Doug Harris threw a heck of a launch party last week for his novel YOU COMMA IDIOT, even attracting the attention of CTV! Click here to see their coverage of the party and interview with Doug.
The good reviews are already starting to come in! "Some critics have complained that Canadian novels don't reflect the realities of contemporary urban life. For anyone who shares that view, Montrealer Doug Harris's debut will be a welcome antidote," exclaims the
Winnipeg Free Press.
Pencil-Pushers and Ink-Splotches says:
I could sit here and feed you some hype about this novel telling you it's the next big thing. I could do that. And you know what, I'd be right, as you would be to believe what I tell you. It's rare that a novel comes along that has me wanting to share it with people before I've even finished reading it. (I actually carried it around the grocery with me yesterday and showed it to a few people.)
You’ll forgive a story that completely upsets your reader’s expectations because you admire a writer who introduces you to a narrator who makes you want good things for them, even when half the time you’ve spent in their company you’ve wanted to slap them upside the head. (Or more than half the time, nearly all the time, you’ve wanted to do that.) And you end up loving You comma Idiot despite yourself. You think that’s fantastic.
Salty Ink chimes in: You Comma Idiot, a novel in second-person, puts the fun back in books and is sure to be one of the fall’s most entertaining reads. You’ll bust your guts laughing and you might even crack a rib. More importantly, all humour aside, Harris is great writer. There is a praise-worthy attention to detail here, and that’s what makes it the pageturning accomplishment it is.
Even the book trailer itself is attracting attention!
A reviewer on
Area203, a marketing agency blog, talks about how much she dislikes book trailers, proclaiming them to be "one more nail in the coffin of the printed word, despite the product they’re promoting." However, she confesses that the trailer for YOU COMMA IDIOT is the only one she's ever seen that convinced her to buy the book. Looks like Doug's experience producing TV commercials and convincing people to buy things is paying off! (We hope it convinces you to check out the book, too!)
This chose it as their trailer of the week, commenting that "it sounds like a darkly hilarious Nick Hornby-esque romp about a slacker without a life plan, also known as: Men I’ve Dated In My Life." While we can't comment on the reviewer's erstwhile lovers and their resemblance to the novel's protagonist, we can say that his or her assessment of the novel is spot-on!
