The Pole Vault Championship of the Entire Universeby Conor Lastowka
Blurb:
Kara Everglades has just finished her first year of high school and is longing for an adventure. So far her only option is an invitation from some upperclassmen to watch them drunkenly race a bunch of bullfrogs in a ditch. To be honest, she was hoping for something a bit more exciting.
Her grandfather, Cornelius Everglades, is a renegade who founded his own island micronation. Unfortunately, the rest of the world refuses to acknowledge it (possibly because he’s gone about the nation-building process using wildly illegal and unethical means).
When Cornelius shows up at Kara’s door needing her help and promising an adventure, Kara agrees to go along with his far-fetched plan to put his micronation on the map, even though a) she thought Cornelius was dead, and b) his scheme depends heavily on Kara wearing a mascot costume.
If Kara had known about the giant alien spaceship currently speeding toward her grandfather’s country with the intent to subjugate and humiliate mankind, she might have reconsidered.
My Reaction:
Donald and I decided to read this together after enjoying the "372 Pages" podcast by the author, Conor Lastowka, and Michael J. Nelson (of MST3K and Rifftrax fame). We didn't know what to expect, but considering that the author writes for Rifftrax (and was funny in the podcast), we were optimistic.
It took me a little while to acclimate to this style of humor (which often veers into the absurd), but once we'd settled in, it was a very funny read, and we laughed more and more frequently as the story progressed.
At first, I thought the book was tailored for a young adult audience (mainly because of a teenage protagonist and the cartoony cover art), but some adult language (and maybe a few of the jokes) soon disabused me of that notion. (Not that modern YA is pure as the driven snow, as far as cursing goes. An older YA reader could enjoy this book, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily geared toward that audience.)
Both Donald and I thought that Cornelius was a strange, completely unsympathetic character (especially for a long-lost grandpa)-- and I'm not sure how I felt about Kara's increasing resemblance to him-- but this isn't exactly the kind of novel you should take too seriously, so though I don't really like Cornelius, I enjoyed the humor he brought to the story.
We agreed that the strongest parts of the novel were those featuring the aliens, which we thoroughly enjoyed. (I wouldn't mind reading more about them, in fact.)
Recommended to anyone in need of a good laugh!
