A Spoiler Free Review
The tone of American Elsewhere reminds me a lot of NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Kind of spooky but not exactly. Foreboding, is more the word. Wink somewhat reminds me of The Stepford Wives, though I’ve only experienced the 2004 movie and never read the book. Honestly, the thing I would liken American Elsewhere as a whole to the most is Fringe, a TV show from 2008. It’s weird and keeps building on the weird until you end up in the realm of the Eldritch Horrors… which I guess isn’t actually Fringe-y, but it’s close.
I quite enjoyed American Elsewhere, but at the same time I’m not sure I can properly discuss it without giving away spoilers. Basically, prepare yourself for a general sense of foreboding mixed with fringe-science and eldritch horror. Actually, I didn’t find that part super horrifying, but there were definitely gross bits I’m sure my brain is keeping me from fully imagining. I’m not super well versed in Eldritch Horror anyway, so… yeah. I dunno. I pretty much just filed it all away under “super alien that’s actually alien” and left it at that.
Anyway, American Elsewhere is very good. It sucks you into it in such a way that I think a reread would be best served by reading it all in one go. However, I do think reading it in chunks, like I did, served the story well. It allowed me to process what was going on a lot better than I probably would have had I read American Elsewhere all in one go. The reader is pulled along slowly and slowly conditioned for the ending, which is mind-bendy and actually more fun than the rest of the book, in my opinion, of course.
That’s another thing, American Elswhere isn’t fun, exactly. The foreboding tone makes it hard for any fun to really be had. There are moments where the reader can breathe, but the tone definitely keeps up throughout. Of maybe I was just breathing in between stints of reading, I don’t know. Definitely hard to say. Also don’t expect to be super emotional at any point. Even the ending just felt like letting out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding more than eliciting any type of emotion from me. Not bad, by any means, but… yeah. I keep saying American Elsewhere is foreboding, and I really, really mean it. Can’t shake that feeling even as Mona and Gracie drive away from Wink. It just sticks.
Character Spotlight
Mona Bright - Main Character. Spends most of the book very confused and looking for answers. Is kind of a badass.
Gracie - Honestly kinda boring for a majority of the book and then... turns into a ten-second deus ex machina.
Mrs. Benjamin - Honestly my favorite character. I love me some kooky old lady characters and she definitely fits the bill.
Mr. Parson - Kinda had in mind the old man from that Pixar Chess short who then turns into Jonathan Lipnicki from Stuart Little because reasons.
The Ganymede - A great concept for a villain. Also pretty darn human for really hating humans.
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