I recently had the pleasure of listening to the audiobook, “Welcome to Night Vale.” The book is about a young girl and a mother on a quest to find information about a mysterious man named Troy. In effect, it was a tour of the fictional town of Night Vale which seems to exist in multiple parallel dimensions at once.
- It was weird! It was like every episode of the Twilight Zone happening at the same time. It was like listening to a drunk comedian. There were some funny parts, but mostly I just want to know what crazy nonsense would come next.
- It gave me the feeling of being reborn. I started as a baby; everything in the world was mysterious. I would ask “why are things the way they are?” Some things seem harmless, but are dangerous (some people go to the City Council to complain about shortcomings of the city, but they never return). Some things seem dangerous but are completely harmless (the faceless woman who lives in the empty spaces between rooms in the house, forgets to close the refrigerator door, but is otherwise a pleasant roommate). Then as a teen, I was frustrated by the lack of answers, baffled by the ridiculousness of this reality, outraged by it’s triviality, and blasé about some horrifying details. Then as an adult, I just learned to accept the lack of answers and move on.
- What I really admired about this novel, is that amid all of the absurdity, life goes on. It doesn’t matter that there are glowing lights out in the desert, you’ve still got to go to work to make money. Sure our cell phones are used to track us by the world government, but you still need a cell phone. And despite the bombardment of nonsense that springs from this town, there is a deep narrative about a mom trying to connect with her son, a daughter trying to grow up, and a son trying to fit in.
- This book is funny! The humor is always surprising. There’s no predicting what is going to be said next.
- There were some creepy parts, but there was nothing “horror” about this. I think the worst part was when the characters were almost caught by a librarian.
All in all, four out of five thumbs up.