This is undoubtedly one of the funniest books I have ever read. The main character, Ellis De’Angelo, or Ellis D, as his friends call him (as in LSD) provides a rapid fire stream of consciousness barrage of random thoughts and raucous asides as he details how his crappy job got worse from delivering a sub with “extra bread”.
The moment it starts the story steamrolls along, and Ellis’ troubles pile up like snow cascading down a mountain in an avalanche. One thing happens after another until he and his college roommates all find themselves given a countdown to come up with some missing mob money or they will be sleeping with the fishes. And I don’t mean Abe Vigoda & Florence Stanley!
The trio, as dysfunctional as they can be, manage to work together in spite of whatever shortcomings they have. On the other hand, Ellis can never seem to gain any traction because his pals are giant albatrosses hanging from his neck. If there is anything to take away from this story it is to always go for the Princess Bride joke.
The writing is refreshingly witty, wry, and the quips never stop flying. I laughed out loud numerous times, and giggled like a teenage girl most of the rest of the time. Each character brings something to the table that allows the others to play off of, and man they bounce off each other like they were ping pong balls.
This is a great book, and it simply flew by. There was not enough of this, and I really want Ellis to get mixed up with the Yakuza or something else just so we can get MORE. Trust me, you will not regret getting this book.
Now, I will tell you that I only got this book because Jeff Hays narrated it. He is the premiere narrator in our land, and I have come to learn that anything he does is great. He always elevates his material. To be blunt, the man knows how to read dialogue. If you just heard him from this book you would absolutely believe he was Ellis. I cannot say just how skilled and professional he is, and I have so many of his audiobooks that my kids will say to me “Are you still listening to that same book?” I have to tell them that it is a different book, with the same narrator. I usually try to make a comparison to Jeff to some other pop culture character, such as saying that he is like Dr. Strange, only in his case he is the Master of the vocal arts. I’m not going to do that today. I want to keep it real. Jeff keeps his stories fun (by that I mean his enthusiasm for the book he is reading is always clear), and adds life to whatever he reads. If you aren’t familiar with him, give him a shot. You won’t be sorry.
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