June 2024 Group Read #2 - The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig

[WendyB]

You have chosen Chuck Wendig's The Book of Accidents for the second group read in June.

Remember to use spoiler tags where needed.

Have a great scary time!

[Gillian]

Although not the one I voted for, I do own this on Kindle and have requested the audiobook from my library. I think I'll give it a go.

[Madison]

I really enjoyed this when I read it. I’m looking forward to what everyone else thinks about it

[Janette]

Looking forward to this group read!!

[Anshika]

I'm excited for this group read!

[Rikki]

I’ve had this book on my shelf for at least a year. I’m glad to have a reason to dive into it.

[Pisces51]

Looks like I can get a rental copy for this one since it has been out awhile. Planning on participation.

[Catalina]

Yes! I have had this on my shelf for quite a while now. Excited to get to read this! Happy spooky reading!

[Tanya]

Also have been wanting to read this one. Can’t wait!

[FranWeird]

I've had this on my TBR for quite some time now. Can't wait to dig in

[Leigh]

This has been on my TBR for a while as well. I'm excited to finally get to it

[Lupe]

Oh I can't wait for this one! My long weekend is going to be awesome haha.

[Ghoulia]

I’ve had this book on my shelf for 3 years now. Finally I have a reason to read it :)

[Ronald]

Looking forward to this one!!!

[[deleted user]]

I read this last year and really enjoyed

[Jeff]

Yeah...also had book on my shelves for some months....finally cracked it two nights ago.....liking it so far....


Jeff Mc

[Varda]

I cannot wait to read this book. I hope I like it :)

[Erika]

I am loving this and can't believe how fast I'm rolling on through. The chapter names are fun, and once you're past Chapter 38 you see the way everything is 'coming together' :P

One complaint though, are the tiny quasi political moments peppered throughout. Things like this remove me from the "other world" an author is creating [que that loud record screech sound effect synonymous with getting back-to-reality], and remind me of our political climate. This story is SO well done though, that my love of it is overriding these minor nails-on chalkboard moments that disrupted the way I was feeling (escape).

There are so many witty analogies and descriptions that never seem over verbose though. Oliver feeling petulant like a "small child who didn't want to eat his peas" was a good one. Ha!

[Erika]

Over halfway through, and I've gotten some David Lynch vibes (view spoiler)[ via the Oliver doppelgänger combined with the other dimensions and time frames not making complete sense but still working just fine to build the story (hide spoiler)]

[Gillian]

Just finished Chapter 5. This is my first Chuck Wendig. I'm really enjoying the flow of the story. Really great writing.

[FranWeird]

Just finished. I liked this better than Black River Orchard. I felt some scenes dragged on longer than necessary. Other than that, it was great.

[Erika]

FSWeird wrote: "Just finished. I liked this better than Black River Orchard. I felt some scenes dragged on longer than necessary. Other than that, it was great."

Glad you liked it! :)

I haven't read Black River Orchard yet, but got it recently. So, for those of you who have read both; I noticed something in "The Book of Accidents" that made me wonder if it was the beginnings of his imagination carving out the "Black River Orchard" story. He referenced a black apple and I'm going nuts trying to find it in the book. I knew I should have dog-eared that page...
Does anyone recall, and know the quote/page number?

[Kimberly]

I bought, but haven't read, Black River Orchard yet, either. However, I read this one not too long ago. I'll have to go through now and see if I can find that reference --I'm intrigued!

[FranWeird]

Erika wrote: "FSWeird wrote: "Just finished. I liked this better than Black River Orchard. I felt some scenes dragged on longer than necessary. Other than that, it was great."

Glad you liked it! :)

I haven't r..."

I caught that reference too. I can check for the page number when I get home from work unless someone finds it sooner but the quote read "DO NOT EAT THE BLACK APPLES"

[FranWeird]

Erika wrote: "FSWeird wrote: "Just finished. I liked this better than Black River Orchard. I felt some scenes dragged on longer than necessary. Other than that, it was great."

Glad you liked it! :)

I haven't r..."

Ok, so I have the hardocver edition so in my book, it's page 422. It's in chapter 69 Up and at 'Em, Tiger

[Jeff]

Finished it last week....certainly not one of my favorite books this year....felt there was a lot of unnecessary derail and exposition......and the final fate of Nate was open ended.......

[Rikki]

I just finished The Book of Accidents and I did enjoy this one. At first, I was a bit put off by the political banter (I'm not particularly eager to read fiction books with strong political opinions). But, it seems that politics played a small part in the story in the way of acknowledging a societal breakdown so I will give it a pass. That said, I did enjoy the story and the writing. I gave it a 4-star rating.

[Netanella]

I just started this a few days ago. So far, so good, at about 30% in. The lack of communication between Maddie and Nate at this point is a little disheartening, considering they supposedly have a good marriage.

The storm just hit, so we shall see how it goes.

[Kieran]

I'm at the 50% mark after taking a bit of a break from reading it, but I'm hooked now! Not my usual horror genre (I tend to read a lot of extreme/body horror) but this is great and definitely a nice, spooky change of pace.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention, I'll definitely follow on with Group Reads from now on :)

[Pisces51]

I will not be reading this one in June. I have had it on my library hold list since it was announced as one of the two reads. That said I can appreciate Erika's sentiment. I see Rikki also made mention of injecting "political banter". I did read Black River Orchard and the author opted to inject his political persuasion into it as well. Not for me. I am happy for all members who enjoyed Book of Accidents this month.

[Erika]

FSWeird wrote: "Erika wrote: "FSWeird wrote: "Just finished. I liked this better than Black River Orchard. I felt some scenes dragged on longer than necessary. Other than that, it was great."

Glad you liked it! :..."

Thank you, @FSWeird!

And Kimberly, glad you're intrigued about it too! :D
"DO NOT EAT THE BLACK APPLES"

[Erika]

@Pisces51 and Rikki
Happy to see I'm not the only one here who doesn't enjoy modern-political-cultural "stuff" being made so obvious and put into dialogue for characters. I don't want to read WaPo or NYT within my horror, or any fiction for that matter. I read that stuff enough in real life as it is! And I've read plenty of great political books, which are meant to be just that

Like Rikki though, I gave it a pass because it was overall amazing to me...also there's a personal connection with the owls and the wood carvings which got to me also

[Janette]

I’m only 1/4 in and am enjoying it so far! I’m reading Stephen King’s Pet Sematary at the same time as a group read with another horror group I belong to. And there are striking similarities to these books. Kind of fun to be reading them side by side.

[Gillian]

Hmmm...well, I'm sad to report that I've decided to dnf this after 50%. While the writing was compelling and I enjoyed the characters, the (view spoiler)[plot progression went somewhere I wasn't all that interested in traveling. (Perhaps I'm premature on this but it felt familiar, like Dark Matter by Blake Crouch or the film "Everything Everywhere All At Once.????)--Someone please tell me if I'm wrong and I just might keep going with it. (hide spoiler)] I guess I just couldn't muster the desire to go another 250+ pages to see how it all played out. I'm going to shelve this "try again later".

[Janette]

Dark_Gillybean wrote: "Hmmm...well, I'm sad to report that I've decided to dnf this after 50%. While the writing was compelling and I enjoyed the characters, the [spoilers removed] I guess I just couldn't muster the desi..."

Oh man…I’m slogging thru this one also. At page 308 and don’t know if I care enough to spend several more hours on it. It’s not the writing. It’s the story. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Rikki]

Janette wrote: "I’m only 1/4 in and am enjoying it so far! I’m reading Stephen King’s Pet Sematary at the same time as a group read with another horror group I belong to. And there are striking similarities to the..."

Several times I found myself thinking back to Pet Sematary while reading this book. I'm glad I was not the only one who picked up on that.

[Nickronomicon]

For those struggling/DNFing - I get it. Interestingly enough I had just read Dark Matter before I read this so I definitely picked up on the similarities. I didn't really love Dark Matter, (too much scifi for my taste.) I did however really like The Book of Accidents. It's a long book and it takes it's time, and it went in a direction I wasn't expecting. I thought the ending/payoff was worth it. Hope that helps you keep going. I'll be reading more Chuck Wendig for sure.

[Gillian]

Nickronomicon wrote: "For those struggling/DNFing - I get it. Interestingly enough I had just read Dark Matter before I read this so I definitely picked up on the similarities. I didn't really love Dark Matter, (too muc..."

Thank you for your insight. I've kept it on my "try again later" shelf and have not yet removed the download from my Kindle.

[Jeff]

Finished it...interesting novel...but not necessarily impressed with it. I felt it was overlong, for one thing.

Would I read another? Maybe...but only if it was from the library.


Jeff Mc

[Joey]

I started this late, but am trucking right along. I really am enjoying it, though it does seem a bit long for what it is. I am hoping it will surprise me. I do see how comparisons can be made between this and Pet Semetary, but I haven't gotten far enough to recognize the Dark Matter comparisons. Looking forward to that, as I loved that book.