It’s incredibly impressive to me when an author is able to take a fantastic, fun idea and make it so boring for the reader.

This is the story of two scientists who invent a food that causes organisms to grow to enormous size. I can see that it’s meant to be funny and satirical, but the book is suffering for a lack of a well developed central character. It felt like I was reading a plot line without any propulsion, that I could just find summarised on Wikipedia.

So, I abandoned it. Life’s too short for boring books!

This was published in 1904, and I can certainly imagine some pompous Victorian gentlemen chortling over it.

I would give it zero chortles out of five.

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Review: I am Legend by Richard Matheson

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