Title: Wolf in White Van
Author: John Darnielle
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 216
Rating: 3.5*/5
John Darnielle – Wolf in White Van
This book took me a little while to get into, but I think that’s almost the point of it. It’s a multi-layered little thing, something you could re-read a bunch of times and pick up something different every time.
It’s actually kind of hard to explain what this book is about, but I guess I’ll give it a stab. We follow a kid with a facial disfigurement who runs a sort of cross between a Choose Your Own Adventure book and a game of Dungeons and Dragons via postal correspondence. And while there is a plot of sorts, it’s not necessarily linear, so the book itself is both confusing and kind of rewarding.
It’s also written by John Darnielle, the lead singer/songwriter of The Mountain Goats, which is one of my favourite bands. I guess that could potentially bias me in the book’s favour, but the truth is that it made me a tougher critic than I would usually be. Still, it was definitely an interesting book that was worth reading, I’m just not sure whether I actually enjoyed it.If anything, it was more like a workout for my brain, and that’s fine.
John Darnielle
