Rob Roberge

This is bleak as all get out, relentlessly grim even when it is funny. Roberge brings us a panoply of fatally depressed people. The pages are filled with the heartbroken, wounded, and maimed. There are addicts, grifters, and intentional and unintentional murderers. His writing is visceral. I think when I reviewed his brilliant memoir, Liar, I said it had a punk-rock aesthetic. If I did not say that, I should have. In any event, that is even more evident in this collection. It is rougher show more around the edges than Liar. I am pretty sure Roberge was actively in addiction when he wrote this, and even if he was not, it reads like he was. This is messy and inconsistent. When Roberge hits his marks, which he does far more often than he misses them, this is mind-bendingly brilliant. There are subtle hints of Denis Johnson and Charles Bukowski, but the voice is still wholly original. Anyone looking for something completely different will find it here.

The standouts for me were: The Exterminator (a commentary on capitalism?); Love and Hope and Sex and Dreams (heartbreak, depression, and a feel-good encounter with Ketih Richards); Burn Ward (this gutted me, hope and compassion and pain and death); Beano's Deal (another comenary on capitalism, and also chimps); Whatever Happened to Bill Brody (an ex-child star, now desperate addict finds himself in a hell of a situation, and turns it into a worse one).

Progress notes for each story:

June 2, 2026 – page 20
17.86% "These very brief stories are truly warped. I know from reading his memoir that Roberge is fascinating, talented, and not quite right.

Working Backwards From the Worst Moment of My Life - The title is spot on. The world's strangest moral quandary.

The Exterminator manages to be fully funny and fully tragic in the space of a few pages. "Rat is pest of the month" is a line I feel like I am going to use again."

June 3, 2026 – page 36
32.14% "Love and Hope and Sex and Dreams - Physically painful. The quietest self-loathing imaginable.
Swiss Engineering - Less successful as a character study, but no less depressing as a whole. IT is a miracle Roberge stayed alive. Guessing he couldn't work up the energy."

June 4, 2026 – page 46
41.07% "Burn Ward-Maybe the best so far. A series of conversations between men in the burn ward. Roberge is definitely fixated on bodily ruin at what that does to the soul. This one is gutting, but also occasionally grimly funny until it is not.

Border Radio. The sins of our fathers. The value of a life. All of these are weird stories -- this very brief one about generational evil might be the weirdest."

June 4, 2026 – page 59
52.68% "Beano's Deal: The weirdest story in a weird collection. This is not a negative for me. Roberege kills it at weird. I think this is a critique of capitalism, but also the story of a very frustrated chimp.

Earthquake is the least of these. It thinks it is deep. Not so much.

Whatever Happened to Bill Brody" "Their cab driver is a woman whose teeth are going in every direction except the ones you'd expect from teeth."

A Headache from Barstow to Salt Lake: My least favorite of the stories. Yes, it is violent and bleak, but most of these are violent and bleak. It is gratuitous and absurd.

Do Not Concern Yourself is a strange revenge tale in which the world would actually be better if every person in the story were dead. Interesting theory. show less

kind or frightening, hilarious, and has that madja look feeling as if there were a really bad highway accident but big piles of injured clowns, trapeze artists, and lots of loose lime jello. You don't want to find brain problems, drug issues, trainwreck relationships etc funny, but yeah. Sometimes they are. There is plenty of depth here too so don't bring your giddy self expecting a free for all. Recommended.

Wow! This was a gripping book, dealing with issues of alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental illness in a stark, direct manner. No sugar-coating here. The author jumps back and forth in time, randomly. Normally, this would ruin the book for me, but once I realized he was trying to simulate the manic mind, I felt it added to the story. I would highly recommend this book, with the caveat that the reader is prepared for the depressing topics.

Rob Roberge’s “Liar” is a very powerful memoir about mental illness and addiction – and the toll the two conditions have on people. How much dealing with one or the other or both drags people down and exhausts and terrifies those unfamiliar with the effects of completely unpredictable thoughts and behavior.

This in-depth look into the life of a person struggling with (what certainly sounds like) traumatic brain injury - in conjunction with bi-polar disorder is just heart breaking at show more times. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for the author to relive some of the events in his life, let alone put them in writing for his friends, family and for all the world to see.

This book is intensely personal – and at times – very uncomfortable to read. Some of his actions, whether drug/alcohol/illness fueled are just terrifying and I felt myself wanting to reach out to save him.

At one point, his girlfriend puts it incredibly well in the midst of their breakup: “She tells you she is worried about you alone. “The world just hits you full in the face every day,” she says.

Roberge seems incredibly fragile at times. With a brain and emotions that he cannot trust, and feelings and thoughts that come upon him quickly and intensely – most of which seem designed to makes things worse for him – it seems amazing to me that he’s done this well in life.

The title of the book, “Liar” was one of the most interesting parts to me. Because of his injuries and illnesses – he realizes that he is unsure which of the events and memories of his life are true and which are lies. He is unable to trust himself or what he thinks to be true. He only knows what he feels to be true.

“Shame is an endless white noise of pain in your head. You’re confused and overwhelmed and you are as alone as you have ever felt. You can’t go to rehab. You can’t admit your weakness to anyone, even though you know, god you know – what addict doesn’t? – that addiction’s not about intelligence and it’s not about strength. Your whole life has been a lesson in this: Knowing something may make it a fact, but feeling something makes it a truth.”

This was a disturbing and beautiful and painful and hopeful book. I wish Rob Roberge the best as he moves through life. show less