Grasshopper Jungle

by Andrew Smith

ISBN: 9780525426035

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication Date: February 11th 2014
Number of Pages: 388
Source: Local Library
Goodreads Summary: Sixteen-year-old Austin Szerba interweaves the story of his Polish legacy with the story of how he and his best friend , Robby, brought about the end of humanity and the rise of an army of unstoppable, six-foot tall praying mantises in small-town Iowa.

To make matters worse, Austin's hormones are totally oblivious; they don't care that the world is in utter chaos: Austin is in love with his girlfriend, Shann, but remains confused about his sexual orientation. He's stewing in a self-professed constant state of maximum horniness, directed at both Robby and Shann. Ultimately, it's up to Austin to save the world and propagate the species in this sci-fright journey of survival, sex, and the complex realities of the human condition.

My Rating: 

*Warning* I am classifying this book as New Adult due to the explicit and rampant sexual references (as you see in the summary of this book above). There is also graphic violence portrayed.

The setting is Ealing, Iowa - an extremely small town where a big corporation that provided most jobs for the community has shut down after the demise of its CEO/founder.

Our main character is Austin. He is extremely annoying and really got on my nerves. First off, every other thought he has is sexual. I was never a teenage boy, so I have no idea how accurate this portrayal is. As I warned, be prepared. A lot of these thoughts revolve around his mixed feelings towards his girlfriend (Shannon) and his gay best friend (Robby). I appreciate the introduction of the idea of bi-sexualism in YA literature, though I was a little put off by the fact that Austin didn't want to label his feelings as such.

I DID NOT like the way that women were portrayed in this book. Again, it may be because our main character is a teenage boy but STILL. There are absolutely no good female characters in this book. Austin's & Robby's mothers both take drugs to deal with their lives, Austin's girlfriend has no depth (all we hear is how much Austin wants her body), and the female grasshopper is used as a reproduction carrier. This does not seem fair to girls and I did not approve. 

Another problem I had with not only Austin, but with the author's way of writing is the "historian." Austin is apparently documenting and writing down in his journals all of the events that happened for future generations. This is okay with me (the aspect of recording these incidents). What I did not like was how we have Austin's thoughts and then the chapters switch and we are witnesses to scenes that are happening elsewhere. How does Austin know about those events to record them?! He also has this really vexing trait of going off on long tangents about his ancestors. I have no idea how this played into the book or helped further this plot? We do have a reveal towards the end of the book but I don't think we needed such an intensive back-story to understand the twist.

"Even when I tried to tell everything that happened, I knew my accounts were ultimately nothing more than an abbreviation. It's not that I neglected to write details...But no historian could ever put everything that happened in a book. The book would be as big as the universe, and it would take multiple countless lifetimes to read." - Grasshopper Jungle, 67

Now for the juicy stuff that I really liked! Shannon's stepfather, Johnny, owns a thrift shop where in his office he stores weird things that his brother (that corporation CEO) left him after his death. This is where Austin & Robby discover something disturbing: 

"The plaque read:

MCKEON INDUSTRIES 1969CONTAINED MI PLAGUE STRAIN 412E

Inside the globe was a festering universe...The black thing inside the globe pulsed and twitched like a beating heart. It seemed to become more animated the longer we stared at it. It was almost like a gelatinous cauliflower. Here and there on its velvet surface, a mound would rise up, like a mosquito bite, a black pimple, and then burst open at its peak." - Grasshopper Jungle, 55-56

This globe is the source of our exciting science fiction element - the creation of giant, man-eating bugs! We have 7 "victims" that turn and start wrecking havoc on this small community very quickly.

"...we watched as a six-legged bug the size of a small man crawled like some kind of windup mechanized toy out of the hollowed remains of Hungry Jack. It wiped itself clean with four of its appendages, bringing its spiny hands up to its mandibles, licking itself clean and dry with crackling, smacking bug-mouth sounds. The thing's head was triangular. It looked like a praying mantis, only it was as tall as we were." - Grasshopper Jungle, 128 

This is what an actual praying mantis looks like:

Photo courtesy of National Geographic

These insects portrayed in Smith's novel do closely resemble giant praying mantis, as this description from the National Geographic website accurately describes the behaviors of the bugs in this book: "...the insects will also eat others of their own kind. The most famous example of this is the notorious mating behavior of the adult female, who sometimes eats her mate just after—or even during—mating. Yet this behavior seems not to deter males from reproduction." Yet another instance of the sexual references. These bugs (only one of whom is a female) just go around eating people and taking turns reproducing. 

I did like the second half of this story - the discoveries Austin and his two pals make and the twists in the story are disturbingly weird but I liked it. The ending was a little far-fetched for me but oh well.

So, I couldn't really say I liked the book but it was a little bit above being "okay." Thus my 2.5 star rating. Not sure who this book is going to appeal to - possibly boys and probably anyone who likes gross science fiction stuff. The story-telling moves a little bit slow for the reluctant reader and the overwhelming sexual references might turn people away.