Publisher:
Electric
Monkey
Release
Date: 27th
February 2014
Edition:
UK paperback,
review copy
In
the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend Robby have
accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall
praying mantises that only want two things. This is the truth. This is history.
It’s the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it.
Grasshopper
Jungle has one
of the most intriguing and original premises I’ve ever come across, and the
inside of the covers definitely lived up to that! It’s weird, gross and utterly
brilliant, actually.
The novel is pretty explicit
from beginning to end, in language, sex, sexuality and grotesque imagery. It was
thoroughly refreshing actually. I learnt the hard way not to eat my lunch while
reading about six-foot-tall praying mantises breaking out of a human body and
to angle the book away from nosy train passengers to protect them from the
constant references to sex. All of the descriptions and references and
recollections were repeated over and over again and I’m not quite sure why
Andrew Smith did it, but it made an impact, and I remembered who was who in
Austin complicated family history much easier than I would have normally! I would
normally expect that to annoy the crap out of me, and although I noticed the
repetition, it really didn’t.
Austin has a lot of obsessions,
and history and the recording of it is one of them. He is recording the end of
the world, the people involved in it and every detail surrounding it that he
and Robby can find. Austin made an effort to record every thought and every
action, regardless of how it made him look and the honesty was so different, so
pure in a way that even though he
didn’t make the best choices, I was so endeared to him. His confusion over
Robby and Shann was constant and visceral and I really felt for him.
With everything this novel
threw at me, I still wasn’t expecting Grasshopper
Jungle to end the way it did, but Andrew Smith surprised me. The ending was
unconventional and virtually unseen in YA and, like this novel as a whole,
refreshing. The tied up storylines, cut and dried decisions, firm relationships
and complete order to the world weren’t lined up like they usually are and I turned
the last page with a smile, nodding my head in satisfaction.
Grasshopper
Jungle is
twisted, strange and completely original. Highly, highly recommended. Just don’t
eat while reading it...
Thanks to Electric Monkey for
sending me a copy to review.
Sophie
This sounds brilliant - fab review :)
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