A sweeping American romance spanning five American generations in America.
Oh, wait, that's some other crappy novel. In Death by Zamboni, you...
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reviews
Jan 05, 2011
David
rated it: 
I totally lied! Mea maxima culpa! I bare my tender flesh to the lashing of your angry whips.
When I originally reviewed this book however-long-ago, I gave it a fairly glowing review because back then I still cared about other people's feelings. But thankfully I've grown out of that annoying quirk (or, as you prefer, affliction) of my late adolescence. You see, I was 'friends' with David David Katzman, the author, and even met him in the real-life flesh a couple of times, and therefo More...
When I originally reviewed this book however-long-ago, I gave it a fairly glowing review because back then I still cared about other people's feelings. But thankfully I've grown out of that annoying quirk (or, as you prefer, affliction) of my late adolescence. You see, I was 'friends' with David David Katzman, the author, and even met him in the real-life flesh a couple of times, and therefo More...
49 comments
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(42 people liked it)
Apr 25, 2010
Brad
rated it: 
The Unauthorized Death By Zamboni Reader Qualification quiz designed to determine whether or not you should be allowed to buy a copy of Death By Zamboni or if you must wait for the Death By Zamboni mini-series on CBC™.
Answer these questions:
Answer these questions:
0. No?More...
1. Have you ever clamped clothes pins on your genitals?
2. Do acid flashbacks accompany thoughts of the Gibb brothers?
3. Have you ever uttered "Zoinks" without intentionally referencing Saturday Morning Cartoons?
10 comments
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(18 people liked it)
Apr 17, 2009
Michelle
rated it: 
WTF?
Really...that's all I've got. And, I love zombies. And, Etta Donut was awesome.
D2, you're a strange man.
Really...that's all I've got. And, I love zombies. And, Etta Donut was awesome.
D2, you're a strange man.
12 comments
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(11 people liked it)
Mar 08, 2010
Chris
rated it:
This book is a lot like my most memorable poop. It announced itself in grand fashion as it splashed into the toilet like a man doing a belly flop into a pool. But it wasn't just any man doing a belly flop. It was a foot-long, chubby, cylindrical, brown man with pieces of corn and tomato stuck to him. This man smelled like death. His stench made many men and women (who happened to be in the unisex public restroom at the time) vomit and lose consciousness. His smell didn't bother me. In fac
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7 comments
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(6 people liked it)
Apr 01, 2008
Robert
rated it:
David David Katzman, Death by Zamboni (Bedhead Books, 1999)
Death by Zamboni, a little self-published effort (as far as I can tell in my admittedly sloppy research), first came to my attention when someone-- I forget who-- joined a booklist I'm a member of and listed it as one of his favorite books. I have often wondered idly whether it wasn't the author doing a bit of self-promotion under an assumed name in the intervening years, but hey, I'm not going to castigate anyone for stackin More...
Death by Zamboni, a little self-published effort (as far as I can tell in my admittedly sloppy research), first came to my attention when someone-- I forget who-- joined a booklist I'm a member of and listed it as one of his favorite books. I have often wondered idly whether it wasn't the author doing a bit of self-promotion under an assumed name in the intervening years, but hey, I'm not going to castigate anyone for stackin More...
Nov 30, 2011
Frances
rated it: 
DDK's books remind me how much I like reading, laughing, thinking, pink sprinkly donuts, and breathing.
I pulled this little guy off my bookshelf and re-read it. I first read Death By Zamboni 10 years ago, when I was a high-spirited wild-child (well...child-ish anyway). Since that first reading I have grown into a cynical and materialistic wild-adult (well...wild-ish anyway). Death by Zamboni reminds me that it's ok to be cynical and materialistic, but it's so much more fun to be a More...
I pulled this little guy off my bookshelf and re-read it. I first read Death By Zamboni 10 years ago, when I was a high-spirited wild-child (well...child-ish anyway). Since that first reading I have grown into a cynical and materialistic wild-adult (well...wild-ish anyway). Death by Zamboni reminds me that it's ok to be cynical and materialistic, but it's so much more fun to be a More...
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(1 person liked it)
Jul 28, 2010
stephanie
rated it:
Death by Zamboni sleuths in capers like Encyclopedia Brown if he were a noir Bugsy, winking nods at the far side, while doing the pee dance with a Monty Python.
Now that I've gotten your attention, let me just begin by saying that DDK® didn't write this book- I did. At least that's what echoed out of my head as the inside read words he'd placed there. That is to say, it is a book for all seasons and great minds alike. It's quite something to discover your very own twin exists inside t More...
Now that I've gotten your attention, let me just begin by saying that DDK® didn't write this book- I did. At least that's what echoed out of my head as the inside read words he'd placed there. That is to say, it is a book for all seasons and great minds alike. It's quite something to discover your very own twin exists inside t More...
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 31, 2011
King Dinösaur
rated it:
"Death by Zamboni" has a plot. But don't let that detract you. Sit back and absorb the hilarity as Mr. Katzman bombards you with jokes, gags, puns, zingers and uber-clever metaphors and similes, all in the guise of detective noir fiction. Reading this book almost feels like watching an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. It made my head spin. In fact, that's why my friends and family called in an exorcist halfway through this book. But, I didn't puke that green pea soup beca
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2 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 19, 2010
Daniel
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
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(2 people liked it)
Aug 06, 2010
David
rated it: 
"Death by Zamboni" earns a place on the very exclusive shelf reserved for such works as Don DeLillo's White Noise , or Paul Auster's New York Trilogy . Here is an example of the kind of biting, mordant wit that you can expect to find therein:
Behind the front desk was a security guard whose nametag identified him as "Jimmy". I took out the corn on the cob I had in my pocket and struck him on the head with it. The cob broke, but he went down like a ton of bricks. More...
Behind the front desk was a security guard whose nametag identified him as "Jimmy". I took out the corn on the cob I had in my pocket and struck him on the head with it. The cob broke, but he went down like a ton of bricks. More...
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(5 people liked it)
Dec 23, 2009
Jen
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Feb 26, 2011
Natalie
rated it:
My over all impression: a trite, vulgar read, but the chapter headings are so fun who cares?
What I liked:
page 135 where there is "yes-I-voted-Republican-to-hasten-the-end-of-the-world" sex, I think between Satan Donut and Custard? but its a little hard to tell.
The notes on Custard's apartment are pretty funny, including everything you wanted to know about whatever the hell happened to Sean Cassidy (Justin Bieber might want to read this part of the no More...
What I liked:
page 135 where there is "yes-I-voted-Republican-to-hasten-the-end-of-the-world" sex, I think between Satan Donut and Custard? but its a little hard to tell.
The notes on Custard's apartment are pretty funny, including everything you wanted to know about whatever the hell happened to Sean Cassidy (Justin Bieber might want to read this part of the no More...
Jan 26, 2010
Kate
rated it:
Private Eye Satan Donut goes on a treasure hunt to solve a mysterious disappearance. While he's on this fantastic voyage, a lot of very strange things happen including but not limited to the fact that Satan and his sister, riot grrl and writer of bad poetry, Etta Donut, must dress up as Mini and Mickey Mouse respectively in order to hunt down the Hebraic Hitmen, who are the only ones who can tell them where to find the mimes that will eventually lead them to the person they're looking for. Don
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0 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Feb 12, 2010
Lance
rated it:
You can tell that David David had a hell of a good time writing Death by Zamoboni. This is one funny book. The word play is hilarious, bringing to mind Groucho Marx on crank. The story is a simple enough detective-trying-to-find-missing-spouse story line. The best thing about Zamboni is not necessarily the story line, but, instead the narrative voice (the singer not the song). Katzman is a very funny man. He gets so twisted up in some of his word play and surreal tangents that you wonder
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0 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Jul 07, 2011
Charlie
rated it:
This is not your average sweet American tale about a young man's journey for redemption. No seriously, it's not even close to that...it's better and much more hilarious. My advice is to strap on a pair of Depends undergarments or just read while on the pot because you're going to laugh so hard you'll pee. I'm not sure how Katzman's does it, but his tongue-in-cheek humor is effortless and plays on so many expressions that we've grown up with, listened to, and as children wondered what the hell
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0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Apr 03, 2011
Lavinia
rated it:
Wow. Experimental. To the max. Hardcore. A bender of a trip. A unique narration, think about Christopher Moore breeding with Tarintino’s hyperactive and lacerating dialogue, and an avant-garde artist filled in the punctuation with random bouts of weirdness. Katzman has managed to piece together the chaos in his head and create something well-written, well-rounded (definitely), and surprisingly entertaining for anyone with a taste for edgy experimental fiction. He has introduced less conventional
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0 comments
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(7 people liked it)
May 06, 2009
Jen
rated it:
Sometimes we play this little game around the dinner table. It is called "That's Absurd!" It is a fun game and we all take turns trying out our best lines. "I rode my plastic chicken to school while he laid candy eggs" is an all-time game favorite. So, when I first heard about Satan Donut I knew that good times were ahead, blue skies, candy corn smiles, and monstrous glazed turkey legs, that kind they breed to eat just at carnivals and fairs.
Thanks to this boo
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6 comments
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(11 people liked it)
Jan 09, 2010
Jessica
rated it:
this is the zaniest thing I've ever read...?*&%$#@!
Shit I just added a whole bit to this review and lost it! How did that happen?!
all right...trying again:
my advice: read it in one sitting. or two. Best to not break the rhythm. I didn't do this and found it harder to re-enter Katzman's zany world. I might've been better prepared if my parents hadn't deprived me of television and cartoons when I was a kid (always useful to blame the parents). I had to come up for air qu More...
Shit I just added a whole bit to this review and lost it! How did that happen?!
all right...trying again:
my advice: read it in one sitting. or two. Best to not break the rhythm. I didn't do this and found it harder to re-enter Katzman's zany world. I might've been better prepared if my parents hadn't deprived me of television and cartoons when I was a kid (always useful to blame the parents). I had to come up for air qu More...
4 comments
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(2 people liked it)
May 02, 2010
Charles
rated it:
Exhaustively - and often exhaustingly - funny, this novel uses every comico-literary trick in the book: mixed metaphors, wildly over-extended metaphors ("You can't see the metaphorest for the trees"), parody, surrealist riffs on just about anything that pops into the author's head: they're all there. (A technical note: I love the ongoing game with speech verbs and, at one point and to great comic effect, their absence.) Genre-hopping from hard-boiled-private-eye-meets-dark-lady to mad-
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 24, 2010
Lisa
rated it:
Excellent use of language and pun-related cleverness. I rather liked the fact that in some places I couldn't tell if I didn't get it because it was just absurd and there was nothing to get, or if I didn't get it because the author was referencing something I wasn't familiar with.
I caught at least one spelling error, (doberman pinchers), but then I found words spelled wrong on purpose to make a joke and I wasn't sure if there was some hilarious pincher joke I was missing out on.
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I caught at least one spelling error, (doberman pinchers), but then I found words spelled wrong on purpose to make a joke and I wasn't sure if there was some hilarious pincher joke I was missing out on.
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(1 person liked it)
Feb 07, 2012
Ronaldi
rated it:
My god, how I loved this cheeky, irreverent, profane, saucy little gem of a book! David David had me busting into fits of laughter at the dr.'s office, the grocery line, several socially awkward party situations... 5 stars! and a Donut.
0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Nov 28, 2009
Lori
rated it:
Signed by Author!
Ok. This is a very quick, intensely twisted, trippy novel of a private detective who is quite likely out of his mind.
Katzman's novel reads like a lucid dream, or a drug laced spoof on detective noir. Similar to what Scary Movie was to Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer....
Ok. This is a very quick, intensely twisted, trippy novel of a private detective who is quite likely out of his mind.
Katzman's novel reads like a lucid dream, or a drug laced spoof on detective noir. Similar to what Scary Movie was to Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer....
2 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Nov 10, 2011
Victor
rated it:
Chicago author David David has one of my favorite names, twice, so I guess I might be biased. I'm not always drawn to weird, silly books, but this one is just crazy good. It kept a puzzled smile on my face the whole time. It's like a detective story gone bonkers. Reminds me of Exponential Apocalypse by another contemporary mad-scientist author guy Eirik Gumeny who's equally as crazy, but doesn't have as cool a name as David David. Reading for pure fun and entertainment doesn't getting any b
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0 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Sep 26, 2009
The author got my attention by posting on a book I'd also posted on, about subjects near and dear to my entire being.
Mar 23, 2011
Kimberly
rated it:
I've just started reading & yes, straight up, from the very beginning, I'm laughing out loud. I feel the same sensations I felt as a teen, sitting next to my friend on the back pew at church, occasionally tuning in to the sermon (just so I could converse enough with my parents to assure them I was there), yet continually, & ineffectively, stifling the laughter aroused by the friend's irreverent humor. We were quite annoying to many, as I'm sure this book would be. What fun!
Oct 29, 2009
Alan
rated it:
I enjoyed the Marxian (as in Marx Bros) word play and silliness, the inventiveness and weirdness, the mother (& father) on the phone telling her son about their day as he is about to be killed/mutilated/transformed into an insect. I liked the satire on modern capitalism and culture. But the pace was too frenetic for an old man like me. David David Katzman you are fucking nuts.
6 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 19, 2008
Patrick
rated it:
Awesomely funny absurdist adventure in the vein of Mark Leyner's "Tetherballs of Bougainville."
0 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 07, 2011
aww, just received a signed copy from one of the nicest authors I know.
