Soon I Will Be Invincible

by Austin Grossman (Goodreads author)
Soon I Will Be Invincible
book data
1,757 ratings, 3.64 average rating, 559 reviews (more data...)
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published
June 5th 2007 by Pantheon

binding
Hardcover, 288 pages

literary awards
John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize Finalist (2007)

isbn
0375424865    (isbn13: 9780375424861)

description
Doctor Impossible--evil genius, diabolical scientist, wannabe world dominator--languishes in a federal detention facility. He's lost his freedom, his...more




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Ben Flasher
01/21/08
Ben Flasher rated it: 2 of 5 stars

Read in May, 2007
I bought this book based on a strong review, and was quite disappointed. Any reviewer who praises this book's imagination clearly hasn't read a comic book within the last 5-10 years. The settings, characters, and powers all seem to have been lifted wholesale out of Marvel's least inspired 80s B-list comics.

I will grant that there is some amusement to be found in Dr. Impossible's story. His wry, matter-of fact viewpoint is often entertaining, and the telling of a comic book tale from ...more
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  3 comments

Sandi
08/04/08
Sandi rated it: 4 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0307279863)

bookshelves: 2008, gr-authors, sci-fi
Read in August, 2008
recommends it for: Anyone who wants to be entertained
Should I be embarrassed about giving "Soon I Will be Invincible" four stars? Should I even admit that I bought it because I loved the title and the cover? This a silly piece of entertaining fluff. It's dessert after a really healthy dinner. It doesn't have any hidden meanings, heavy symbolism or deep thoughts. It's just really, really entertaining. I laughed a few times and had a big grin on my face when I put it down. Even better, I can pass this book to my son without any worr...more
Like this review?   yes   (6 people liked it)
  3 comments

Nathan
07/14/08
Nathan rated it: 2 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0307279863)

Read in July, 2008
First off, I loved the idea of this novel. And even after the disappointment of actually reading Soon I Will Be Invincible, I can still honestly say that I love the idea of it. It's just the novel itself I've got a problem with.

When I first saw this on the shelf, my mind raced frantically back to the long cardboard boxes of comic books that I still keep stored up in the attic, each comic tucked safely away into a plastic sleeve to protect its "value"--a concept that my inc...more
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Jason Pettus
06/22/07
Jason Pettus rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in June, 2007
(Full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:].)

"This morning on planet Earth, there are 1,686 enhanced, gifted, or otherwise superpowered persons. 678 use their powers to fight crime, while 441 use their powers to commit them. 44 are currently confined in Special Containment Facilities for enhanced criminals. Of these last, it is interesting to note that an unusually high proportion have IQs of 300 or more -- eighteen to be exa...more
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Amanda
02/12/08
Amanda rated it: 5 of 5 stars

recommended to Amanda by: Aaron
recommends it for: anyone with a sense of humor, comic fans or not.
I have a difficult time describing this novel. On the surface it is a very humorous plot involving superheroes and supervillains portrayed as actual people - you get a look at how annoying it can be to have to save the world when one's marriage is breaking up, for instance. You grow to understand how embarrassing it is to be a supervillain genius putting up with a misguided colleague's cheesy catchphrases and general stupidity. Beneath that highly entertaining surface is, I think, an intellig...more
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Jennifer
03/10/09
Jennifer rated it: 1 of 5 stars

Read in March, 2009
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?   yes   (2 people liked it)
  1 comment

Alexander
04/02/08
Alexander rated it: 1 of 5 stars

bookshelves: read-didntlike
Read in April, 2008
recommends it for: beginning writers, those people who wish to do themselves harm
I'm considering writing an essay, in the tradition of Mark Twain, called Austin Grossman's Literary Offenses.

This book is that bad. Really.

It's so bad, I wonder what's wrong with someone that they could actually like this book. I know, that's a really mean thing to say, but if you read this book and it doesn't make you feel like the world just got a little darker and more dreary, I challenge that you aren't actually a human being, but probably some sort of text scanning...more
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  3 comments

Noran Miss Pumkin
03/20/08
Noran Miss Pumkin rated it: 3 of 5 stars

bookshelves: comics
Read in July, 2008
recommended to Noran by: bookgrasm.com
recommends it for: comic fans of old
full review to follow. supervillian 4 stars. super heroes three stars. overall 3 and a half stars. a fun read--do not regret it, just wish it was better--when you hold the making of something great in your hands, and half of it falls way short of the mark, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.
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KJ
12/26/08
KJ rated it: 2 of 5 stars

Read in December, 2008
This world is fascinating but the writing is really unfocused -- I'm having a hard time following the passage of time, and we're really thrown into both the characters and the action. Too much of the world building is retroactive. I'm about 1/3rd of the way in, we'll see if the storytelling settles down.

Update upon finishing: I really wanted to like this book, but it never gelled for me. Too much jumping around from flashback to current timeline to hints dropped about the future, and...more
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Raina
11/17/08
Raina rated it: 3 of 5 stars

Read in October, 2007
I picked this up during my "discovering comic books" phase.
It has the following great quote on superherodom:

"Your powers are what you always have with you. It’s one piece of knowledge we all share here. No matter how many dossiers the government keeps on you, no matter what data your enemies have collected, no one knows your powers the way you do. Everyone has seen them on TV. For everyone else, it’s a momentary fantasy. They don’t have to take them ...more
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
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Carolyn
08/27/08
Carolyn rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: read---sci-fi
I've got to say, I really enjoyed this book. Not being a comic book geek, or even a superhero buff, I picked this up on a whim at the library. My review was probably helped in that I started reading this the day after I saw "Hancock" with Will Smith.

Anyhoo, mix a bit of Hancock, and some of Disney's Sky High Academy, with a *big* helping of Mike Myers' Dr Evil and you've got some idea of the fun of this book. I'll leave the plot synopsis to others, but I really enjoyed the ...more
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Jamie
08/01/08
Jamie rated it: 3 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2008
I have to admit, I enjoyed this book by Austin Grossman. Yes, it's about superheroes, mostly about two of them in particular (one of whom is actually a supervillain) who take turns narrating intertwining stories. One is the self-proclaimed Dr. Impossible, who is your basic super magalomaniacal genius bent on world domination. The second is Fatale, a cyborg who's a rookie at the whole superhero business. The book basically follows the stories of these two characters, which run parallel to each ot...more
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Randall
04/26/08
Randall rated it: 5 of 5 stars

bookshelves: currently-reading
Read in February, 2007
Translating one genre into another is difficult, and more often than not, you end up turning off the fans of genre one while failing to capture genre two. Instead of crossover appeal, you have lost an audience. This is especially true with cult genres like comic books. Comic fans are very protective, and wary of outsiders. Likewise, the general reading public gives little weight to the literary merit of the ‘Funny Papers.’
In the last few years however, comics have attracted the talent...more
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Dan
11/01/07
Dan rated it: 1 of 5 stars

bookshelves: never_finished
Read in January, 2007
Everything started out fun enough - hearing the story from an old super villain's point-of-view. It kinda made you think of Dr. Doom by way of The Monarch from Venture Brothers. Then the book gets into a routine of switching every other chapter between the villain and a rookie hero who just got invited to join the big super team. Again, all well and good. Grossman apparantly created and entire world, mythology, and history for all the heroes and villains. Problem was, he REALLY wanted to make su...more
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K
10/21/07
K rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in October, 2007
recommends it for: anyone, esp. people who like Venture Bros.
Picked up this book because Jackson Publick, creator/writer of the Venture Bros. series recommended it on his blog.

A superhero novel that switches narrative viewpoints b/w supervillain and new superhero. It is more melancholy and internal than comic/action-packed, though all those aspects are present.

Had following emotional reaction
15% - admiration for Grossman's approach to these old themes
15% - amusement at cleverness
15% - outright snickering
...more
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Eric
10/17/07
Eric rated it: 3 of 5 stars

Read in October, 2007
An interesting and well written first novel about the perils and promise of superpowers -- a thinly disguised exploration of the nature of good and evil and, more importantly, how none of us ever really gets over high school. (Interestingly, Meg Greenfield's book "Washington" about power, politics and the press in the nation's Capitol also is built on this premise!)

Grossman's uber-abled characters struggle emotionally and physically with their own abilities and limitations....more
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Speedtribes
09/18/07
Speedtribes rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: novels
Read in February, 2008
recommends it for: Comics fans, DC Universe fans
Good points: I loved how the DC Universe archetypes were turned sideways. Namely Batman, Superman and Lex Luthor. I loved the thorough walk-through of how genius can become a sort of insanity, and gave me a better appreciation of the original crazy-scientist Lex Luthor. (I've preferred the Machiavellian businessman version.) Look! It's the Justice League! Also, Superdickery! Acknowledged superdickery!

The Bad: While there is a very strong in depth view of Dr. Impossible and his world...more
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Peter
09/06/07
Peter rated it: 3 of 5 stars

recommends it for: people who dig comics
This book was good. There it is, with out adjectives. Just plain old good. With seemingly every newspaper, magazine and Joe Schmoe reviewer rushing to proclaim the brilliance of every book these days we don't ever see dust jacket quotes that say "this booked is good".

So, such a review might came across as damning.

Damning is certainly not the intent.

Soon I will be invincible took me a long time I read. It isn't a dense or complex book and at 287 pages...more
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Maggie
07/30/07
Maggie rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in August, 2007
recommends it for: Fans of Superheros/Narrative Dialogues
A video game consultant goes to UC Berkeley to study Victorian and Romantic Literature. He then sits down and writes a book about supervillans/heros. Essentially the text on the dust jacket said "For Maggie. You should totally read this."

I adored this novel - devouring most of it on a flight home. Chapters alternate between Doctor Invincible, a has-been villan on his way back up to the top, and Fatale, the newbie good guy who has everything to prove. Each character pre...more
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James
06/25/07
James rated it: 2 of 5 stars

Read in August, 2007
recommends it for: only hardcore comicbook fans with nothing better to do
This book wasn't terrible, but it was ultimately pretty disappointing. I picked it up because I'd seen a very positive review of it on The Onion, and it sounded great--an ironic, comedic take on the superhero stories I enjoyed so much as a kid. Unfortunately, this book ended up just being barely enjoyable enough to justify finishing it.

Soon I Will Be Invincible: A Novel alternates between two narrators--the evil villain, who is supposed to provide the book's comic relief; and th...more
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Soon I Will be Invincible (Vintage)
Soon I Will Be Invincible (Hardcover)
Soon I Will Be Invincible (Audio CD)
Soon I Will be Invincible (Paperback)
Soon I Will Be Invincible (Paperback)







quotes from this book

"Your powers are what you always have with you. It’s one piece of knowledge we all share here. No matter how many dossiers the government keeps on you, no matter what data your enemies have collected, no one knows your powers the way you do. Everyone has seen them on TV. For everyone else, it’s a momentary fantasy. They don’t have to take them into the kitchen, the bathroom, and the bedroom. Or wake up in the night in flames, or sweep up shattered glass in their apartment, or show up late for work with a black eye. No one else knows where they itch or bruise you, or has tried the things you’ve tried with them when you were bored or desperate. No one else falls asleep with them and finds them still there in the morning, a dream that won’t disperse upon waking." More quotes...


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