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melihooker's review
5.0
MP Johnson's debut bizarro book THE AFTER-LIFE STORY OF PORK KNUCKLES MALONE is about a boy, Daryl, and his pet pig Pork Knuckles. Daryl's dad grows concerned over his infatuation with the pig and puts poor PK on the chopping block making him into a nice ham. Thus begins Daryl's journey through all manner of chaos and crazies to escape the father who wronged him and his best friend Pork Knuckles the pig.
Even though this is a bizarro story with bat-shit crazy characters, insane twists in plot and viscera squirting from every damn orifice imaginable, this tale has heart. Obviously, since this is bizarro it goes without saying that this story is over the top, but it’s not a constant one-upping of gross-outs and camp to shock the reader; young Daryl is a good kid trying to do the right thing by his friend and I white-knuckled my Kindle until the very end hoping he would make it out in one piece, pig or no pig.
MP Johnson has an extensive background in non-fiction writing, his music obsession satisfied in reviews for his own personal zine and website http://freaktension.wordpress.com/ and the punk music magazine Razorcake. Johnson doesn’t abandon his non-fiction world of punks, freaks, misfits, social rejects, and psychos (and I use all those labels in the most complimentary way) but instead uses them to fill his fictional bizarro world, albeit through a distorted funhouse mirror, infusing his own unique voice in an often trudged genre keeping things fresh.
In short, two thumbs up! Full review will be posted on Dreadful Tales in the next couple weeks.
Even though this is a bizarro story with bat-shit crazy characters, insane twists in plot and viscera squirting from every damn orifice imaginable, this tale has heart. Obviously, since this is bizarro it goes without saying that this story is over the top, but it’s not a constant one-upping of gross-outs and camp to shock the reader; young Daryl is a good kid trying to do the right thing by his friend and I white-knuckled my Kindle until the very end hoping he would make it out in one piece, pig or no pig.
MP Johnson has an extensive background in non-fiction writing, his music obsession satisfied in reviews for his own personal zine and website http://freaktension.wordpress.com/ and the punk music magazine Razorcake. Johnson doesn’t abandon his non-fiction world of punks, freaks, misfits, social rejects, and psychos (and I use all those labels in the most complimentary way) but instead uses them to fill his fictional bizarro world, albeit through a distorted funhouse mirror, infusing his own unique voice in an often trudged genre keeping things fresh.
In short, two thumbs up! Full review will be posted on Dreadful Tales in the next couple weeks.
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