Review: The Unnoticeables, Robert Brockway

The first line of the back cover copy for The Unnoticeables is, “There are angels, and they are not beneficent or loving.” This premise, along with the humour of the rest of the blurb, is what made me buy this book. The first line of the actual story is, “I met my guardian angel today. She shot me in the face.” I read this and thought, yup, I’m totally in.

TL;DR, spoiler-free review: an intriguing and well-executed premise, The Unnoticeables is funny, subversive, and unique. Great pacing that never really slows down, you’ll read this book fast because you won’t be able to do anything else until it’s finished.

You’re-verbose-and-I-like-it review: I was surprised how quickly this book got its hooks into me. Usually it takes a few chapters for me to say whether I’m interested enough to finish it, but from the first line I was committed. The characters were interesting and three dimensional, the plot was compelling and well-paced, and it was generally well-written, if a bit vulgar (I say that more as a disclaimer than a criticism. Vulgarity doesn’t bother me but there’s a lot of dick jokes and more than a few f-bombs so head’s up, in case that’s not your thing).

One of the best things about this book, other than the unique premise, is how much it subverts the reader’s expectations. Unlike The Invisible Library where I saw every twist coming with an overwrought twirl of the villain’s mustache, The Unnoticeables tells you what’s about to happen and then pulls the rug out from under you. For example, when the main character and his friends are about the engage in a high speed motorcycle chase, the severity and urgency of this moment is wholly ruined but the fact that he can’t actually operate the bike and they end up sort of chugging along after their target. This sort of bait-and-switch storytelling is so much more compelling to me than the paint-by-numbers style of writing.

To make matters even better, the book is funny. As in, I laughed out loud several times, funny. Robert Brockway uses this humour to subvert a lot of the seriousness of the novel but not in a way that gets annoying. You know how, in movies/TV, the characters are a little too funny, a little too witty? We all know no one talks like that in real life. Or how every situation is super serious… JOKE. Serious… JOKE. Over and over and over. This is not the case in The Unnoticeables. Brockway knows when to undercut the scene or dialogue with humour, but he also knows when not to; when to let the characters react the way you would expect them to, or when to let every gruesome, terrifying moment of a scene play out.

Random tangent: without giving any spoilers, one of the antagonists is very obviously based on an 90s heartthrob. I am embarrassed to admit how long it took me to realize exactly who it is but when I did, I almost cried laughing.

The best review I can give this book is to tell you that I was ordering the sequel before I finished the first one. This book is strange, intense, and hilarious and you should read it. 🙂

Week 4: The Unnoticeables, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, and The Power of Habit

Holy aggressively yellow book covers, Batman!

The Unnoticeables, Robert Brockway: I was so looking forward to this book last week but I just couldn’t get to it. As soon as I hit “publish” on this post, I am going to get comfy and start reading this!

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, Samantha Irby: I have been thinking about getting this book for a while. I probably would have bought it for the title and cover alone, but then a fellow bibliomaniac recommended it. Also, looking at the cover again, there are endorsement quotes from both Roxane Gay and Lindy West. What the hell took me so long to get on board here?

The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg: I have a ton of habits that I’d like to change. I want to read faster, I want to spend less time screwing around on the internet, I want to be more productive, et cetera, et cetera. I’m hoping this book will help me understand how habits are formed and how to change them so I can develop more effective, healthy ones. I’m reading this one in audio format because I promised people handmade gifts for Christmas (mainly knit socks) and I still haven’t finished them, so audio means I can multitask. Man, it’s almost February; this is ridiculous. Another habit for the list: start making Christmas presents in June, not October.

Housekeeping: I am thinking of buying a book stand so I can read print books while knitting. Any recommendations? If you have one you like, I would love to hear where you got it. 🙂

Week 3: The Invisible Library, Sex Object, and The Unnoticeables

I’m so excited for this week’s reading! I’m looking forward to some more science fiction, especially since the last one I read was disappointing. I’m also keen to read another memoir, which is a genre I’ve only recently come to enjoy. And so, without further ado, I present: Week 3! *dramatic arm flourish followed by self-deprecating eye roll*

The Invisible Library, Genevieve Cogman: a sci-fi about a spy who works for the Library (don’t know what that means yet) and has to travel to what sounds like an alternate dimension to retrieve a dangerous book. Basically, I want to read a book about books for my book blog. 😀

Sex Object, Jessica Valenti: continuing with the feminist theme of the last two weeks, I’m keen to read this book because the blurb says it “explores the toll that sexism takes on women’s lives.” The books I’ve read lately consider the larger Women’s Movement or feminism in pop culture; I’m interested in narrowing that view down into one woman’s story.

The Unnoticeables, Robert Brockway: written by one of the editors at Cracked, this book is set in 70s New York. Angels are real, but they aren’t benevolent. The premise sounds cool so I’m interested, even more so since Cracked disabled their YouTube channel by laying off all their best writers and personalities. I imagine books and Twitter is how I’ll absorb content from them now.

Housekeeping: I’m going to start including a new section at the end of book reviews creatively and ingeniously called “Read also.” I may not do this with every book but when I think of something similar or related that I think is worthwhile, I’ll let you know. 🙂