Charlie’s dog Mitchie is as old as he is and is becoming a little feeble. He is also being haunted by a ghost who insists on daily visits to his neighbor’s apartment.
Jackie has an odd obsession with trees and has a bit of a breakdown when one of them is cut down. She is also in love with her best friend, Ann.
Ann has larger problems. Ann’s mother has begun to act strangely, is transforming, and craves live beings as meals.
Thus begins One Bloody Thing After Another. In category, this novella has been labeled as “horror.” Being one who still cannot finish It, I have to say that it can only loosely be put into that genre. What’s interesting here is the way the Joey Comeau writes it. Bare details are provided for what would really be thought of as shocking acts. However, in leaving the details open, there is so much for the imagination to build on. It would honestly depend on yours how the spaces in the story would be filled by your mind.
While the story lines are in the same book, it is almost like three separate stories that only barely intersect for the majority of the novella. It seems almost true to life that people who are in close contact with each other can also be worlds apart. That is certainly true for Jackie and Ann. While they spend time together, it is almost as if they are strangers who just happen to be in the same place at the same time. Comeau purposefully seems to leave the connections out. The same can be said for much of how life can be. How often do we learn things later about friends and loved ones about which we had no clue?
Some who read this might not be a fan of the formatting. The chapters are short; the sentences can be choppy at times. Note that this is entirely on purpose and not the result of a writer who just isn’t talented. It takes great talent to make this work, and I think Comeau does that.
In the end, I am on the fence with this one. I feel like I stepped into the story of three people in the middle of their lives, learned a little about them in a small space of time, and left again before I really got the full impact of their pasts, presents, and futures. Traditionally speaking, I have in the past not really been a fan of this. I like order and completion, and I did not get that with this.
However, I am still trying to decide if I think this is a good thing or not with Comeau’s work. At the very least, I have walked away still pondering the book. I left still wondering, not just forgetting what I read as soon as I was done. And that, in itself, says a lot about where I might end up when I read this again.
