Scan barcode
katykelly's review
5.0
I would still say to those considering this read 'Grasshopper Jungle' first, which still rates as one of my favourite YA reads of all time. But this is very close behind it in terms of intelligence, humour and inventiveness. Andrew Smith just doesn't seem to think like other people, structure like other people, or invent characters like other people.
Like Grasshopper Jungle, we have disparate time streams that seem completely unrelated, that are in fact, closely linked by the end of the story. Like Grasshopper Jungle, you will also need a sense of humour about 'rude bits', this time it's not so much sex itself as a... solo act that is referenced constantly. If you're easily offended, don't read Andrew Smith.
The main plot strand follows Ariel in two segments of his life. Right now, he's living with his adoptive parents and brother in West Virginia, where the two of them (very reluctantly) have been shipped for the summer to a detox camp for techno-junkies (neither of them fall into this category). Most of the story takes place here. We also see why Ariel has been adopted. On his 14th birthday, he becomes a refugee as the sole survivor of an attack on his village, where he manages to escape by hiding inside a refrigerator for several days before being discovered. This section of the book does get quite upsetting, but Smith tells it very well, with Ariel's voice telling his history to his new and unwilling brother.
I wasn't sure at the start if I was going to like this effort from Smith. I felt confused at the change in narrative, as we are also sent back to an Arctic expedition gone wrong a hundred years ago through the diary of one of the men stuck in the ice. But I was soon won round. The boys at camp are hilarious, the wordplay, their misadventures, it's very very funny.
And the storyline that seems completely unrelated about yet another character, called enigmatically The Melting Man. Well, he is connected to it all, and is possibly the craziest character in a book I've ever come across. Channelling the voice of Josef Stalin telling him to kill everyone, his face literally melting off from the chemicals he's toting around, taking orders from his SatNav. Batty but brilliant.
And of course, there's a suicidal (reincarnated) crow that is also instrumental in tying together all the plot threads. In some ways it's as much a pleasure discovering connections between the strands as it is to read the book, but it really is another witty YA read that adults will love too. Surreal in a Douglas Adams-esque way, blackly humorous in a Catch 22-way.
My favourite segments were those at camp, with the tech-addicts and Ariel. But the whole thing is a delight to read. Occasionally brutal (some sexual violence may be best avoided by younger teenagers) but it's clever, hilarious and mind-bending.
Review of a Netgalley advance copy.
Like Grasshopper Jungle, we have disparate time streams that seem completely unrelated, that are in fact, closely linked by the end of the story. Like Grasshopper Jungle, you will also need a sense of humour about 'rude bits', this time it's not so much sex itself as a... solo act that is referenced constantly. If you're easily offended, don't read Andrew Smith.
The main plot strand follows Ariel in two segments of his life. Right now, he's living with his adoptive parents and brother in West Virginia, where the two of them (very reluctantly) have been shipped for the summer to a detox camp for techno-junkies (neither of them fall into this category). Most of the story takes place here. We also see why Ariel has been adopted. On his 14th birthday, he becomes a refugee as the sole survivor of an attack on his village, where he manages to escape by hiding inside a refrigerator for several days before being discovered. This section of the book does get quite upsetting, but Smith tells it very well, with Ariel's voice telling his history to his new and unwilling brother.
I wasn't sure at the start if I was going to like this effort from Smith. I felt confused at the change in narrative, as we are also sent back to an Arctic expedition gone wrong a hundred years ago through the diary of one of the men stuck in the ice. But I was soon won round. The boys at camp are hilarious, the wordplay, their misadventures, it's very very funny.
And the storyline that seems completely unrelated about yet another character, called enigmatically The Melting Man. Well, he is connected to it all, and is possibly the craziest character in a book I've ever come across. Channelling the voice of Josef Stalin telling him to kill everyone, his face literally melting off from the chemicals he's toting around, taking orders from his SatNav. Batty but brilliant.
And of course, there's a suicidal (reincarnated) crow that is also instrumental in tying together all the plot threads. In some ways it's as much a pleasure discovering connections between the strands as it is to read the book, but it really is another witty YA read that adults will love too. Surreal in a Douglas Adams-esque way, blackly humorous in a Catch 22-way.
My favourite segments were those at camp, with the tech-addicts and Ariel. But the whole thing is a delight to read. Occasionally brutal (some sexual violence may be best avoided by younger teenagers) but it's clever, hilarious and mind-bending.
Review of a Netgalley advance copy.
maddiemcevoy's review against another edition
4.0
this is unlike anything i’ve ever read, and i’ve read grasshopper jungle.
it did remind me at times of slaughterhouse five, but it was definitely a kids summer camp story at heart.
i loved ariel, he was an incredible narrator and i won’t soon forget his voice or his story.
the summer camp plotline definitely kept me interested in the story at first, but as i got further and the different plotlines started to connect, i enjoyed every word.
this book is one i need to think about more, and i know i will be thinking about it a lot.
i’m not exactly sure what it’s trying to say, but the story was unique and succinct and incredible.
i don’t know how to write a review for this book because it’s like no other book i’ve read.
it’s very difficult to read at times, it has moments that are scary and heartbreaking.
but it also shows you the simple beauty of humanity— kids forming friendships and making dumb jokes.
i loved this book, and i think it needs more praise and more readers.
it did remind me at times of slaughterhouse five, but it was definitely a kids summer camp story at heart.
i loved ariel, he was an incredible narrator and i won’t soon forget his voice or his story.
the summer camp plotline definitely kept me interested in the story at first, but as i got further and the different plotlines started to connect, i enjoyed every word.
this book is one i need to think about more, and i know i will be thinking about it a lot.
i’m not exactly sure what it’s trying to say, but the story was unique and succinct and incredible.
i don’t know how to write a review for this book because it’s like no other book i’ve read.
it’s very difficult to read at times, it has moments that are scary and heartbreaking.
but it also shows you the simple beauty of humanity— kids forming friendships and making dumb jokes.
i loved this book, and i think it needs more praise and more readers.
notblue's review against another edition
4.0
This is such a weird book... I honestly wasn't expecting too much from it but holy hell this is good. It was a trip to read this.
Also, I bet there are at least 100 euphemisms about masturbation
Edit: Went back and counted. There are about 31
Also, I bet there are at least 100 euphemisms about masturbation
Edit: Went back and counted. There are about 31
janewhitehurst's review
4.0
The Alex Crow is one of those books that you just cannot put down. Then, when you've finished, you sit and think 'what the fuck just happened?' And I mean this in the best way possible. The Alex Crow takes all the great elements of Grasshopper Jungle and merges them with all the great elements of Winger. It was bizarre, but Andrew Smith is so amazing at creating likable characters, it totally worked. It's told by 3 vastly different narrators- one a young boy named Ariel who was recently rescued from a Middle Eastern war zone and given a new home in America, the next a Schizophrenic maniac driving through the country with a homemade bomb, and the third an explorer from the 19th century who is aboard a ship trapped in Antarctica. I know, I told you it's bizarre. But it's also wonderful.
zebac's review
3.0
Although I think Andrew Smith is really clever and the ideas in this book are amazing, I found the characters a bit thin and unbelievable. The main narrator, Ariel, is interesting, but his level of written and spoken English is incredible for a sixteen year old migrant (I know, I've taught quite a few ESL learners). Cobie and Max came across as plausible teenagers, but a bit skimpy in characterisation.
That was issue one. The second issue for me was the choppy structure of the book - it does all come together in the end, but I didn't really find it satisfying, and I couldn't work out the point of some of the strands.
This is a really interesting read, but it isn't a book that I would rush to recommend. Trigger warnings for sexual assault. Definitely not gratuitous, but upsetting.
That was issue one. The second issue for me was the choppy structure of the book - it does all come together in the end, but I didn't really find it satisfying, and I couldn't work out the point of some of the strands.
This is a really interesting read, but it isn't a book that I would rush to recommend. Trigger warnings for sexual assault. Definitely not gratuitous, but upsetting.
adambwriter's review against another edition
5.0
This was Andrew Smith amplified. His most developed, most daring, most haunting work to date.
Full review to come....
Full review to come....
booksnpunks's review against another edition
5.0
2nd reread: This book is freaking glorious, can’t wait to write on it.
Reread: This book is absolutely magnificent and I think is now one of my favourites. Andrew Smith is an incredibly clever writer and is horrendously underrated inside the Young Adult genre. The motifs inside this novel were hard-hitting - the main character Ariel was constantly inside liminal spaces. As a refugee, he has no home and no family. Instead he is resurrected through symbolic "de-extinction", he is not allowed to die but is constantly saved by American Men who are obsessed with progress. Yet through this progress, they inevitably destroy the things they try to save.
Ariel's story is reflected through time. He is saved by hiding inside a refrigerator that metaphorically freezes him in time, so that when he exits from it he walks out into a completely new life as a resurrected being. The inclusion of the Dr Merrie's diary entries from the 1880s detail an expedition to find Katkov's Beast that has been trapped in ice. Ariel, as a refugee from the Middle East, becomes a figure of America's problems condensed into one child. They attempt to rescue him from the ice just as they recuse the Beast - both figures are not allowed to stay inside the ice (or refrigerator) where they hinder progress.
What Smith shows, however, is the danger of progress, especially masculine progress, shown through the character of the melting man. He is a by-product of the Merrie-Seymour Division experiments and seeks destruction wherever he drives. As well as Smith's prose taking inspiration from the erratic yet captivating writer of Stephen King, the degeneration of humanity through the masculine need to control and manipulate the future becomes the ultimate downfall for the characters. Yet almost none of them repent their actions, and progress is instead left to run it's deadly course.
Not only is this a book about the horrors of science, but it also shows the reality of terror and war in the Middle East. It does not shy away from the harsh abuse that goes unnoticed worldwide. The majority of the book, which centers on boys camp that Ariel and his new brother attend, similarly show the complex nature of technology and friendship and the extent to which science has control over life and nature. Smith again takes inspiration from famous coming-of-age novels, but also the sexuality of writers such as Bukowski in it's crudeness.
The book is immensely troubling but also very complicated in its message, and this is why I love it so much. If you would like to read Young Adult fiction that blends science-fiction, coming-of-age, horror, and terrorism, then you need to read this novel.
--
HIS WRITING WAS SO MUCH LIKE STEPHEN KING IT MADE ME WANT TO LEAK WATER FROM MY EYES. Okay so this book is about a kid who is adopted into an American family after surviving this mass genocide, and he goes to a camp with his older brother. Their Dad is mental and does some crazy experiments and so there's all this weird genetic and science stuff going on. PLUS A MENTAL DUDE WHO HEARS THE VOICE OF JOSEPH STALIN IN HIS HEAD DRIVING AROUND THROUGH THE WHOLE BOOK, IT WAS SO GREAT.
Andrew Smith is such a good writer. The bits about the boys in the camp were like some Bukowski novel and the rest was just mental. READ ALL OF HIS BOOKS.
Reread: This book is absolutely magnificent and I think is now one of my favourites. Andrew Smith is an incredibly clever writer and is horrendously underrated inside the Young Adult genre. The motifs inside this novel were hard-hitting - the main character Ariel was constantly inside liminal spaces. As a refugee, he has no home and no family. Instead he is resurrected through symbolic "de-extinction", he is not allowed to die but is constantly saved by American Men who are obsessed with progress. Yet through this progress, they inevitably destroy the things they try to save.
Ariel's story is reflected through time. He is saved by hiding inside a refrigerator that metaphorically freezes him in time, so that when he exits from it he walks out into a completely new life as a resurrected being. The inclusion of the Dr Merrie's diary entries from the 1880s detail an expedition to find Katkov's Beast that has been trapped in ice. Ariel, as a refugee from the Middle East, becomes a figure of America's problems condensed into one child. They attempt to rescue him from the ice just as they recuse the Beast - both figures are not allowed to stay inside the ice (or refrigerator) where they hinder progress.
What Smith shows, however, is the danger of progress, especially masculine progress, shown through the character of the melting man. He is a by-product of the Merrie-Seymour Division experiments and seeks destruction wherever he drives. As well as Smith's prose taking inspiration from the erratic yet captivating writer of Stephen King, the degeneration of humanity through the masculine need to control and manipulate the future becomes the ultimate downfall for the characters. Yet almost none of them repent their actions, and progress is instead left to run it's deadly course.
Not only is this a book about the horrors of science, but it also shows the reality of terror and war in the Middle East. It does not shy away from the harsh abuse that goes unnoticed worldwide. The majority of the book, which centers on boys camp that Ariel and his new brother attend, similarly show the complex nature of technology and friendship and the extent to which science has control over life and nature. Smith again takes inspiration from famous coming-of-age novels, but also the sexuality of writers such as Bukowski in it's crudeness.
The book is immensely troubling but also very complicated in its message, and this is why I love it so much. If you would like to read Young Adult fiction that blends science-fiction, coming-of-age, horror, and terrorism, then you need to read this novel.
--
HIS WRITING WAS SO MUCH LIKE STEPHEN KING IT MADE ME WANT TO LEAK WATER FROM MY EYES. Okay so this book is about a kid who is adopted into an American family after surviving this mass genocide, and he goes to a camp with his older brother. Their Dad is mental and does some crazy experiments and so there's all this weird genetic and science stuff going on. PLUS A MENTAL DUDE WHO HEARS THE VOICE OF JOSEPH STALIN IN HIS HEAD DRIVING AROUND THROUGH THE WHOLE BOOK, IT WAS SO GREAT.
Andrew Smith is such a good writer. The bits about the boys in the camp were like some Bukowski novel and the rest was just mental. READ ALL OF HIS BOOKS.
pixelski's review against another edition
1.0
Firstly, thanks to Hardie Grant Egmont Australia for this review copy.
The only thought I had after finishing The Alex Crow was this: well thank God that’s over. I regret reading this book. It was honestly the biggest waste of my time. Two emotions dominated whilst reading: confusion and/or boredom.
The book is actually told from three perspectives – the majority of which by a boy named Ariel who is an orphan as a result of war in the Middle East and gets adopted by an American. The other perspectives are from an insane guy (the ‘melting man’), and the journal entries of a doctor on an expedition on a ship called the Alex Crow in the 1800s. I swear this was so confusing when I was reading from Ariel’s perspective and then suddenly it switches to some guy who is driving and thinks Joseph Stalin is talking to him, then switch again to some dude stuck on a ship in the 1800s. I. Just. Don’t. Care.
I felt that Ariel was more an impartial narrator telling someone else’s story than his own. He was so detached from everything I couldn’t relate to him. He actually went through some awful stuff but the way it was written (while eliciting disgust on my end) didn’t trigger any emotions from me. You could say maybe it was because he was numb to it all, but I say he was unrelatable. It was like he didn’t care… But he did. Ariel had all these repressed feelings that I thought could have been portrayed in a way that appealed to the reader but still be distant to his peers in the story. Sorry kiddo I feel nothing for you.
Anyway, he’s stuck in Camp Merrie-Seymour for Boys with his adopted brother and the camp is run by the company their dad works for. Their parents shoved them there because it’s free but it’s actually a camp for boys who are addicted to games/technology. So we’ve got Ariel, his brother Max, and this other boy named Cobie who are the only normal teenagers in this whole camp of boys who are so far gone they stick toilet paper in their ears to block out reality and pretend to have earbuds in. WTF? That’s the jist of it. I was dying of boredom. Sure there was some male bonding between these guys but I swear it was just a bunch of teenage boys swearing and obsessed with jerking off. Like every second sentence out of Max’s mouth was related to this. Out of all these 277 pages, the only interesting person was Cobie. I actually really liked this kid. He had substance with his humour and knowledge of the outdoors. But even Cobie couldn’t save this book from ultimately being doomed.
There’s sci-fi in this too. Weird, suicidal crows that were extinct but brought back to life, drones, and a research company obsessed with all of this and more. Are you weirded out yet? Because if you aren’t, maybe this book is for you!
My problem with this book was that it could have worked and that’s what is so disappointing. The way Smith set this up, it could have gone really well or really badly. For me, The Alex Crow just missed the mark. From the beginning, I was waiting for everything to come together (I mean, there HAD to be a point to three random perspectives right?) but at the rate it was all going I wasn’t sure it ever would. The pacing was unbearably slow so that when the light bulb did go off for me, it was too late. I’d already given up on the story, gotten bored and was just reading to get it over with. The problem was that the revelations came too late, the confusing bits too heavy from the beginning and not having enough time to properly work the clues in. It was 75% confusion and then 25% dump telling me how everything fit together.
Ohmygod what even is this review. It’s as confusing as the book itself. And no, your brain can’t possibly hurt as much as mine.
The only thought I had after finishing The Alex Crow was this: well thank God that’s over. I regret reading this book. It was honestly the biggest waste of my time. Two emotions dominated whilst reading: confusion and/or boredom.
The book is actually told from three perspectives – the majority of which by a boy named Ariel who is an orphan as a result of war in the Middle East and gets adopted by an American. The other perspectives are from an insane guy (the ‘melting man’), and the journal entries of a doctor on an expedition on a ship called the Alex Crow in the 1800s. I swear this was so confusing when I was reading from Ariel’s perspective and then suddenly it switches to some guy who is driving and thinks Joseph Stalin is talking to him, then switch again to some dude stuck on a ship in the 1800s. I. Just. Don’t. Care.
I felt that Ariel was more an impartial narrator telling someone else’s story than his own. He was so detached from everything I couldn’t relate to him. He actually went through some awful stuff but the way it was written (while eliciting disgust on my end) didn’t trigger any emotions from me. You could say maybe it was because he was numb to it all, but I say he was unrelatable. It was like he didn’t care… But he did. Ariel had all these repressed feelings that I thought could have been portrayed in a way that appealed to the reader but still be distant to his peers in the story. Sorry kiddo I feel nothing for you.
Anyway, he’s stuck in Camp Merrie-Seymour for Boys with his adopted brother and the camp is run by the company their dad works for. Their parents shoved them there because it’s free but it’s actually a camp for boys who are addicted to games/technology. So we’ve got Ariel, his brother Max, and this other boy named Cobie who are the only normal teenagers in this whole camp of boys who are so far gone they stick toilet paper in their ears to block out reality and pretend to have earbuds in. WTF? That’s the jist of it. I was dying of boredom. Sure there was some male bonding between these guys but I swear it was just a bunch of teenage boys swearing and obsessed with jerking off. Like every second sentence out of Max’s mouth was related to this. Out of all these 277 pages, the only interesting person was Cobie. I actually really liked this kid. He had substance with his humour and knowledge of the outdoors. But even Cobie couldn’t save this book from ultimately being doomed.
There’s sci-fi in this too. Weird, suicidal crows that were extinct but brought back to life, drones, and a research company obsessed with all of this and more. Are you weirded out yet? Because if you aren’t, maybe this book is for you!
My problem with this book was that it could have worked and that’s what is so disappointing. The way Smith set this up, it could have gone really well or really badly. For me, The Alex Crow just missed the mark. From the beginning, I was waiting for everything to come together (I mean, there HAD to be a point to three random perspectives right?) but at the rate it was all going I wasn’t sure it ever would. The pacing was unbearably slow so that when the light bulb did go off for me, it was too late. I’d already given up on the story, gotten bored and was just reading to get it over with. The problem was that the revelations came too late, the confusing bits too heavy from the beginning and not having enough time to properly work the clues in. It was 75% confusion and then 25% dump telling me how everything fit together.
Ohmygod what even is this review. It’s as confusing as the book itself. And no, your brain can’t possibly hurt as much as mine.
bookgirl4ever's review
3.0
Multiple stories, two happening at the same time and one a prelude to the main story arc, are woven together to create a complicated story. The main character is teenager Ariel, a refuge who has been adopted by American parents. His new father works for a tech company that unethically experiments on living creatures, including humans, to create living weapons. Ariel and his new brother are sent to a camp run by the company. The camp is pretty awful, the boys have no idea why they were sent there until they do some exploring. Another thread is the melting man who hears the voice of Josef Stalin, who wants him to kill everyone he comes in contact with and keep a deadly objective in mind, and 360, who keeps up a constant commentary on the melting man's every action. The third story line is an expedition in the 1880s that is stranded on an iceberg by the North Pole. As the book progresses, each story comes together.
Mature teenage boys.
Mature teenage boys.
rdyourbookcase's review
3.0
This was a tough read for me. One of the best things about Andrew Smith’s writing is that he doesn’t treat teens like they’re younger or more immature than what they actually are just because they’re teens. The Alex Crow started slowly and then all of a sudden everything happened at once. I wish I had known what was going to happen before I started the book. There are few things that are difficult for me to read about, but this book had one of those things. If The Kite Runner made you uncomfortable, I would warn you about this book. It’s definitely worth the read, as are all of Smith’s books, but it’s good to know what you’re getting into when you start it. I definitely look forward to Smith’s next novel!