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Book Review: Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Okay, so I haven't done a post in like six weeks. In my defense, my computer broke, and it took a long time to get repaired. No excuses, though. I have just graduated from college, and so I'll be so much less busy over the summer. I'll probably do a blog post almost every day out of sheer boredom, so there's that to look forward to.
Anyway, on to the book review. Welcome to Night Vale is a wildly popular podcast which is formatted as the community radio show for an indescribably strange fictional town called Night Vale. Every time I try to describe this podcast, that's about as far as I get before words fail me. This is very dark humor, weird fantasy, thoughtful philosophy and utter nonsense all in one beautiful artistic endeavor. But let's talk about the novel. It follows Jackie Fierro and Diane Crayton, two citizens of Night Vale, as they get caught up in a series of reality-bending problems involving a man in a tan jacket. The story is pretty much independent from the podcast, as in you don't have to have heard the podcast to enjoy the book, which is really nice. The thing I love most about the novel is the character development. In this nonsensical, creepy urban fantasy world, the characters are deeply relatable and their thoughts and emotions are beautifully described in a heart wrenchingly human way. One example of this is in chapter two, when Diane Crayton is teaching her teenaged son how to drive. Her fierce love for him comes out in the conflict between her desire to protect and shelter him and to also let him explore, learn, and grow into his own independent person. The fact that the boy happens to be a shapeshifter for no clear reason does not take away from the tenderness of this moment. Night Vale's ability to describe and embody universal human truths while also being a humorous, horrifying fantasy story never ceases to amaze me. The prose is also beautiful. These guys are talented writers and story tellers. I have nothing but positive things to say about Night Vale, both the novel and the podcast, but I'll finish there. I'll try to be back with another blog post shortly. In the meantime, go enjoy Welcome to Night Vale.

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