Scan barcode
A review by michellereadatrix
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Note: I listened to the audiobook so what do I know about spelling anything?
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes is a story about the dread that a lot of of walk around with every day, the sense that family and friends who've become increasingly beholden to "conservative" media for their news.
But it's also about influencer culture and the envy we see at perfectly curating images of health and happiness, the notion that it's no longer clear who is a bot and who is a human, and out inability to know if the person or "person" on the other end has an agenda.
In truth, no matter where you get your news, or which social media outlets you frequent, you're quite likely to see at least a little of yourself reflected.
The character we spend the most time with is Noah, who grows concerned over the increasing strangeness of his parents, primarily his mother. Noah is a well-meaning liberal guy in an interracial marriage and a daughter.
I find Noah to often be an idiot, but I also think Noah knows he's an idiot and not built for the whole survivalist thing. Can I really judge when I believe that if a zombie or someone zombie adjacent charged me my go to would be to close my eyes and hope if I can't see it that it can't see me.
Still, this book would be really different if Noah were a bit brighter. I appreciate he goes through wild amounts of trauma, but there is a decision he makes ... never mind.
We also spend considerable time with Noah's brother and his family, allowing the reader to see other portals of entry to what we'd have to call mass possession. There's also a family dog named Rufus.
Look, you're a horror reader. You know if the dog lives it's either YA horror or a miracle. I kinda hate the trope, or at least like to be forewarned it's there, but I do think it made sense in this and serves a purpose. And as a darkly inevitable punchline. You were a real one, Rufus.
A lot of the tone is satirical, and on occasion this undercuts the horror, but some of the events are too horrific to have any joke detract from the moment.
I enjoyed myself with the story quite a lot, but the ending felt a bit rushed and generic. I feel there was a point to it, even a good point, but I felt a bit underwhelmed. I also felt Noah's journey home was very late era Game of Thrones, where we toss out the logistical realities and gloss over most of it, except for the epic orgy that happened at a place you might have on your camera roll.
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes is a story about the dread that a lot of of walk around with every day, the sense that family and friends who've become increasingly beholden to "conservative" media for their news.
But it's also about influencer culture and the envy we see at perfectly curating images of health and happiness, the notion that it's no longer clear who is a bot and who is a human, and out inability to know if the person or "person" on the other end has an agenda.
In truth, no matter where you get your news, or which social media outlets you frequent, you're quite likely to see at least a little of yourself reflected.
The character we spend the most time with is Noah, who grows concerned over the increasing strangeness of his parents, primarily his mother. Noah is a well-meaning liberal guy in an interracial marriage and a daughter.
I find Noah to often be an idiot, but I also think Noah knows he's an idiot and not built for the whole survivalist thing. Can I really judge when I believe that if a zombie or someone zombie adjacent charged me my go to would be to close my eyes and hope if I can't see it that it can't see me.
Still, this book would be really different if Noah were a bit brighter. I appreciate he goes through wild amounts of trauma, but there is a decision he makes ... never mind.
We also spend considerable time with Noah's brother and his family, allowing the reader to see other portals of entry to what we'd have to call mass possession. There's also a family dog named Rufus.
A lot of the tone is satirical, and on occasion this undercuts the horror, but some of the events are too horrific to have any joke detract from the moment.
I enjoyed myself with the story quite a lot, but the ending felt a bit rushed and generic. I feel there was a point to it, even a good point, but I felt a bit underwhelmed. I also felt Noah's journey home was very late era Game of Thrones, where we toss out the logistical realities and gloss over most of it, except for the epic orgy that happened at a place you might have on your camera roll.