Review: The Book Ninja by Ali Berg & Michelle Kalus

The Book Ninja is a slyly crafted dark comedy that is almost certain to bring a smile to even the most humourless of book lovers. As for the rest of us, some of the jokes had me laughing out loud, which was kind of awkward, seeing as I was on public transport at the time. But, I digress. This is a great debut and I hope that it zooms straight to the top of the bestseller lists, because honestly, it deserves to. I'd start banging on about how I think it is the best new release for June as well, but I think everyone reading this review has the idea by now that I enjoyed it very much and that you should all read it.

Frankston "Frankie" Rose is an author and bookseller living in Melbourne who is looking for love. She comes up with a novel (bad pun, sorry,) approach for finding love. She places her favourite books on public transport with her contact details inside. It's a fun and clever plan, maybe this way she will meet the literary lover of her dreams. Fate has other plans in store, however, and soon Frankie finds herself falling for Sunny, a thirty-something who only reads--gasp--young adult. Can a lover of fine literature really find happiness with someone who is into YA novels?

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, with its many literary references and its often darkly comic depiction of Frankie's escapades. Frankie is supported by a number of eccentric characters, each one more dysfunctional that the last. Every one in this story is slightly selfish, everyone is dysfunctional and the results are fucking hilarious. There's also a great moral in there about what happens if you decide to get revenge on someone by filling their car up with bananas. (Sorry. I just had to put that in.)

Fucking hilarious. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Australia for my ARC of The Book Ninja

PS: Random trivia, the authors are also the pair behind the successful Books on the Rail project, which encourages readers to leave copies of their favourite books on trains and trams for others to discover and enjoy. 

This book was read as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2018


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