Wednesday, September 29, 2010

REVIEW: "The Adventures of Whatley Tupper" by Rudy Kerkhoven

Did you ever wish you could have a "do over?" Well, Whatley Tupper gets a whole bunch in this story, and you're in charge of all of them! A "choose-your-own-adventure" for adults, "The Adventures of Whatley Tupper" is a riot. This ever-changing book lets you decide what choices Whatley makes, and that determines where his adventure leads you. Just like the kid version from the 70s-90s, but with decidedly adult themes, this one book provides you with a plethora of potential storylines.

I read the epub version, and it worked beautifully on my Sony PRS-505. I could scroll up and down to choose what Whatley should do next, and then just press the select button. Clicking on "the end" brought me right back to the beginning, so I could start all over again. There was definitely a "fun" aspect to this book. There were a few times, however, when something was assumed in a storyline, but never actually introduced in that particular path. For example, a certain person may be talked about a few choices in as if we've already been introduced, but that storyline never actually introduced that person to us. He (or she) was introduced in a different storyline I read at an earlier (or later) time. Confusing? It was for me as well, the few times it happened.

Riddled with such phrases as "The chase, or perhaps just the passage of time, had weathered away his rage like a dutiful urinal cake, leaving nothing more than cold, clammy, porcelain-hard fear," this book will not likely be mistaken for  great literature. The writing is campy and the situations outrageous to the point of comical. In spite of that, or perhaps because of it, I kept coming back for another story. Perhaps I just wanted to see in which odd and unexpected situation I'd meet my end, or maybe I was dying to find out what "Q" was. Whatever the reason, I read about ten versions of the story before calling it a day.  The stories ranged from silly to downright ridiculous, but I was thoroughly entertained the entire way through. I could see the author creating an entire set, and re-igniting the choose-your-own-adventure series fad again, this time for adults.

3.5 /5 stars

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