couple of decades, mid-twentieth-century. Of course, everything is changed just a smidge, probably because of copyright but typically the references are still clear. Phoebe, the main character, is the daughter of the woman who King Kong captured and brought to the top of the Empire State Building, except in this book it’s Emperor Ook, who climbed the Chrysler Building. I don’t want to explain the whole plot to you, but basically, Phoebe and her mom run from town to town, dodging the monster (or Shiver) attacks. They are warned which towns are about to be attacked by “Daddy”, a giant, all seeing, pervy man in the sky who is Phoebe’s father. Yeah… Anyway, I don’t want to spoil too much. Apart from the fact that nearly every man in this book was a disgusting creep, I really enjoyed this book. I would guess that a large portion of my enjoyment came from the fact that I really like the old monster movies that this book references and also because I like to watch those movies with one of my closest friends (*waves* hi friend!). I think reading the book brings back many good memories of the two of us laughing at cheesy special effects and eating junk food together. Would I have enjoyed this book as much if I didn’t know the references and have good memories attached to them? I don’t know. When looking at other reviews for this book it seemed that people who didn’t get the references didn’t like the book as much. One of the other things that I found fun about this book was the fact that it was presented like a movie. The first few pages were reminiscent of title cards and opening credits. There was also a whole chapter of this book which was a musical montage, which I didn’t realize you could do in a book, but I absolutely loved it! I think the musical montage probably would have fallen flat if I didn’t know the song, but since I did (and most people wilI) I think it was effective. Reading this book was a cinematic experience. A few other things I liked:
Some of the things I didn’t like:
So, while I personally found Attack of the 50 Foot Wallflower to be an excellent read, I can see how some readers wouldn’t like it. If you do want to read it then I suggest a monster movie marathon beforehand. I’ll bring the popcorn! Thanks for reading! I’d best get going now, it would seem there is a giant blob encasing my house. Time to break out the fire extinguisher and get some ice. Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36373447-attack-of-the-50-foot-wallflower
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
April 2024
|