I'm honestly not even sure where to begin with this book. Clever ideas, yes. That's about all I can give it. I get it's set in a future that doesn't remeber the past very well. Yet the frequent explanations of events and items current to the reader became tedious. The back and forth of the storylines added too much confusion to an already overactive disjointed plot.

Could have been good.

As is, I could barely stand to read it.

This just never got there for me - I felt like I was close to an enjoyable read at a few points, but at best I would say I was able to finish it. The president was funny at least, though it definitely wasn't subtle shade-throwing. Almost a three star book, but the second half really did feel like it was written by a different person.

25% of the way in, I was still waiting for the story to start.

I didn’t hate it. I just didn’t get it.

It was all over the place. I know it was intended to be, but it just didn’t make me like it. Also, it was somewhat creative, and I guess amusing, but for a “humor” book I just didn’t find it that funny.

And why are people suddenly sucking their teeth in books all the time?

I hate reading books like this. Because I believe the author has a voice; it’s just not a voice I want to hear. So is my rating a taste thing? Or a reflection of quality? Should I add a star just because it makes me think in this way?

I started to like the last chapter better than the rest of the book. Then I didn’t.

If all this sounds like something you might enjoy, check it out.

My takeaway quote from the book?

<i>“Confused?”
“Yes.”</i>

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Paragraph Line Books for a copy in return for an honest review.</i>

I'm rarely at a loss for words on how to describe a book, but WHITE TRASH LOTTO has left me in that place. Part of me liked the streaming consciousness that was the writing style, but a larger part of me grew tired of it about 2/3 of the way through the book. The terrifying likeness of the futuristic president to our current one...was a bit disturbing. And I had so many more questions that I felt were left unanswered, though I do know at the end of the book it said there would be more.

The concept of the "white trash lotto", though...is a genius way to describe the state of affairs that has made our culture so sue happy. I loved the inclusion at the beginning of the book where the author says he's specifically not telling people it's a good idea.

All in all, I guess I'm stuck midway...I could have taken it or left it. I know a few people I'd recommend it to, others I'd say "Not sure you'll like it."

What in the hell did I just read? I started this last year and I really wish this wasn't the first book to ring in 2018 for me. This is billed as a black-humored "mashup of crime fiction, dystopia and science fiction" but it fails on all the above counts. Instead this is an unfunny, nonsensical, sexist and misogynistic mess. Between treating women like literal garbage to stare at or have sex with and the many grotesque, violent deaths, there is supposedly a story although I failed to actually glean one. It's set in a dystopian future, which has been ripped off from the Margaret Atwood "MaddAddam" trilogy, although adds in a disease that has killed off nearly all children. Naturally though, this isn't the focus of the book, just a flippant note to provide what passes as backstory here.

I would have assumed that this book would have been the result of a group of twelve year old boys writing a wish fulfillment fantasy after watching a Mad Max marathon. To add to my sudden literary depression, according to the "About the Author" section, somehow the publisher felt the need to greenlight an entire series about this world set up by the author (or group of prepubescent boys). What did we do to deserve this?

Avoid this book (and its apparent deluge of further titles) like the plague!

"Gonzo" is a great description of this book. It is imaginatively and preposterously fun, but due to how bizarre the current state of culture and politics is, some of the gags are less funny because they sound alarmingly plausible. The president of the United States having a crew of swim-suited beauty queens behind him at every photo opportunity while he spurts patriotic word-salad? Yeah, that rings disturbingly true at this point. I didn't love this book, but I liked and enjoyed it.