Random Acts of Senseless Violence (Jack Womack) in Apocalypse Whenever

Dec 27, 2010 E.J. rated it really liked it

Shelves: cyberpunk

Random Acts of Senseless Violence is the first book I've read of Jack Womack, but it won't be the last. Let me say upfront that Womack is a fringe writer, meaning he writes for a very unique audience. I imagine his fans are the same kind of people who like TWIN PEAKS, which means he's an acquired taste. What makes him so different? Mostly his prose, which I'm told is at its most understated here, but gets more intense with each book. He's one of those guys who gives his characters their own vern ...more

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Mar 21, 2021 Tracy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-apoc-fiction, totally-ya

Interesting

Read a bit like William Gibson influenced but not like him. Some type of event is happening and the Presidents keep dying or getting killed. We get the perspective of Lola, a once rich girl, now turned out poor girl. She starts at a good school but when things start changing, so does she. Her parents have to move to a lower class neighborhood, Mom holding onto dreams that will never be. Her father knows the score, but keeps his head down and keeps moving. Her sister never truly acclim ...more

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Aug 26, 2008 Damian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: end-of-the-world

Wow. I read a lot of books and that means that many of them start to blend together. You know, the whole "nothing new in the world" concept? Well, this book stands out in that it's unlike anything else I've read. I've heard several people compare it to A Clockwork Orange but I disagree. It's just the story of a 12 year old girl and how she copes and adapts as civilization and as a result, her family disintegrates around her. One of the things that Mr. Womack did that impressed me a great deal wa ...more

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Oct 22, 2015 Mitchell Friedman rated it it was ok

Shelves: library, author-w, fiction, speculative-fiction, two-star, alternate-history

Dark. This was a Jo Walton recommendation so this tells me something. It was a past near future alternate history as the United States basically slides to crap. And yet it also had kind of a Flowers for Algernon vibe as our 12 year old pov character basically loses everything including her ability to write English. Not enjoyable though readable and kind of impressive in kind of a needing brain-bleach sort of a way. ...more

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