Saturday, March 10, 2012

Review - The Pickled Apocalypse of Pancake Island by Cameron Pierce @CameronPierce

The Pickled Apocalypse of Pancake Island

The author offers this synopsis of the book:

It is Gaston Glew's sixteenth Sad Day - the sixteenth anniversary of the saddest day of his life: his day of birth - and his parents have just committed suicide. Fed up with the sadness of Pickled Planet, Gaston Glew builds a rocket ship and blasts off into outer space, hoping to escape his briny fate.

Meanwhile, on Pancake Island, Fanny Fod, the most beautiful pancake girl in the world, nurses a secret sadness as she guards the origin of all happiness: the mysterious Cuddlywumpus. When Gaston's rocket ship crash-lands in the sea of maple syrup that surrounds Pancake Island, nothing will ever be the same for him, or for Fanny Fod.


The Pickled Apocalypse of Pancake Island was one of those books where I stop and think - that's odd. I have not had that feeling since Ass Goblins of Auschwitz. But of course they are the same author. Ass Goblins still tops my WTF meter but The Pickled Apocalypse is second place. Where do I start?

There is violence and sex. If they were human it would not be anything more than what you will find on cable. But they are not human and these characters have abilities that are enhanced. Such as beer from pancake breasts and strange maple syrup defecating beasts that are locked in seclusion and don't forget orgies involving syrup secreting doors, a pancake and a pickle.

That is what I like most about Bizarro books and their authors, anything goes. Cameron Pierce delivers on the strange and bizarre. That's not where he stops though. There is a real story underneath all the wackiness. A pickle looking for happiness and an pancake seeking to find more out of life than happiness. Pierce offers the idea that someone could be living in a emotional paradise but still lacking substance. It is when we experience sadness, happiness can truly be measured and appreciated. Pierce dives in to some heavy things in this book. It is the complete absurdity of the characters that we can measure the realness of life in this story.
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