Missing Zero by Lorem Ipsum

First of all, allow me to apologise to the author of this book for taking so long to get to it. Best laid plans. Secondly, check out the author’s blog here. Fellow wordpresser and all around awesome. https://zeromissing.wordpress.com/

MISSING ZERO tells the darkly comic tale of the final redemption of the Antichrist. Disillusioned with a world “long gone to hell”, the novel’s protagonist, Lorem Ipsum, begins a quest to become “a true man truly acquainted with the truth”. During his search, however, he begins to suspect he himself just might be the (now defunct) Beast of the Apocalypse as foretold of in the Book of Revelation…

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”

So wrote George Orwell, somewhat grimly, nearly 65 years ago.

Now imagine Orwell’s infamous boot gracing the foot of Margot the Pansexual Commando, a beret-and-black-lace-wearing “elite forces” killer, and you will have entered the surreal and darkly comic world of MISSING ZERO.

Set in the unspeakably-clean city of Queme, the novel traces one man’s quest for truth in our post-Orwellian age.

Sexually frank, intellectually subversive and laugh-out-loud funny, MISSING ZERO explores along the way the modern battlefield in the war between the sexes, while also parodying the larger catastrophe that is 21st-century life.

The novel’s kilt-wearing protagonist, Lorem Ipsum, is the missing zero of the title. And his is the face of an eternally downtrodden humanity, albeit as seen in a fun-house mirror.

An outsider and iconoclast, he is both the ultimate Everyman and “nowhere man”. But could he also have a larger role to play than that again…say, that of helping to usher in the Apocalypse?

Read the novel they tried to have suppressed and find out. The future fate of all humanity might just depend on it…

“I’ve never been quite sure what the fruit was forbidden to do, anyways…Thou shalt not go brown and mushy!” – Lorem Ipsum

 

My thoughts:

 

Missing Zero by Lorem Ipsum is certainly not your average, everyday reading experience. This book, I believe will not be for every reader, but for those who are thinkers–those who are bothered by things, know the difference between irony and coincidence and find meaning in life’s little mishaps. If this sounds like you, then this might be the best book you have ever read.

So here is what earned this book a five star rating:

The main character, Lorem Ipsum, is just a regular guy–sort of. (Really, you have to read the book.) This is one of those situations where if it can happen to someone it does happen to him. The entire book is filled with a rare sort of humour that makes you laugh out loud. There are also times when the author makes you think, trying to solve the puzzles of the literature itself. This author is capable of making you cringe, making you question, making you turn pages even after you should have been in bed long hours before.

The way this story progresses may leave some feeling a bit bewildered and others entirely eager to find out what happens next. I was excited to keep reading and find out how Lorem Ipsum would finish. I was not disappointed.

Some excellent quotes in this book as well. “Your lying, cheating boyfriend here has finally found the guts to confess his secret, undying love for himself to me. Satisfied?”

“Because it’s simply not possible we should have all occupied such exalted positions of power. I mean, has there not always been those amongst us who have had to roll balls of dung as their lot in life?”

Brilliant.

The way this story is told is much different than most other books. Your navigation through the book will depend largely on your own perspective and how you take to stream-of-consciousness-narrative. If you have previous experience reading and enjoying Dante or similar literature, then the ironic nature of this writing will no doubt appeal to you.

Would I recommend this book, absolutely, but don’t drink anything while you are reading it or sudden bursts of laughter might result in messy situations. If you need a good belly laugh and have been looking for something a bit different, better–this is your book.