Indie Author Marie Simas - Douchebag Roulette

A book of essays. This is not generally my 'thing', but I'm starting to find that what I thought of as my 'thing' isn't quite accurate. More specifically, it isn't broad enough. I've agreed to read some novels that I thought I would have to suffer through only to find that I absolutely loved the entire story. (For example, In the House of Five Dragons.) Other times, I'm dead on. This was one of those times: dead on. I should have listened to my gut. Fortunately, the book wasn't very long.

The blurb about this essay collection, Douchebag Roulette, said that it was funny. I believe I even read the word hilarious. I found it to be crude. There was potential for funny, but crude won out in the end. I realize that some people like crude and that in itself makes it funny to some, but the stories built up and built up and then just ended.

Most of the stories went something like this. There was this girl/guy once. She/he did these awful/gross/selfish things. Narrator gives examples. Tension builds. Ugh, what a jerk. The end.

As the reader, I felt let down by the endings of the various stories. The climax was mostly there, but the story just fizzled after that. I realize that writing a good ending can be difficult, but the readers need something so they don't feel cheated out of closure and satisfaction. I was often left wondering, "What the hell?"  This is not that good kind of wondering that you sometimes do after a book or story. You know, when you mull over what happened, how the characters felt, and how everything fell into place. This was just "Really, that's it?"

I really wanted to like this collection. I tried to. I love short stories. Especially since being at eFiction Magazine, short stories have a special place in my heart. But I just couldn't get into them. Short, flat, crude.

I suppose if crude is your form of funny, this may be a selection worth reading.