Name: Until the Last Dog Dies
ISBN: 9781597809184

Robert Guffey

Until the Last Dog Dies

Ewan

** spoiler alert **
           Agh this was frustrating at times. 

It's hard to say what this book is

As I've hidden this due to spoilers I assume that if you are reading this you know the basic premise at least. Stand-up comedian in a world where there is a humour virus sweeping the nation.

OK, the first 75% of this didn't seem to care about the actual virus story line much, more trying to set up the contrast of the protagonist before and after. This seemed to consist of a bunch of sub Marc Maron meets angry redditor musings on life and a bunch of genuinely unfunny jokes and schtick. There were also some punk lyrics that could have been written by a 14 yr old emo kid on a particularly bad day.

I know it was written in the first person, but does that explain why every single character speaks with the same voice? 

Then the book actually went somewhere, echoing Flowers for Algernon as the virus took hold. At this point I finally realised (maybe wrongly) that the book seemed to be an allegory for modern day society, over political correctness, lack of individuality and a general "spirit". (it did get a tad heavy handed towards the end)

So as a critique on modern society it does work rather well, but takes forever to get there.

Thing is, the main character is an absolute bellend (non Brits feel free to look this up) , really one of the worst whiny, angry, self loathing but egotistical piles of sh¡t I have had to endure. Constantly believing he is funny but really really isn't. Also, there is a difference between being politically incorrect to make a point, and coming across as borderline misogynistic and racist. Simple word choice. 

Unless that's the point? Maybe the lack of humour is supposed to make me think I have the virus? hmmm? or maybe the character had the virus all along? That would explain it.

Why did i finish it? The premise was actually interesting. so a star for that