Photo 260/365 The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death

Sometimes discovering the things your parents loved as children is mind bendingly rewarding. Other times it borders somewhere between hilarious and downright disappointing. It's hard to tell which of the above is going on here, but Calvin's introduction to his one of his dad's favorite books from going on thirty years ago now was a true combination of all of the above. The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death is not a something I discovered at that age, and is probably the strangest book I have ever read. It's a relatively dark absurdist comedy, one of those that is deep enough to keep the adult mind busy with things that one hopes are going at least a little ways over a child's head. To call it entertaining is probably actually shorting it on praise. Still, rediscovering one's childhood loves is a double-edged sword. I can't even describe the depth of my disappointment at discovering the misogynist date-rape scene in Ghostbusters, and I think Jon was slightly surprised by the prevalence of questionable habits in The Snarkout Boys. Smoking, for instance, is a rather nonchalant occurrence in book. Still, the writing is so outlandish it easily couches such offenses in its well developed satire (and maybe that was the point all along, although I doubt, it given the 1982 publishing date).

Also, it makes a great read aloud, which is how we experienced it. Five stars, at least as a family experience.