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"Dead Man Walks"
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“Me and Vick…”
To say Franz and his best friend Vick are troubled young men would be an understatement, but don’t underestimate these two wannabe tough guy gangsters. They may be growing up impoverished by their single mother households, but that won’t hold them back from getting what they can out of their hometown of Sin Imara. One afternoon, when they get caught stealing from a local convenience store and narrowly escaping with their lives, the Yakuza boss who owned the joint takes the troubled youth under his wing. He provides the boys with a newfound sense of what being a gangster is all about in this action packed tale about the power of friendship.
To say Franz and his best friend Vick are troubled young men would be an understatement, but don’t underestimate these two wannabe tough guy gangsters. They may be growing up impoverished by their single mother households, but that won’t hold them back from getting what they can out of their hometown of Sin Imara. One afternoon, when they get caught stealing from a local convenience store and narrowly escaping with their lives, the Yakuza boss who owned the joint takes the troubled youth under his wing. He provides the boys with a newfound sense of what being a gangster is all about in this action packed tale about the power of friendship.
Readability
Technically this book can be read, and I was able to comprehend what was written, but boy oh boy was it a grueling process. The story is rife with broken English and poor grammatical structure. I was able to get used to the broken English, and a constant use of dialogue tags actually helped me follow along where grammar was ignored (lack of paragraph structure). The main thing about this book that tested my endurance as a reader was the constant use of obtuse run-ons! Holy crap, I thought I was long winded, but “Dead Man Walking” takes wordy sentences to a level I never experienced before. I mean, I cannot help but ask if I’m getting trolled when I have to read sentences like this:
Me and the police officer walked up the front steps of the police headquarters building, walked towards the automatic sliding entrance doors and as we both got closer to the automatic sliding entrance doors sensors, the automatic sliding entrance doors open automatically and me and the police officer entered the police headquarters building.
Yes that sentence was in the book, and yes many actionable descriptions that are equal to and less than which are numerous and repetitive throughout this book. In several scenes the inconsequential actions of the characters are written about (i.e. putting things into and taking things out of pockets, opening doors and closing them behind them, approaching vehicles and how they enter them, etc.). This reminded me of the issue I had when I started writing fiction, and it’s an issue with distinguishing what are the necessary details to write as the story plays out in your mind like a movie. “Dead Man Walks” reads more like a movie in closed captions rather than it does a literary narrative.
Creativity
Ironically, the obsessive play by play attention to detail actually attributes an almost atmospheric like intensity to the action sequences early in the book, which I found chilling. The characters in this book are psychopaths. The scene where the senior gets an ass beating on the school bus is delivered via blow by blow action that is devoid of emotion or empathy, as if the event was being described as simply a matter of fact. To be honest, given the nature of the material, I felt like I was reading an admission of actual events that took place. I thought this was something that worked for the story, but then the action takes a drastic turn later on in the story by incorporating action that was heightened to comic book style hyperbole. There is nothing that is left to reader’s imagination in “Dead Man Walks”; so I just turned my brain off, strapped in tight, and clenched my teeth while gripping the “oh shit” handle while this thrill ride burned itself out without any rhyme or reason.
Delivery
The most redeeming factor about “Dead Man Walks” is the sheer absurdity of it. I’m unconvinced that it was intended, but I got a real kick out the overall ridiculousness of the novel. It was like a low budget movie that takes itself too seriously, but achieves a level of cringe that is just right to be charming and laugh out loud pleasant for poking fun at.
“Let’s get the hell out of here!!” I said. Me and Vick, we quickly turned around and we looked straight towards the party lounge room and we just saw everyone stopped partying and all the party-goers glued their eyes straight towards me and Vick. Now we are in trouble.
Next minute, a big S.W.A.T truck crashes through the front of the party house and now entering and destroying the party lounge room, running over the party-goers and killing them and injuring them.
I mean, everyone knows that’s standard police procedure for breaking up parties. The main character’s sense of fashion and what he considers cool or badass behavior is just comedic gold. All the main characters have zero accountability for their actions, set in a very forgiving environment that seems to simply turn a blind eye to all their madness. Franz’s character just goes wherever the wind blows (so long as Vick is following from behind or vice versa). The book takes an interesting turn near the end, which ties in with the title, but turns out to be purely superficial for no other reason than “wouldn’t it be cool if…”. The novel starts out with some eerily anecdotal scenes of violence and all around degeneracy, but then becomes an off the wall karate manga that's based on some pretty sketchy superpower mechanics.
Vick stood back up and hands me the glass cup filled with sulfuric acid with water inside the glass cup. I grabbed the beautiful and exciting mix drink with my right hand, taking it off Vick’s left hand and I brought the glass cup closer to my mouth, opening my mouth and I sculled the whole damn lot into my body…
Don’t try this at home, kids. There is so much more to talk about but I just don’t know where to start or end… so act now and you’ll get guns, cocaine, gang warfare, prison fight clubs, sex trafficking, Hollywood references and more!
Technically this book can be read, and I was able to comprehend what was written, but boy oh boy was it a grueling process. The story is rife with broken English and poor grammatical structure. I was able to get used to the broken English, and a constant use of dialogue tags actually helped me follow along where grammar was ignored (lack of paragraph structure). The main thing about this book that tested my endurance as a reader was the constant use of obtuse run-ons! Holy crap, I thought I was long winded, but “Dead Man Walking” takes wordy sentences to a level I never experienced before. I mean, I cannot help but ask if I’m getting trolled when I have to read sentences like this:
Me and the police officer walked up the front steps of the police headquarters building, walked towards the automatic sliding entrance doors and as we both got closer to the automatic sliding entrance doors sensors, the automatic sliding entrance doors open automatically and me and the police officer entered the police headquarters building.
Yes that sentence was in the book, and yes many actionable descriptions that are equal to and less than which are numerous and repetitive throughout this book. In several scenes the inconsequential actions of the characters are written about (i.e. putting things into and taking things out of pockets, opening doors and closing them behind them, approaching vehicles and how they enter them, etc.). This reminded me of the issue I had when I started writing fiction, and it’s an issue with distinguishing what are the necessary details to write as the story plays out in your mind like a movie. “Dead Man Walks” reads more like a movie in closed captions rather than it does a literary narrative.
Creativity
Ironically, the obsessive play by play attention to detail actually attributes an almost atmospheric like intensity to the action sequences early in the book, which I found chilling. The characters in this book are psychopaths. The scene where the senior gets an ass beating on the school bus is delivered via blow by blow action that is devoid of emotion or empathy, as if the event was being described as simply a matter of fact. To be honest, given the nature of the material, I felt like I was reading an admission of actual events that took place. I thought this was something that worked for the story, but then the action takes a drastic turn later on in the story by incorporating action that was heightened to comic book style hyperbole. There is nothing that is left to reader’s imagination in “Dead Man Walks”; so I just turned my brain off, strapped in tight, and clenched my teeth while gripping the “oh shit” handle while this thrill ride burned itself out without any rhyme or reason.
Delivery
The most redeeming factor about “Dead Man Walks” is the sheer absurdity of it. I’m unconvinced that it was intended, but I got a real kick out the overall ridiculousness of the novel. It was like a low budget movie that takes itself too seriously, but achieves a level of cringe that is just right to be charming and laugh out loud pleasant for poking fun at.
“Let’s get the hell out of here!!” I said. Me and Vick, we quickly turned around and we looked straight towards the party lounge room and we just saw everyone stopped partying and all the party-goers glued their eyes straight towards me and Vick. Now we are in trouble.
Next minute, a big S.W.A.T truck crashes through the front of the party house and now entering and destroying the party lounge room, running over the party-goers and killing them and injuring them.
I mean, everyone knows that’s standard police procedure for breaking up parties. The main character’s sense of fashion and what he considers cool or badass behavior is just comedic gold. All the main characters have zero accountability for their actions, set in a very forgiving environment that seems to simply turn a blind eye to all their madness. Franz’s character just goes wherever the wind blows (so long as Vick is following from behind or vice versa). The book takes an interesting turn near the end, which ties in with the title, but turns out to be purely superficial for no other reason than “wouldn’t it be cool if…”. The novel starts out with some eerily anecdotal scenes of violence and all around degeneracy, but then becomes an off the wall karate manga that's based on some pretty sketchy superpower mechanics.
Vick stood back up and hands me the glass cup filled with sulfuric acid with water inside the glass cup. I grabbed the beautiful and exciting mix drink with my right hand, taking it off Vick’s left hand and I brought the glass cup closer to my mouth, opening my mouth and I sculled the whole damn lot into my body…
Don’t try this at home, kids. There is so much more to talk about but I just don’t know where to start or end… so act now and you’ll get guns, cocaine, gang warfare, prison fight clubs, sex trafficking, Hollywood references and more!
#LFLR Indie Rating: 2/10
I couldn’t take this book seriously, but that isn’t to say there weren’t some enjoyable aspects about it. In fact this is an early contender as one of the best worst stories that I’ve read so far in 2021. “Dead Man Walks” is my first one star rating given to a product from the indie retail market, but is not a story I will soon forget. The insufferable writing is balanced by the intoxicating absurdity and I challenge you to read this book from cover to cover. As of the publishing of this editorial, Sho Okumoto has fourteen published works on Amazon including two nonfiction pieces on personal motivation.
I couldn’t take this book seriously, but that isn’t to say there weren’t some enjoyable aspects about it. In fact this is an early contender as one of the best worst stories that I’ve read so far in 2021. “Dead Man Walks” is my first one star rating given to a product from the indie retail market, but is not a story I will soon forget. The insufferable writing is balanced by the intoxicating absurdity and I challenge you to read this book from cover to cover. As of the publishing of this editorial, Sho Okumoto has fourteen published works on Amazon including two nonfiction pieces on personal motivation.
THIS BREAKDOWN IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE #LFLR NETWORK.
