3.6
Jan (pronounced “Yan”) lives in the middle of nowhere Ukraine and makes bombs for his YouTube channel until he detonates a particularly large one that catches the attention of all of the local powers. Young, excessively naive, and aspiring to show the world the beauty of fiery explosions, Jan doesn’t think anything of what his actions might provoke in the governments he cannot escape living under no matter how hard he tries to pretend they mean no harm. He wants to live in a world where people are just people, but the world has other plans for him as a homegrown “bomb manufacturing domestic terrorist”.
After easily being lured into a scam by the American federal government with the promise of fame and fortune, he leaps directly into the hands of his manipulators and leaves Ukraine. Only once it’s too late does he realize he’s been tricked and has to find a way home.
This is a very satirical story that mostly focuses on governmental politics between Russia, Ukraine, and America, so make sure your expectations are set for overblown stereotypes and general political jabs.
I don’t normally read satire, so this book is not really up my alley, but with that said, I did enjoy it for what it was. It’s not easy for me to finish a satirical novel, so the fact that this one kept me through to the end is a sign of its entertainment value. It’s simple, straightforward, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a light, mostly upbeat narrative given that it’s told through Jan’s POV, who is himself a very airy and naively optimistic character. If you enjoy poking at the absurdity of world governments and their routine brands of BS, you’ll probably like BBB.
And on the off chance that there’s anyone left still wondering: No, this book was not written to profit from the Russia/Ukraine war. It was written before the initial attacks began (I read snippets and was present for story discussions many months prior to the attacks), and was simply completed with some bad luck timing. Don’t let ongoing political spats and timing ruin this book for you (even though it brushes over many hot issues), it deserves better than that. The book might be a political satire, but Jan is just a kid that likes things that go boom.
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Favorite Scene:
Maybe I’m just cruel, but I enjoy the moments when naive characters are finally faced with reality and forced to cope with what they tried to run from. There are two good examples of this in Jan’s case. The first is when the Russians are all over town and he’s trying to use American chemicals to set off a huge bomb — and then succeeds. He put himself and his country in grave danger by leaving a crater in the ground and being cut/burned/concussed by the explosion. Actions have consequences; stupidity, punishments.
The second is when he’s been stuck in a “hotel” for weeks on end and finally loses it in the face of his obvious imprisonment. He’s a very stubborn character, so it takes him forever to finally accept he was wrong and flee.
Thoughts:
It was weird to me that Jan so easily let go of his stubbornness in believing that the federal agents were filming agents. It’s the only part of the story that felt disjointed and glossed over given that he was in so deep in this self delusion. I get that this is comedic and satire, but still. He bought Blake’s explanation very easily. It feels like there should have been more mental displacement and time spent reorienting to the new reality he found himself in than there was.
If you make a meme — which itself is typically a form of satire — from a satire book, does that mean that the meme is no longer a meme? Does it become a double negative? I don’t know, but here are some anyways:
