62nd out of 278 books
—
336 voters
The Boy Detective Fails
by
Joe Meno
"In the twilight of a childhood full of wonder, Billy Argo, boy detective, is brokenhearted to find that his younger sister and crime-solving partner, Caroline, has committed suicide. Ten years later, Billy, age thirty, returns from an extended stay at St Vitus' Hospital for the Mentally Ill to discover a world full of unimaginable strangeness: office buildings vanish with...more
Paperback, Punk Planet Books, 320 pages
Published
September 1st 2006
by Akashic Books
(first published 2006)
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Wow. I loved this book. The Boy Detective Fails is one of those books that makes a writer go, “Dang, I wish I’d written that.” Or even thought of the premise.
Call it fantastical allegory, magical realism, a fairytale…the core premise of this mythical work is: What happens when real tragedy is injected into the cartoony world of a “boy detective”? When innocence meets evil, can it grow up or does it remain stunted and childish?
I was reminded of Chris Ware while reading TBDF. Ware has a character...more
Call it fantastical allegory, magical realism, a fairytale…the core premise of this mythical work is: What happens when real tragedy is injected into the cartoony world of a “boy detective”? When innocence meets evil, can it grow up or does it remain stunted and childish?
I was reminded of Chris Ware while reading TBDF. Ware has a character...more
Dec 26, 2010
oriana
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to oriana by:
Jason Pettus's sensational review
I...I...I have to admit that I don't exactly know what to say here. This book was so good. So...so haunting and lush and aching and gorgeous and atmospheric and devastating and suddenly, at times, shockingly sweet and wonderful and redemptive and pure. It was.
I don't want to tell you about the plot, except to say that it provided the perfect shadowy structure on which to hang these beautiful, amazing outsider characters. And I don't want to tell you about the characters, because they're too lov...more
I don't want to tell you about the plot, except to say that it provided the perfect shadowy structure on which to hang these beautiful, amazing outsider characters. And I don't want to tell you about the characters, because they're too lov...more
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
So for today's review to make sense, I need to explain something to those who are reading it from outside of Chicago; that although our literary community here is a large and thriving one, with hundreds of published writers and hundreds of others who perform live on stages each week, there are perhaps...more
So for today's review to make sense, I need to explain something to those who are reading it from outside of Chicago; that although our literary community here is a large and thriving one, with hundreds of published writers and hundreds of others who perform live on stages each week, there are perhaps...more
Jun 08, 2008
Matt
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
The painfully self-conscious
Shelves:
abandoned
I gave up on this one after encountering this on page 30: 'Chapter 32.' I suppose I envisioned a story about Enyclopedia Brown in adulthood, but instead was beaten back by the prospect of 300-odd pages of arch, hollow quirkiness, one-sentence chapters, affected post-modern formatting for the sake of being cool, etc.
I should have known: on the acknowledgments page, under 'What I Listened to While Writing This Book' is listed Belle and Sebastian. Back to the library with thee!
I should have known: on the acknowledgments page, under 'What I Listened to While Writing This Book' is listed Belle and Sebastian. Back to the library with thee!
I've given The Boy Detective Fails three stars. All three of them are for the characters and incidental events. None of them are for the book's main plot line.
I completely identified with Billy Argo, especially when he explained his fear of not knowing the right answer when it counts. I developed little fiction-crushes on Caroline and Penny. But for brevity, I'll focus mostly on the Mumford children. Their personalities and foibles are excellent, excellent writing. Effie's science projects take...more
I completely identified with Billy Argo, especially when he explained his fear of not knowing the right answer when it counts. I developed little fiction-crushes on Caroline and Penny. But for brevity, I'll focus mostly on the Mumford children. Their personalities and foibles are excellent, excellent writing. Effie's science projects take...more
I can't believe I never wrote a review of this! This book haunts me, I swear to god. Before I read this one, Joe Meno was just this guy who wrote some sweet short stories and a popcorn book about being a teenage punker. The Boy Detective Fails, though, is some next level. Y'know? It shouldn't work- it should be precious and cloying and teenage writing excercisey, instead of maybe the best book since 2000. Which I guess probably it is.
It's a cultural moment, for starters: do kids in 2009 read Ha...more
It's a cultural moment, for starters: do kids in 2009 read Ha...more
I really hoped this book would be wonderful. The cover and a quote I had read promised much, but I try not to raise my hopes to high. Turns out, I could have let the vague expectations I squelched roam free!
I don't know what to say about this book; my thoughts are all in a tumult. All I know is that I enjoyed it a lot. Here are some things I noted while reading:
The boy detective, Billy Argo, reminded me of Adrian Monk in parts, since things like untied shoes bothered him and he was so out of tou...more
I don't know what to say about this book; my thoughts are all in a tumult. All I know is that I enjoyed it a lot. Here are some things I noted while reading:
The boy detective, Billy Argo, reminded me of Adrian Monk in parts, since things like untied shoes bothered him and he was so out of tou...more
Nov 21, 2007
Brian
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
the Literary Lackadaisical
Shelves:
fiction,
trophy-shelf
I loved everything about this book. From the characters, to the surreal plot, to the very manner of writing.
The characters are absurd portrayals of mystery clichés, but rundown from the weight of the real world. Unable to cope with their surroundings, they're constantly trying to reclaim their former glory. Their attempts are short lived, feeble, and ultimately tragic.
Depending on your point of view, the plot is either beautifully integrated or maddeningly splintered. So much of the Boy Detectiv...more
The characters are absurd portrayals of mystery clichés, but rundown from the weight of the real world. Unable to cope with their surroundings, they're constantly trying to reclaim their former glory. Their attempts are short lived, feeble, and ultimately tragic.
Depending on your point of view, the plot is either beautifully integrated or maddeningly splintered. So much of the Boy Detectiv...more
Nov 05, 2007
Kevin
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Royal Tenenbaums and whispering detective fans
I loved this book. It was very different from any book with which I'd ever spent time. (Making reviews intimidate me.)It had the tone of The Royal Tenenbaums, quirky Belle and Sebastian songs, and a bit of Scooby Doo mysteries. I couldn't help but have Alec Baldwin narrate the story to me in my mind. I loved how I had to abandon any norms of "standard" mystery books. The characters were endearing and lovable head cases. When the book was taking me around corners that I wasn't sure I'd like, I wa...more
Jan 16, 2009
Julia
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who remember childhood and its darker sides
Recommended to Julia by:
my daughter
Shelves:
fantasy
This book has caused such a range of reviews--but I read it in one day and loved all the little elements that other reviewers found "gimmicky"--like the decoder ring that you assemble to figure out "clues" for the protagonist, the "boy detective".
Meno's concept is that Billy Argo, now 30, is the grown-up Encyclopedia Brown. He's been in a mental institution for 10 years after his beloved sister takes her own life. Released into a halfway house, he meets 11 year old Effie Mumford and her brother...more
Meno's concept is that Billy Argo, now 30, is the grown-up Encyclopedia Brown. He's been in a mental institution for 10 years after his beloved sister takes her own life. Released into a halfway house, he meets 11 year old Effie Mumford and her brother...more
Ten years after entering a mental institution in the wake of his beloved sister’s suicide, the Boy Detective attempts, reluctantly, to reenter the world. While not the magical landscape of his childhood—which played out like the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mysteries Meno is winking at—it’s still an odd place he finds himself in, full of child geniuses and past-their-prime criminal masterminds and buildings that simply vanish.
It’s a universe that may take the reader some getting used to, too—at firs...more
It’s a universe that may take the reader some getting used to, too—at firs...more
Sep 05, 2012
J
added it
Let me start by saying this: Perhaps the whitest book I've ever read in my life.
An interesting concept: What happens to all these childhood charcters, these boy detectives, when they grow up? How do they go about growing up and realizing that the world contains mysteries that just cannot be solved? And how do they live wit that knowledge?
One of my favorite aspects of this book was taking mimicky, cliche, Hardy Boys type characters and dressing them up in real life clothes (not literally, oh defi...more
An interesting concept: What happens to all these childhood charcters, these boy detectives, when they grow up? How do they go about growing up and realizing that the world contains mysteries that just cannot be solved? And how do they live wit that knowledge?
One of my favorite aspects of this book was taking mimicky, cliche, Hardy Boys type characters and dressing them up in real life clothes (not literally, oh defi...more
Wow, this was great. It is kind of like a darker companion to "Confessions of a Teen Sleuth" by Chelsea Cain, which was a humorous account of Nancy Drew's life story, as told by her. This one is a thirty-year-old Encyclopedia Brown type named Billy Argo, just released from a decade stint in a psychiatric hospital following a breakdown after his younger sister's suicide. The tone is melancholy and surreal, almost like the comic and violent Edward Gorey, and uses subtly outdated 1950's-era languag...more
I heard this book inspired the show "The Venture Brothers" so I picked it up because of that. Yes, I know..."Nerd!" I ended up loving it from the first word. It's darker and more bittersweet than VB, but also funny and a fantastic parody of the old tv shows and mystery books we used to love as kids.
I loved this! Whimsical and surreal, but never less than real, this book was still tender and heartbreaking. The Boy Detective, an Encyclopedia-Brown-like character, returns to society after a decade in a mental institution, where he went as a young man after the suicide of his assistant detective/sister. Living in a halfway house also occupied by his greatest nemesis, who's now aging and inept in his attempts to kill the Boy Detective, and working as a wig salesman by telephone, the Boy Detecti...more
I just couldn't deal with this book and I only made it about half way through. It's just too self-conscious, too cute, too gimmicky. It's got, you know, chapters containing only one sentence, and pages with all the text squeezed into the bottom righthand corner. Yeah, it comes with a decoder ring, but the content of the decoded messages, well, sucks. Boring.
This is the kind of book you might expect to end mid-sentence. I looked and it doesn't, but the final chapter is followed by an angel food c...more
This is the kind of book you might expect to end mid-sentence. I looked and it doesn't, but the final chapter is followed by an angel food c...more
An excellent riff on the "boy detective" genre (Encyclopedia Brown, The Hardy Boys, Danny Dunn, etc) with an indie/emo flavor.
In a way, I wish I could give The Boy Detective Fails 3 and a half stars... it's a fun book for fans of those old YA novels, and there's a level of wistfulness that Meno invests in his characters that's a joy to read.
I don't know if this sounds ridiculous or not, but despite enjoying the novel, I didn't feel like it was very respectful toward it's source material, and tha...more
In a way, I wish I could give The Boy Detective Fails 3 and a half stars... it's a fun book for fans of those old YA novels, and there's a level of wistfulness that Meno invests in his characters that's a joy to read.
I don't know if this sounds ridiculous or not, but despite enjoying the novel, I didn't feel like it was very respectful toward it's source material, and tha...more
Jul 10, 2007
Katie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
folks who loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
- Oh my gosh, WONDERFUL. Simultaneously really dark and twisted (really dark and twisted) AND innocent and lighthearted... wonderful. Also simultaneously feels like something pulled out of the 1950s and the present and the far future. Also takes place in NEW JERSEY. Love it. I couldn't put it down. The author's style is playful and interesting, the characters are gorgeous, there's mystery, love, loss, mental illness... *sigh* Things all of us can relate to, right?
- There were like a dozen typos....more
- There were like a dozen typos....more
I have to preface this review by saying that I absolutely loved Hairstyles of the Damned, and I am well aware that Joe Meno is a very capable writer. Unfortunately, I just did not get into this book. I have a feeling that we, as readers, are supposed to be unattached from the novel in a way, but I like to really be immersed in the experience of a novel. I originally read this book as a teenager and actually quite liked it then. I think it was because I found some parts to be a bit creepy in thei...more
Encyclopedia Brown. The Hardy Boys. Nancy Drew. The Bobbsey Twins. And... Billy Argo?
You probably don't remember Billy from your pre-teen reading days. That's because he makes his literary debut in The Boy Detective Fails, at the age of 30. Ordinarily, one would think that being 30 years of age would make it unlikely for Billy Argo to be a "boy detective," but this isn't an ordinary book about some ordinary boy. This one is "special," if you catch my drift. The author manages to take on a genre...more
You probably don't remember Billy from your pre-teen reading days. That's because he makes his literary debut in The Boy Detective Fails, at the age of 30. Ordinarily, one would think that being 30 years of age would make it unlikely for Billy Argo to be a "boy detective," but this isn't an ordinary book about some ordinary boy. This one is "special," if you catch my drift. The author manages to take on a genre...more
I've checked out another of Meno's books, Hairstyles of the Damned, but never got around to reading it. This one was on another librarian's GoodReads list so I decided to check it out. It takes a stereotypical boy detective, though I'm not sure where the stereotype is taken from. Maybe it's just presented in an overly proper style with a brilliantly clever boy detective, accompanied by his sister and one of his friends as assistants, and it seems stereotypical. I guess it's a mix between the Har...more
Best Meno yet, no doubt in my mind. Meno's got a great knack for combining the subtle and the outrageous. I can definitely relate to the Tenenbaums comparisons--it has that same feel, only creepier. I also kept thinking of Kelly Link's story The Girl Detective (also excellent), an obvious connection maybe, but one that I'd say goes far beyond the titles.
Pssst! There's also a decoder ring you can cut out and assemble... AND a secret adventure hidden within the book!
Pssst! There's also a decoder ring you can cut out and assemble... AND a secret adventure hidden within the book!
It's impossible for me to talk about this novel without drawing comparisons to The Venture Brothers, which also happens to be one of my favorite shows. Both the show and this book concern a boy who grew up in a fantasy world of villains and adventure, and who became rather miserable failures as adults. Of course, The Venture Brothers uses this failure as the basis for humor, where here it is a source of shame and depression.
That's not to say that this is an altogether bleak book - in fact, there...more
That's not to say that this is an altogether bleak book - in fact, there...more
Becky was right - this is a hard book to describe or review. It was weird and magical, but somehow also really heartfelt and sincere. I found myself feeling really connected to the characters even though they were all odd and damaged in some way. It feels like the kind of book that the guys who made The Royal Tenenbaums would make into a movie. It is the story of a boy who, along with his sister and best friend, was an expert detective as a child, solving all of these Scooby-Doo type mysteries....more
This was recommended to me because I'm a fan of "The Venture Bros." TV show, and I can see why. However, while the novel's world is one where stand-ins for Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Scooby Doo style villains exist, it doesn't exhibit the same kind of humor. It is, at turns, a dark and introspective book, while also exhibiting a less graphic absurdism found in a Chuck Palahniuk story. Not being familiar with Joe Meno I don't know if his fairly simplistic use of language is just his typical...more
When Encyclopedia Brown grows up, what kind of damage is he going to have? Particularly if he was able to solve every case he came across, except the mystery of why his sister killed herself? Boy Detective Billy is in that exact position: while he was in college, his partner-in-crime-solving sister Caroline committed suicide, his parents won't talk about it, and Billy has no idea what to do. Ten years later, he's fresh out of the psychiatric hospital and his life is still awash in mysteries--bui...more
What a sweet, sad, peculiar little book. I was going to give it only three stars, because it's so melancholy and dreamlike it doesn't quite endear you right away, but I'm pretty sure that I will still be thinking about it in the weeks to come, so I gave it another star. It packs a wallop, this one, and I'm not really sure how to even begin to describe it. The ostensible plot, about an ex-boy detective who comes back to his town as an adult after spending years in a mental institution following...more
This book is beautifully heartbreaking. Conjurs nostalgia that may not exist. The reader is faced with the realities of growing up; be it gracefully, or wistful for those moments that we wish we could carefully place in a shoebox, hiding it in our bedroom closets, only taking it out secretly when alone. This, by far, is Meno's best work. Inventive and original, will make any adult pine for long summer days and the vanishing shadows of childhood.
What I loved about the book was the actual book....the size, heft, and look of it was wonderful. Anyone else ever fall in love with an actual book and not the writing?
The story, all about a boy detective who grows to be an adult, was so so....It did deal convincingly with the uncertainty and fear that engulfs us as we age. I certainly don't have the derring do of childhood anymore. But the story was a bit too weird at times for me....
The story, all about a boy detective who grows to be an adult, was so so....It did deal convincingly with the uncertainty and fear that engulfs us as we age. I certainly don't have the derring do of childhood anymore. But the story was a bit too weird at times for me....
It is introduced like a simply Hardy boys or Encyclopedia Brown novel with simple characters, but quickly takes a turn for the dark, quirky and somehow humorous novel. We follow around a 30 year old, used-to-be boy detective in a world where all the evil doers have grown up. He is struggling with the past, trying to make sense of the present. It’s a cruel world and the boy detective is alone.
What do people think of the boy detective?
The mailman: very polite.
The police chief: an uncanny eye fo...more
What do people think of the boy detective?
The mailman: very polite.
The police chief: an uncanny eye fo...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Did anyone else enjoy this book as much as I did? | 3 | 13 | Jan 17, 2013 07:45pm |
Joe Meno is a fiction writer and playwright that lives in Chicago. A winner of the Nelson Algren Literary Award and the Society of Midland Author's Fiction Prize, he is the author of four novels, The Boy Detective Fails (Akashic 2006), Hairstyles of the Damned (Akashic 2004), Tender as Hellfire (St. Martin's 1999), and How the Hula Girl Sings (HarperCollins 2001). His short story collection is Blu...more
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“What I've learned is that there is nothing in this life that does not fail to disappoint us, even our own deaths.”
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28 people liked it
“The most important things in your life are almost always impossible to predict.”
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18 people liked it
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Apr 01, 2013 09:18am
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