Bible Camp Bloodbath

Guilty! I love slasher films. Their gore, their somewhat expected cast of characters, and the uncomfortable urge to retch when the body parts start flying and blood starts spurting out. I never would have thought that I would find myself reading a 80's style slasher novel, but it was well worth it. I will say that there were some missing pieces to the character development, and sometimes too much emphasis on certain characters, but it was just a fun and short story that would appeal to those of us that like a little blood bath with our morning oatmeal. ( )

I'm glad this book was so short because it was a quick read. After I read the first few chapters I saw that it wasn't my type of thing, but by then I was halfway through. All the violence seemed pointless and the plot line could have used some work. It felt more like a short story or rough draft. Maybe another draft and some expansions would help. ( )

I love A Softer World and think Joey Comeau is pretty awesome in general, so I really wanted to like this more than I did. I really love the prose, but the story was just...eh. It was a decent story and kept my attention, but I just kept waiting for it to be something more, I guess. I don't quite see the point of it. ( )

If this book has one thing going for it, it is the tag line on the author's webpage.

"Child Murder. Something so fun should be illegal."

Unfortunately, that's where the goodness ends and the mediocrity begins.
Don't get me wrong, the story is not bad, it's just not...well...not there.

I believe another reviewer already stated this, but the whole piece (which isn't very long--a paltry 76 pages) feels more like a rough draft than a novel, or even a novella. There are a lot of cool ideas, interesting characters, and plot lines just begging to be fleshed out...but they are left to flounder in a watered-down sauce of queerly written prose. I'm assuming the style was intended, but the "it's a story about ten-year olds, so let's have the 3rd person narrative sound like it was written by a ten-year old" approach was at times awkward and unpleasant (and not in the "dude, that's freakin' revolutionary" way).

There are seemingly copious amounts of informative tidbits given on the background of almost every character in the book (down to the main character's quasi-friends who appear in one scene on the last day of school before summer break), but all the info is unused (or under-used). The first 3 chapters are dedicated to solely describing this strange relationship between the main character and his mother, only to have all that "build up" basically ignored for the rest of the story. The main character, in fact, is pretty much ignored for the rest of the story, as the author often feels compelled to switch POVs to a bunch of new characters that are just as thinly drawn as the main one.

However, even with the drawbacks, it was still a unique experience, and a jolly-good ride that only set me back two or so hours. The violence might turn some people off, but if you are one of those benumbed to violence as are most children of the 70's, 80's, and 90's, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem. ( )

Bible Camp Bloodbath isn’t scary or shocking or even funny. The plot is nonexistent, the characters are flatter than cardboard, and the murders are just plain boring. The only thing it has going for it is a good title. ( )