Jam

this is a really weird and interesting book, highlighted by Yahtzee's unique humor and narrative style that is instantly familiar to anyone who read Mogworld. If you liked his first book, this is a must have. If you didn't read the first one, buy that too!

Summary: His first book, Mog World, was much better than this one. Go read that and skip this one.

Pros:
Interesting premise
Slapstick humor worked well with the unique apocalypse scenario
Scenes are described with great detail, which adds to immersion

Cons:
Truly horrible, unlikable, retarded characters
Meandering plot lacks focus
Flat ending

It seems like Yahtzee took different aspects of his own personality and gave each portion it's own in-text character. Each character can be summed up in 5 words or less. Travis is a coward. Tim likes the Apocalypse. Don points out the obvious.

They make retarded decisions that frequently risk their lives and the lives of those around them, and they're ALWAYS oblivious to the consequences. If you're wondering, no, this isn't the goofy kind of decision making that leads to hilarious punch lines like so many Adult Swim scripts. This the stupid, audience yelling, frustrating kind of decisions that make you put the book down and do something else.

To say the characters are two-dimensional would be misleading, they're one dimensional. They have one and exactly one motivation from start to finish which they carry out with single minded efficiency. It could be argued that they're intended to embody each kind of reaction to an apocalypse scenario, but it still doesn't excuse how stupid and boring the book was because it lacked characters with any semblance of depth.

You see, the problem is Yahtzee can't seem to decide if this is a goofy humor novel or a serious survival story. Humor can be found in destruction or death (See: Southpark or Shawn of the Dead), but Yahtzee never finds it. He plays a death scene out with a lighthearted slapstick tone but then follows it up by solemnly lamenting that death. This bipolar writing style stomps out whatever bit of fun you thought you might have just had.

Suffice it to say I was disappointed. If anyone besides Yahtzee had written this it would never have seen the light of day. Obviously fans of Yahtzee will still buy this and try (like I did) to enjoy it. But to say that this is a "Good" book would be an insult to the literary world.

Yahtzee Croshaw has crafted a tour de force literary work in Jam; the chronicling of an apocalypse no one expected. Jam is a funny, entertaining book that manages to keep you invested in the characters and their arcs despite the book's comical bent. The humor is not limited to gamers, and is very hitchhikery in tone. Would make a great gift for non-gamer friends who like to read. Five stars from me, and I'll be picking up a copy of Mog-World and waiting impatiently for Yahtzee's next literary outing. :)

"Jam" is Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's second published novel, the first novel-length work he's written that doesn't feature pirates even tangentially, and whose protagonist is not named Jim. And I deeply regret to say that these are probably the most interesting things I can say about it.

Ever since I was introduced to Zero Punctuation -- Croshaw's weekly video game review series -- I've been a fan of his work. I read and enjoyed his first novel, Mogworld. I even dove in to his old Web site and read some earlier novel-length works of his entitled "Articulate Jim" and "Fog Juice." The man is a very engaging writer, an ascerbic and entertaining wit, and his gaming review is one of the highlights of my week. So I eagerly pre-ordered "Jam" when it was announced, and set about to reading it the day it arrived...

I imagine the way I feel about "Jam" is something like the way Croshaw himself felt when he reviewed the game "Brütal Legend" -- a work by a respected author/designer that he ended up not really liking -- and find myself wanting to crib notes from that very review: "Do I make excuses for old time's sake and compromise my integrity, or jeapordize my chances of being invited to his birthday party?"

"Jam" opens briskly enough, with the protagonist Travis in the first two pages witnessing his flatmate Frank getting devoured by a three-foot layer of carnivorous strawberry-scented jam that engulfed the city sometime early that morning. What survivors Travis encounters are fairly typical and variably neurotic young city dwellers wholly unequipped to deal with the Internet momentarily dropping out, much less an ongoing apocalypse. There's Tim, another flatmate and support character with no memorable characteristics whatsoever; Angela from one floor down, a journalism major obsessively video recording everything as if she were making a documentary; Don from the top floor, easily the most memorable for his single-minded devotion to recover a software build from work, with all other considerations secondary; and Mary, a Goliath Birdeater tarantula. The story follows this small group of by-chance survivors as they attempt to make their way toward perceived safety in the city's center over the world's largest and most hardcore game of The Floor Is Lava.

Unfortunately, the most interesting characters -- enigmatic pseudo-military types known only by the names X and Y -- appear only occasionally and far too briefly, just long enough to engage interest, and then disappear again.

Ernest Hemingway is widely quoted as saying, "Write what you know," and what Croshaw appears to know is grindingly sarcastic (passed off as ironic) 20-something slacker/hipsters perennially hanging out at the local mall, and low-level white-collar office sociopathy. Every idea in the book -- from the jam-based apocalypse to the way the camps of survivors apply their extremely specialized, and extremely useless, skillset and worldview to get on -- is interesting and clever on its own. Even individual passages are clever and funny. Sadly, for me, they never seem to gel into an engaging story, and we're just left with a 398-page pile of clever bits.

Honestly, I really, really wanted to like this, because I know Croshaw is capable of good work, and I've enjoyed all his other stuff. And because I know he has done better, I find myself wondering if I'm the one who's missing some crucial life experience or cultural narrative that prevents me from appreciating "Jam" properly. But I simply failed to connect with it. It's not that it's bad; it's simply not as engaging or as memorable as I wanted it to be. It's been barely three weeks since I read "Jam," and I've had to refer to the book to remember even the characters' names. Yet it's been months since I read "Mogworld," "Articulate Jim," and "Fog Juice," and I can still remember many character names and specific moments from those stories.

If you are looking for a first exposure to Yahtzee's work, you are far better served reading Mogworld, or viewing any one of his (as of this writing) over 270 Zero Punctuation reviews, and leave "Jam" for later.

It's very unorthodox to write a review before reading or at least sampling the story itself to get an idea of the product, but I do have an issue with my book. Or my copy at least. As book products go, it's hard to actually screw up a book order, providing the correct story was shipped and delivered. The pages are there, the writing is there, ink and paint alike all present.

When doing a quick flip-through of the book posts celebration dance, I was disheartened to see that sections of the book, 10 pages at a time, were almost completely black. I know this was an issue with the copy machine and not with, say, setting a smoky mood with the story, since the title is Jam and not Haze. A Jam story about haze and fog would be non-sensical, unless it was a metaphor and Yahtzee took pleasure in straining our eyes after he knew we bought it and could muck with us as he pleased.

In short- one star, simply because it was illegible. I'm sure it was an awesome story too.

‘Jam’ is a fun filled look at the apocalypse. The story follows a group of survivors as they make their way through the destroyed city of Brisbane, getting in and out of trouble and trying to save themselves and others along the way. The characters are interesting, and the plot is full of laughs. The writing is lacking a bit in the way of descriptions and drawing a vivid mental picture, but what it lacks there it more than makes up for in wit and originality. A must read for those who love Monty Python.

Remember when your cousins would stay over at your house, and when you all went to bed you played a game where the bedroom carpet was poison and you couldn't touch it? You had to jump from bed to chair to cushion, or climb on top of the dresser and toy box, and if you touched the carpet at all, you died. Well, that's this book.

The whole city is flooded by three feet of strawberry slime that consumes anything organic. Our slacker heroes have to get from their apartment building to a distant office building that looks like it may be a place of refuge.

We have an overwhelmed, under motivated hero, a heroine, a burned out anti-hero, a snarky businessman, and a devious CIA type who knows more than she'll say. As we follow their adventures we get two things in abundance - some very funny dialogue and some really abrupt and shocking violent death. So we are deeply into the comedy/horror genre, and how you feel about that particular style will probably determine how you react to this book.

For what it's worth, I probably would have liked this less, but for some very sly and high concept characters and adventures. Especially appealing was an extended stay at a shopping arcade run by a dystopian group motivated entirely by irony, and a long segment involving an office building and a classically corporate response to apocalypse. These two stand out and stand-alone bits put the book over the top for me.

So, a successful entertainment with some low humor and some sly humor. Not a bad combination, and all very skillfully constructed.

Please note that I received a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for a candid review.

Not sure what to say here. Definitely not your average SHTF apocalypse tale.

Characters are fairly shallow, but motivated to survive.

Man eating strawberry preserves lends itself to comedy well and I did find myself laughing often enough.

Seemed to run out of steam at the end with things wrapped up rather quickly, too quickly in my opinion.

Jam follows Travis, a fairly bland slacker who awakens to a sea of strawberry scented jam having reduced most of Australia to mush, and Travis's trials over the following 8 days.

The novel does try to keep the science straightforward, and actually makes a good deal of sense when finally explained. The characters are mostly intriguing, and a lot of the situations take normal post-apocalypse scenarios and turn them on their heads in interesting ways.

While the novel contains all of Yahtzee's signature wit and humor, and the situations that arise are usually really funny, this book doesn't really match up when compared with Mogworld.

A major flaw is some of the villians. While comical and entertaining, even the eight year olds in Lord of the Flies managed to hold on for one whole entire day before descending into murderous assualts. A lot of the psychology at work just doesn't hold up, even with the pass that its supposed to be dark comedy. And Travis, shell shocked as he is, wavers between two massive different points of cooperating with lunatic plans and vainly trying to stave them off.

And for Yahtzee, the creator of Zero Punctuation, this book just drags on and on after a certain point. So much of the novel is the same collection of two or three scenes replayed in various iterations.

Overall, a tolerable novel that would've been well served by being shortened about a hundred pages, but still original and creative.

Isn't it lovely when the apocalypse does something unexpected? Croshaw's "Jam" does away with dingy zombies in favor of a more strawberry-scented doom. "Jam" is the squishy, pink tale of two guys who happened to be indoors during rush hour, some garbage bags, and a goliath bird-eater trying to survive in a city covered in a flesh-rending breakfast treat.

"Jam" is Croshaw's second novel. While the book has many shoutouts to Croshaw's first work, the stories aren't related. So, if you happened to pick up "Jam" because you were tired of reading about undead, picky eaters and preferred a more all-consuming monstrosity story, you won't miss much if you don't read "Mogworld" first.
However, "Jam" does have a lot in common with "Mogworld." The main trio -- Travis, Angela, and Don -- have much of the same characterization as Jim, Meryl, and Thaddeus from "Mogworld." It would have been nice to see some new characters, but there's also no harm in not fixing what isn't broken. You still get some new flavors in the mix, though, since "Jam" has a much larger cast of characters than "Mogworld."

However, the plot is completely different, as is the tone. "Jam" delves more deeply into satire than "Mogworld" ever did. When the genre demands one thing, "Jam" dishes out the other. You want a fluffy sidekick? Here's a giant tarantula. You want a daring aerial rescue? Here's a crashed helicopter. You want the end of the world to force everyone to work together? Here's middle management, so much middle management. You want irony? You got it. What? It would be too predictable if Croshaw changed everything.

Speaking of irony, the place the characters really get to shine is in their encounter with the plastic people. This happens fairly late in the book and involves several plot points and a very unfortunate hard drive, so I won't go into too much detail. Just remember, ironic religiously inspired murder is still murder, and no yogurt is worth that much, really.

The ending, though... Oh, Croshaw, why did you do this to me? Mixing emotions is dangerous territory, and sorrow and amusement just didn't mesh this time around. Again, I don't want to go into too much detail. The ending does tie up all the loose ends, figuratively and literally, I suppose, but when I spend an entire book cheering for the underdogs I want them to win, or at least break even.

Don't get me wrong, I found "Jam" to be a delicious, fruity addition to any wholesome breakfast. Unfortunately, "Jam" is in the unenviable position of having to live up to "Mogworld," and it only falls a spider's-leg short of its predecessor.

So, if you want snark and sarcasm spread liberally across Australia, then I can recommend Jam as a good read. Fans of "The Zombie Survival Guide" should definitely give this book a look, especially since it gives insight into a whole different end of the world you have to start preparing for now.

I personally bought the audio book because i wanted to hear Yahtzees voice over and he even does the voices well! The whole story was based around the stupidest apocalypse that could ever happen. At first i took the book as a joke thinking it would be terrible. But i was wrong, all the characters are well rounded the plot develops nicely, even the Jam its self becomes an actual monstrosity. There is nothing that i would want changed about this book, the ending was one of the most beautiful ones i have ever read.

Great job Yahtzee.... Great Job!

If you are a fan of cynicism in storytelling then you will love this book. Croshaw's writing style is definitely one of the best things about this book. He has a talent for making you interested in a story about rather uninteresting characters. No one is a hero, and just about everyone does something stupid during the story. The best way to enjoy this story is through the audiobook. Croshaw himself reads it, which is fantastic as he makes every character sound unique and his non-character voice is perfect for easy listening. I recommend this book to anyone that is a fan of horror movies that make fun of the fact they are horror movies, Cabin in the Woods, Evil Dead, etc.

Yahtzee Croshaw has proven that he can sustain a narrative for longer than his normal 5 minute video game reviews with his novel JAM. The story follows what happens when killer jam suddenly appears one morning in the Australian city of Brisbane. Written in the first person, we follow Travis, an unemployed layabout. Along for the ride are Don, Angela and Tim. Each of the main characters embodies a different response to the end of the so called world. Don is the cynic that believes that there's still a world out there. Angela is a wannabe journalist (journalist student) that wants to document everything in the search for the so called truth. Next is Tim who is gun-ho geek who has run through one too many post apocalyptic scenarios in his head. Rounding out the cast is the narrator Travis, who is the clueless fish-out-of-water that we're supposed to project all of our empathy on. The characters are probably the best thing about this novel. They are well balanced, and consistent. Though they are a bit stilted with their troupes; they make up for it in wit and funny lines. Their wants, needs, and flaws drive the plot which is also a plus.

If you are familiar with Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation, a videogame review web series, then you'll find the same vibe. Characters often discuss (yell at each other) the logic of plans and actions. In here, we see Yahtzee poking fun at many post-apocalyptic troupes. The whole story is self-aware and a lot of humor comes through in this fashion. For example, there is a society in the book made up of nearly entirely millennials that are governed by a code of post-ironic hipster bullshit. You know the types.

The plot does wear thin in a few places. A lot of notes are hit over and over again. I found myself taken aback by how much schadenfreude I was feeling while reading. The main characters are stuck in the land of post-ironic hipsters for far too long. Page after page is devoted to the Travis and the gang suffering on extremely act of irony after another. It went on long enough that it broke my suspension of disbelief. However, right before I wanted to put the book down, the narrator Travis is forced to leave the land of hipster and embark to solve another problem.

And problems are abound in this narrative. They vary and their solutions are usually clever and well thought out. Though, the main character Travis seems to have little to do with this process most of the time until later in the novel. I understand that this is part of his arc-- going from a sheepish layabout to a more active protagonist. Yet, for most of the time the issues are beyond his understanding and control. Travis is a very reactive character, dealing with things as they come which plays out like sitcom, a 300+ page sitcom. Part of me felt that this book would have been better served written in third person, semi-omnipresent, jumping to whatever character was most active. But I understand that killer jam is the apocalypse that no one expected and therefore no one knows what to do.

Overall, this was a good read. Though the characters don't really have strong arcs, they are amusing and engaging. If you enjoy reading a book for the spectacle of a world filled with lunatics such as a board of directors turned tribal chieftains then you should pick this book up.

Yahtzee Croshaw has proven that he can sustain a narrative for longer than his normal 5 minute video game reviews with his novel JAM. The story follows what happens when killer jam suddenly appears one morning in the Australian city of Brisbane. Written in the first person, we follow Travis, an unemployed layabout. Along for the ride are Don, Angela and Tim. Each of the main characters embodies a different response to the end of the so called world. Don is the cynic that believes that there's still a world out there. Angela is a wannabe journalist (journalist student) that wants to document everything in the search for the so called truth. Next is Tim who is gun-ho geek who has run through one too many post apocalyptic scenarios in his head. Rounding out the cast is the narrator Travis, who is the clueless fish-out-of-water that we're supposed to project all of our empathy on. The characters are probably the best thing about this novel. They are well balanced, and consistent. Though they are a bit stilted with their troupes; they make up for it in wit and funny lines. Their wants, needs, and flaws drive the plot which is also a plus.

If you are familiar with Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation, a videogame review web series, then you'll find the same vibe. Characters often discuss (yell at each other) the logic of plans and actions. In here, we see Yahtzee poking fun at many post-apocalyptic troupes. The whole story is self-aware and a lot of humor comes through in this fashion. For example, there is a society in the book made up of nearly entirely millennials that are governed by a code of post-ironic hipster bullshit. You know the types.

The plot does wear thin in a few places. A lot of notes are hit over and over again. I found myself taken aback by how much schadenfreude I was feeling while reading. The main characters are stuck in the land of post-ironic hipsters for far too long. Page after page is devoted to the Travis and the gang suffering on extremely act of irony after another. It went on long enough that it broke my suspension of disbelief. However, right before I wanted to put the book down, the narrator Travis is forced to leave the land of hipster and embark to solve another problem.

And problems are abound in this narrative. They vary and their solutions are usually clever and well thought out. Though, the main character Travis seems to have little to do with this process most of the time until later in the novel. I understand that this is part of his arc-- going from a sheepish layabout to a more active protagonist. Yet, for most of the time the issues are beyond his understanding and control. Travis is a very reactive character, dealing with things as they come which plays out like sitcom, a 300+ page sitcom. Part of me felt that this book would have been better served written in third person, semi-omnipresent, jumping to whatever character was most active. But I understand that killer jam is the apocalypse that no one expected and therefore no one knows what to do.

Overall, this was a good read. Though the characters don't really have strong arcs, they are amusing and engaging. If you enjoy reading a book for the spectacle of a world filled with lunatics such as a board of directors turned tribal chieftains then you should pick this book up.

Upon finishing this book, I couldn't help feeling that it would have worked so much better as a short story concept piece. Just imagine it...a group of modern-day losers trying to survive in the middle of the jampocalypse. Your mind could go a hundred different places with that concept, and I guarantee that a lot of them would be more enjoyable than what we have here.

Don't get me wrong, though. Jam is well-written, and very funny at times....it's just that the one-dimensional and idiotic characters bring the whole experience down. The main character is an awkward, stumbling, spineless moron. Character B wants to get back something that belongs to him. Character C is trying to hide a secret that everyone knows. Character D is a robot. Side characters are wildly exaggerated stereotypes. From the very moment they're introduced, not one character in this book grows or changes in any appreciable way. In fact, the only engaging character in the book is the one pictured on the cover: Mary the tarantula. It says a lot that a tarantula displays more common sense and humanity than any of the human characters in this book.

Like another reviewer has said, this book is like watching a bad movie, with everything really coming off the rails by the end. The payoff for how the jampocalypse came about is completely lackluster, possible story threads are left dangling without any resolution, and in one of the final chapters, a character is introduced that explains everything before immediately getting killed.

This story started with a bang, but just doesn't have enough depth to fill an entire book. It would have worked much better as a compilation of short stories set in the same world (similar to Machine of Death, to which Yahtzee contributed). Read the blurb on the back, thumb through the first chapter while you're in the bookstore, and chuckle to yourself as you imagine the rest. You'll have more fun with that than with the actual book.

Jam definitely starts out strong and gets right to the action, and there's a lot of inventive scenarios and great description throughout, along with some really clever, funny bits.

Compared to 'Mogworld' though, I was a little disappointed with the overall story arc of 'Jam' and the longer it went on the more it seemed to fizzle out rather than end with the same sort of fantastic climax as 'Mogworld'. I guess I just liked the characters more in his first book, and I felt like they grew and changed more in that book than this one.

Jam is definitely not a bad read and Yahtzee as always is a very strong writer. Definitely still on my 'read immediately on the first day out' list of writers.

Reading Yahtzee's first novel, Mogworld, was the most fun I've had in a long time. Needless to say, my expectations for Jam were pretty high - and I was not disappointed.
Yahtzee delivers with his cynical sense of humour and quirky characters (one of which is actually a recurring side character from his debut novel).

This is definitely the one apocalypse I did not see coming - and I thoroughly enjoyed it.