Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's and the unexpected joy of dystopian comedy

This is one of those books that is both incredibly hard to describe and review, which if I'm perfectly honest has led to me procrastinating doing so. 'Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's' is described as a dystopian comedy, and I'd say that is a perfectly accurate description of this insane satire of Western capitalism and the Irish people. I found myself frequently and religioulsy highlighting both hilarious and hard hitting passages for later reference. Following Joe, the manager of a small firm producing article abstracts which doubles as a CIA intelligence gathering agency, we see look into the lives of the average Dubliner, foreign spies and the criminal underground. What Jay Spencer Green did so excellently in this novel was combining Joe's apathy and machismo with objectively horrible things to make both a poignant and amusing point.


While ~dystopian~, the setting of late-capitalist Dublin is so close to being within our own reality that at times it feels like a surreal look into the world in 20 years time. This made me incredibly uncomfortable but also left me laughing like an idiot while I read at the kitchen table, my family staring at me undeniably concerned. Coming off the heels of a research essay into the effect of deindustrialisation in Northern England, Green's discussion of deindustrialisation and unionism appeared particularly pertinent. While written in 2015, I found his commentary on globalisation in general especially interesting during a time when we are each seeing the consequences of our globalised division of labour and manufacturing.

This novel was fairly loose on plot, at least until you got around 60% of the way through, at which point it became an addictive mystery of sorts. At around 25% I had pretty much had enough, struggling to see the point. However, I am incredibly glad that I was able to push through as the satirical nature of the novel became more and more apparent. I was honestly quite taken aback by the brazen objectivisation and sexist remarks Joe made at times, but this appears to have been Green's intention, reflecting the coarse locker-room talk we so often hear excused. Furthermore, Joe's own self-doubt became apparent as we learned more of his past and tangled present which deepened my understanding of the way he chose to approach the world. Certainly, Joe was not always a likeable character and not necessarily 'good' either, but his humanity and complexity made him an excellent instrument through which we came to know his world.

As readers we start this book with 'The End'. It was so satisfying to finish the last written chapter and go back to the start, finally understanding everything that first chapter meant. I highly recommend this book for lovers of dystopian who ere on the side of weird, but I will say that it's not for everyone. I'll definitely be looking into Green's other novels and gave this 4/5 stars.

I would like to thank Jay Spencer Green, BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for review. You can pick up your own copy on Amazon, Kobo, BookDepository or Barnes and Noble.

WARNING: I don't normally do this but if books had age ratings this would be MA15+ or R-rated. Don't read this if you're not comfortable with strong language and imagery (both violent and sexual.)