Grasshopper Jungle, Andrew Smith
Grasshopper Jungle, Andrew Smith
1 Rating(s)
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Grasshopper Jungle

Author: Andrew Smith

Narrator: Philip Church

Unabridged: 9 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/11/2014


Synopsis

In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend Robby have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things.

This is the truth. This is history.
It’s the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it.
You know what I mean. 
Funny, intense, complex, and brave, Grasshopper Jungle brilliantly weaves together everything from testicle-dissolving genetically modified corn to the struggles of recession-era, small-town America in this groundbreaking coming-of-age stunner.
 
“Original, weird, sexy, thought-provoking and guaranteed to stir controversy. One hell of a book.” – Michael Grant, New York Times bestselling author of the Gone series

“Andrew Smith is the bravest storyteller I know. Grasshopper Jungle is the most intelligent and gripping book I’ve read in over a decade. I didn’t move for two days until I had it finished. Trust me. Pick it up right now. It’s a masterpiece.” – A. S. King, Printz Honor-winning author of Ask the Passengers and Please Ignore Vera Dietz

“Grasshopper Jungle is about the end of the world. And everything in between.” – Alex London, author of Proxy
 
“In Grasshopper Jungle, it’s as if Andrew Smith is somehow possessed by the ghost of Kurt Vonnegut. This book is nothing short of a brilliant, hilarious thrill-ride that is instantly infectious. But, the most beautiful thing about Grasshopper Jungle has nothing to do with the absurd or out-of-this-world. It is the deft hand by which Smith explores teenage love and sexuality that is truly breathtaking. In writing a history of the end of the world, Smith may have just made history himself.” – John Corey Whaley, Printz Award-winning author of Where Things Come Back

 

About The Author

Andrew Smith is the award-winning author of several young adult novels, including the critically acclaimed Winger and The Marbury Lens. He is a native-born Californian who spent most of his formative years traveling the world. His university studies focused on Political Science, Journalism, and Literature. He has published numerous short stories and articles. Grasshopper Jungle is his seventh novel. He lives in Southern California. You can learn more at authorandrewsmith.com and follow him on Twitter: @marburyjack. 


Reviews

Goodreads review by karen on June 26, 2022

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!! I was horny, and scared, and so confused about everything. that pretty much sums up the book - main character austin puts the q in lgbtq as he is torn between his equally powerful romantic feelings for his girlfriend shann and his best friend robby, in a situation as turbulent as t......more

Goodreads review by Gillian on July 26, 2014

Rating: WHAT THE HECK EVEN WAS THAT AND WHY THE HECK DID I LIKE IT I think my brains are on the floor Originally posted at Writer of Wrongs The end of the world began at about 2:00 a.m., around three-and-a-half feet away from a discarded floral-print sleeper sofa infested with pubic lice in Ealing,......more

Goodreads review by Jesse (JesseTheReader) on March 11, 2015

Unfortunately this is my least favorite Andrew Smith novel. I adored the weirdness and quirkiness and how outside of the box this story was. You won't find a YA book out there (at this point anyways) like this one, trust me. The main problems I had with this book involved the slow pacing and the ove......more

Goodreads review by Grace on January 24, 2019

I am in love with this book. I knew not even 20 pages in that it was going to become one of my all time favourites and there’s not one negative thing I have to say about it. I love absolutely everything about it. Grasshopper Jungle is about Austin and how he and his best friend, Robby, cause the end......more

Goodreads review by Justin on June 11, 2019

Grasshopper Jungle is as immature as it is witty, as ridiculous as it is profound and as weird as it is rational. I love all of it. The writing style takes some getting used to, but is soon as cozy as a warm blanket. Had I read it as a young buy, it would have changed my life. Actually, it changed m......more


Quotes

“This raunchy, bizarre, smart and compelling sci-fi novel defies description—it’s best to go into it with an open mind and allow yourself to be first drawn in, then blown away.”Rolling Stone

“Nuanced, gross, funny, and poignant, it’s wildly original.”The San Francisco Chronicle

“I found myself saying over and over again, ‘Where in the heck is he going with this?’ all the while turning the pages as fast as I could. Mostly I kept thinking, This was a brave book to write.”—Terry Brooks, author of the Shannara series

Grasshopper Jungle plays like a classic rock album, a killing machine of a book built for the masses that also dives effortlessly into more challenging, deeper regions of emotion. Above all else, when it’s done you want to play it all over again. It’s sexy, gory, hilarious, and refreshingly amoral. I wish I’d had this book when I was fifteen.”—Jake Shears, Scissor Sisters

“Original, weird, sexy, thought-provoking and guaranteed to stir controversy. One hell of a book.”—Michael Grant, New York Times bestselling author of the Gone series

“Andrew Smith is the bravest storyteller I know. Grasshopper Jungle is the most intelligent and gripping book I’ve read in over a decade. It’s a masterpiece.”—A. S. King, Printz Honor–winning author of Ask the Passengers and Please Ignore Vera Dietz

“This book is nothing short of a brilliant, hilarious thrill-ride that is instantly infectious. The deft hand by which Smith explores teenage love and sexuality . . . is truly breathtaking. In writing a history of the end of the world, Smith may have just made history himself.”—John Corey Whaley, Printz Award–winning author of Where Things Come Back

“A bizarrely fascinating premise that Smith pulls off with panache. . . . Like an absurdist Middlesex. A-”—Entertainment Weekly

Grasshopper Jungle, in many ways, is a book about how there might be a manual for defeating monsters that have invaded town, but there’s not going to be an easy manual for everything else that weighs on the mind.”—A.V. Club

“You, too, will love Smith’s bold, bizarre, and beautiful novel.”—The Boston Globe

“No author writing for teens today can match Andrew Smith’s mastery of the grotesque, the authentic experiences of teenage boys or the way one seamlessly becomes a metaphor for the other.”—BookPage