The Pallbearers Club: A Novel

I'm not sure how to best describe this book. I'm shelving it as “horror” because that's good enough for my own bookshelves, and there are certainly horror elements, but it is really a metafictional take on memoirs/memories, combined with historical fiction and horror and sprinkle in some humor while you're at it; slaps cover of book this bad boy can fit so many genres in it.

I was wary of this at first, because even though I've yet to read a Paul Tremblay novel that I didn't at least like, the book is asking the reader to be on board for an atypical reading experience. Which I dig, but I have to be in the headspace for it, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to slog through the sesquipedalian loquaciousness in which “Art” frequently indulges. But you get the hang of it, and “Mercy” has such a conversational tone that you feel like you're really experiencing the story with her and it bridges any disconnect you may feel. Or it did for me, at least.

I don't know what else to say. What an ambitious book, with a killer soundtrack to boot. It's definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it was certainly mine. 4 Hüsker Dü songs out of 5.