A nice review for The Adventures of Whatley Tupper at Kate the Book Buff today. It’s funny, because she admits that at first she didn’t care for it, but with time it really grew on her. I’m glad she took the time to get into it.
Here’s the full review:
When I was a kid, Choose Your Own Adventure(CYOA) books were big, and my favorite brand was the Goosebumps ones by R.L. Stine because the plot lines were significantly weirder and more twisted than your average CYOA. I think that is why I ultimately enjoyed The Adventures of Whatley Tupper–because it was super weird. Honestly, at first, I didn’t care for it, in fact to put it bluntly, I thought it was dumb and I just didn’t get it. The first storyline I happened to pick my way through wasn’t very zany, but quite straight forward with a neat and tidy little ending and felt a bit flat. So I went back to the beginning and picked a completely different route and was happy to find myself reading about ridiculous alternate universes, Tom Selleck and Phil Collins obsessed custodians, and a long lost son named Whatlito with a Robin Hood complex. The plot lines are ridiculous in the very best way. The story lines are all fast paced and the flow of events is abrupt and awkward, but that is what makes it funny and entertaining. I really love just plain old weird, off kilter stuff, and Whatley Tupper totally fits the bill. After a while, I did get a little bit pooped out going back and forth looking for new story lines, but such is the nature of the awesome beast that is CYOA. Thankfully the authors provide a wonderful little cheat-sheet on their blog that helps you sort things out, if you want to take a peek. Lastly, something I very much enjoyed was that after reading through several story lines, you start noticing that there a lot of inside jokes and references to the other story lines, which adds fun little layers of enjoyment to the reading experience. I really enjoyed reading this book and rate it a 1, Pay Full Price, because for hours of disgustingly ridiculous fun, the book is a great price.