Grasshopper Jungle

I reviewed an ARC copy of this book and let me tell you, I wanted to put it down for fear of nightmares with 6-foot tall praying mantises, but I couldn’t it was so interesting!  Austin, our narrator, and self-proclaimed historian is a confused teenager in love with the girl-next-door Shann and his gay best friend, Robby.  Unexpectedly, Robby and Austin unleash an unstoppable army in their small Midwest town of Ealing, Iowa and the end of the world has begun.

The narration is amazingly intricate and superficially teenager at the same time.  The history that brings Austin’s family to Iowa is strategically intertwined with a number of the other characters, but no one actually knows about in, until the end of the world has happened.  Austin and Robby, being teenagers, do things “all” teenagers do – smoke cigarettes, get drunk, think about sex (a lot!), and get bullied.  But when they come across jars marked “Contained MI Plague Strain 412 E” the world as they know it will cease to exist.

Definitely a young adult novel, Grasshopper Jungle, didn’t give me nightmares like I thought it would and it was well worth it – it’s an end of the world story like no other.  Learn more about young adult author, Andrew Smith, on his website!

Title: Grasshopper Jungle
Author: Andrew Smith
Publisher: Dutton Books
Publication Date: 2014
Page Number: 432 pgs.