[Book Review] Puppet Shows

Title: Puppet Shows
Author: Michael Frissore
Date Published: November 22, 2012
Genre: Humor
Source: ARC from Author
Rating: 4/5

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon


About the Book:

A kindly organ grinder and his performing monkey adopt a young boy after his father spontaneously combusts; a barber living inside a whiskey bottle confronts the neighborhood nuisance who wields a dead squirrel like a pair of nunchucks; and an unruly gang of sock puppets are born in a basement dojo. Welcome to Puppet Shows, thirteen outlandish stories from a writer Tucson Weekly called "a very funny weirdo." (from Goodreads)

Review:
When it comes to the bizarrely humorous, Michael Frissore's Puppet Shows is serious. No kidding!

I started reading this book with a serious state of mind. On the first story alone, I was immediately dumbfounded and seriously lost. After reading the first story, I asked myself, "What the hell just happened? What the hell did I just read?" (O.o)

In all fairness, while the description of the book gave a little hint about its contents, I wasn't fully prepared for the insanity that is confined in this little treat. So then, after reading the first story, I loosened up a little and decided to open up to the bizarre. I found myself quirkily smirking and grinning involuntarily afterwards.

The stories in this book are all randomly odd and bizarre. There is no whatsoever logic in it and strangely enough, you don't really need logic while reading this book. This in itself is what sets this book apart from all others. It ventures into the weird, the funny and sometimes, the gruesomely insane.

Imagination-wise, well, I had a blast imagining all the stories actually happening! I mean, there's that organ grinder marrying his performing monkey. There's also a mental facility run by overly eccentric people. And come on, suicide by a nail clipper is just awesome!

Oh, and what I liked best about this book is that sarcasm leaps out from its pages much like how wet paint naturally drips down a wall. It's hard to portray sarcasm especially in written form, but surprisingly enough, this book really had sarcasm pat down! I especially love Q.Q's lines and the randomly woolly mammoth!

Also, I admire the fact that this book is a non-conformist. In the publishing world, it's hard to find a book that hinges humor on purely insanity because it has limited audience and the author can't even get any assurance that people will like it. For me, this book is like a brave foray into a well-defined territory in an attempt to bring something different, and indeed, this book really brings something entirely different!

I highly recommend it for people who would like to read something very different from usual. Just do read this book with an open mind and a wild imagination. I promise you'll be okay, and you won't regret it.