That's all you need to know right?Review over you can go buy the book now thank you.
Haha no! wait, I'm kidding come back and listen to me ramble on about cupcakes, wolves, Cinderella assholes and yes..The novel.
but first..
I just want to start off this post by addressing all of the people who failed to make it to This One Time's book launch at The Book Lounge on Wednesday the 6th of May
" weh weh.. wehweh.. weh."
You missed out big time! Aside from the very entertaining author talk with Lauren Beukes and Alex van Tonder (my new heroes) there were some kick ass cupcakes and other delicious nibbly bits to enjoy, a lot of intimidating hipstertypes walking around, vodka punch and laughs,but mostly cupcakes (I was obsessed with those damn cupcakes)
but no I won't rub it in your faces. I know I promised a detailed post about the launch but quite frankly there are more important things to talk about like the book for example and the brilliant Q&A that I had with Alex. Ahh I think we might be best mates now!Okay maybe not mates but definitely 'that chick I met one time' material. Don't worry this is only her first book, next year we'll be acquaintances :D #Goals!!
Moving along...
You're probably wondering what the hell this book I'm flailing about is even about right? Well I'll tell you.
This One Time is about an infamous blogger named Jacob Lynch who blogs under the pseudonym Brodie Lomax. I say this guys is infamous because his blog basically consists out of pictures of his naked female conquests and blog post that form a how-to guide for men. As in How to be a douche bag with a capital D. Err, I don't know how or why but somehow people end up eating that crap for breakfast despite the morally bleak content. Jacob ends up getting a book deal to write his memoir or shall I say Brodie Lomax's memoir. Sadly, with Jacob being the party animal that he is the deadline for his first draft is two months away and he has managed to write a total of zero words. In a desperate attempt to get away from his life in New York and to force himself to actually get the words down he accepts an offer to stay in an isolated hunting lodge in Alaska for two months. Jacob ends up going to this lodge intending on writing his memoir only when he gets there things take a very very dark turn. Oh yes, there will be no memoir writing on this trip instead Jacob will find himself facing the full wrath of the monster he had created. Did he really think he could get away with scorning thousands of women and get away with it unscathed? Well only time will tell.
The Review
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| Alexandra van Tonder, the author of This One Time. Yes, I stupidly forgot to take her picture during the Q&A. I'm blaming it on the nerves. |
At first I had a hard time getting into the story, mostly because it's being told through Jacob Lynch's perspective and man does his perspective suck! He makes a living out of exploiting women for goodness sake! However, Alex managed to keep me hooked through out the book despite my building hatred towards Brodie and it also helped a lot seeing a different side to him as the book progressed. Glimpses into Jacob's past, before The Age of Brodie made him human and in a way more tolerable.
The relevance of the different characters need for fame and success however is what initially hooked me in the beginning of the novel. Let me tell you some people would do just about anything to get their 15 minutes of fame and with social media making so many people's dreams come true it was fascinating reading a book that basically attacked that part of modern society. It inadvertently made me question whether or not the end really does justify the means and I personally think that if more people were to read this book they would ask themselves the same thing. Hopefully, coming to the same conclusion I had, It damn well does not! Although most of the characters seemed a little one dimensional, in the sense that the bad almost always outweighed the good. Realistically it didn't make sense to me but within the fictional world it emphasized the grey morals, the blurred line between right and wrong that rears its head when ambition is involved and since the novel can be seen as a social commentary of modern society I was able to let this slide, because as we all very well know the views of the morally corrupt usually make for some very entertaining reading material ;)
The second part of the novel is what really got my motor running. After Jacob landed in Alaska things started getting out of control really quickly and I found myself taking several moments after almost every chapter to compose myself. I didn't think it was possible for me to dislike a character more then Brodie, until I was introduced to Alicia that is. Alicia arrives at the hunting lodge soon after Brodie does and even though he was told that he would be alone in the lodge the idiot still manages to invite her in.
Sigh!Men and their judgement...
Okay, so he was under the impression that she was there to keep the lodge in tip top shape for him but damn it. If something seems too good to be true chances are it is! This chick was the main reason why I ended up shouting at the words dancing around on my E-reader for most of the novel. The movie Gone Girl affected me in the same way so if you, like me was completely blown away by that movie then I strongly urge you to pick up this book right now! Basically Alicia is bat shit crazy and Brodie managed to some how ruin her life. Haha, if only the dude ran away when he had his chance.
I loved hating Alicia and the way the whole Alaska trip turned out, I was literally as in the dark about everything as Brodie was until the very end so yes, that plot twist broke me. I mean I hated Brodie but really? did he deserve that? No, no one deserves to have something like that happen to them. Obviously I am not going to spoil anyone so just trust me when I say that this book will have you on the edge of your seat, bed, table wherever and whenever you choose to dive into this. I personally haven't read Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins before but I know some people are calling it the next Gone Girl. However, I'm pretty sure This One Time can give it a run for it's money.
Who should read this?
If you loved Gone Girl and basically any other psychological thriller and if the you, like Alex is attracted to the dark side of the digital world then this book is definitely for you.
Click Here for my exclusive Q&A with the author:)
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