While kicking about their squat, a community of crust punk squatters from the north of England learn all about the newly elected President of the World. Turns out this president happens to be their worst nightmare in a shirt and tie. He is, in their words, a corporate swine who promises to make things do stuff tomorrow. Nobody has a fucking clue what he’s talking about.
The punks soon figure that the only sensible response to the madness happening all across the world is to fly the band over to America and put on the protest show to end all protest shows. But shortly after landing in Los Angeles, the band quickly finds themselves in trouble with just about everyone…
American presidential nightmares, Tory filth, post-truth nonsense, alt-right gobshites; Prezident Scumbag! takes a pop at all of these and more in the crustiest, filthiest, angriest narrative ever to come out of somebody’s imagination. At a time when culture is begging for a reawakening of anti-establishment sentiments, Rupert Dreyfus continues to fill that void by taking his two middle fingers and ramming them down the collective throat of the mainstream.
If you’re sick and tired of right-wing populist bell-ends pretending they’re the new anti-establishment force then this story will provide you with reassurance that you’re not going mental.
Source | Format | Pages | Publisher | Genre | Publication Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Author | ebook | 164 | Guerilla Fiction Publications | Satire | June 16th, 2017 |
Quite possibly one of the craziest novellas I’ve ever read. When I say- craziest- I mean it lovingly. Prezident Scumbag! delivers a goodie bag of middle fingers. It’s hilarious, relevant, sobering… It has heart, mischief and passion. It has worry for the world and future.
Through a drug-fuelled and entirely vegan haze, Archie the joint smoking hippie, the unofficial leader of crusties, speaks the Mother of Truth. It will challenge quite a lot of people, I think- after all, we’re all so easily offended now, aren’t we?! I felt challenged, too… It wasn’t the idea of the protest at the White House, it wasn’t the anarchists, nor the profanity… It was the drugs and the puking that made me turn up my nose… f*ck! My delicate heart was grimacing! They do say to face your fears, I need a medal for being brave.
Prezident Scumbag! takes No.1 spot on many levels:
* Most profane- check. (I added a few new choice words into my vocabulary! )
* Most drug-fuelled- check. (It quite possibly tops Trainspotting, I’m not even kidding!)
* Most adventurous- check. (A punk band with a great cause travelling from Norf of England to America, meeting Demon Dogs biker gang, staring down the barrel of a drug dealer’s shotgun, meeting Native Americans.)
* Funny- check. (Mary on mushy brew was hilarious! I’m not saying I would love a travel companion in such a state but it was hilarious.. like tears running out of my eyes!)
Even though the novella is delightfully mental (because ‘normal’ is not a goal to be proudly striving for anymore) it is more. More. So much more. In between the worthy goal and shenanigans of Sick Bastards punk band members (one more dense than the next), there’s wisdom to plant a seed of ‘something else, something different’ into society’s mushy brain.
Prezident Scumbag!‘s message is strong and stinks of vomit but it’s a message nonetheless.
Prezident Scumbag! is:
*up yours to the 9-5
*up yours to the skinheads and racists
*up yours to the system
*up yours to mainstream
*up yours to nanny state
*anti-status quo, anti-establishment,
*up yours to the corporations and profiteers that would kill their Grandma only to add another zero at the end of their bank account balance.
If you can’t agree with that, go back to your sandpit and bury your head in it!
Prezident Scumbag! on Goodreads | Amazon UK | USA
There was this interview by Kostas from BabelsBook with Rupert Dreyfus and I think if you consider reading the book but are not quite sure yet, check it out HERE and I am sure it’ll be easy to make up your mind then.
I am happy to say that I also managed to get my hands on The Rebel’s Sketchbook by Dreyfus… scored it directly from author and I hope to read it very very soon… so stay tuned!
Maniac world leaders; talentless boybands; Westminster politicians; social media idiots; zero-hour contracts. Rupert’s first collection of short stories uses transgressive fiction, black comedy and satire as a weapon for shooting down all of these and more. Keeping the spirit of rebellion alive, The Rebel’s Sketchbook is set to become one of the most controversial releases in a generation.
To finish up… Here’s fitting song:
This sounds awesome! I mean if you think it’s profane then it must be good!
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Thanks Drew… yeah, the book was… exhilarating! 🙂 and so much profanity.. it was profanity heaven! 😀
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Wow! In love with this review and possibly you for writing it! This is not one that is likely to drop off od the reader radar any time soon 😉
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Hahaha, thanks Dani!
Yeah… I do hope the book does’t fall off the radar any time soon.. totally deserves all the readership available out there 🙂
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I will certainly not be forgetting it. Your review and that title alone have made it more than memorable 😉
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Oh I have to read this! I love the sound of this book, I love your review. I love the idea of a book filled with profanity and puke! Yep I will be reading this!
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Brilliant! 🙂 Happy to hear that.. You are definitely going to love this novella, so enjoy! 🙂 And I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it!
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Hahaha I definitely understand your Tweet now! xD Loved your review and you’re right: this does sound like a crazy ride. 😀
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😀 Cheers… That cover is just brave! but so fitting… it could be interpreted wrong at a first glance but really.. the book is anti everything that’s on the cover. So, brilliant!
Thanks for coming to check this review out- the book was absolutely exhilarating and I hope it will be read by many… 🙂
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The cover is definitely a brave decision, because a lot of people might possibly be put off by it… But it does sound like a fascinating read. 😀
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*hands you a medal* You were so brave darling! ❤ When I read the blurb, I thought "what the hell?" and wow, this sounds very crazy, but in a good way.
"Prezident Scumbag!‘s message is strong and stinks of vomit but it’s a message nonetheless." one of the reasons I love your reviews so much 😀 Fabulous work!
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*hangs medal around neck* Thank you! 🙂 ❤
Hahaha, I know right? A proper go and dig at everything that regular people are fighting against in the society… what a brave book with even a braver cover… all satire. Of course! 😉
Thank you 🙂 I appreciate you support a whole lot! 🙂 ❤
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Oh my god, this sounds crazy but in the best of ways! I was reading the synopsis and that alone made me feel like I was on some intense acid trip. It does sound painfully relevant, though. I was reading through your review and seeing the parallels between the events of the book and our current reality. Hmmm, I guess they do say truth is stranger than fiction!
Also, there’s more drug use in this than there is in Trainspotting? Like, THE Trainspotting where somebody takes so many drugs they hallucinate a dead baby crawling around on the ceiling!? Right, this is definitely something I’m gonna have to read. I think this is a case of reading to believe 😛
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HAhahaha oh my, this sounds soooooo intense! I like the sound of drug-adise though. It definitely got me curious on how it was all conveyed. 😛 Would love to hear them new words you’ve added to your vocab too hahahah This definitely sounds like a fun and hectic ride! Glad to hear how much you enjoyed its wildness. 😀
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Well.. for example, there’s a scene where the band are in US already and they’re all having a come down and are desperate for a hit… they manage to score a bag of something or other and one of the fellas is literally face in it inhaling or munching… and the the girl on mushy brew- jesus, that was hilarious! 😀
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This sounds pretty awesome. Love the cover! Sounds like the sort of book Drew would get pretty excited over!
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Yeh, all around class! 😉
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hehe not gonna lie, this one doesn’t sound overly subtle. Like Drew I’m definitely tempted by the profanity, but sadly I couldn’t get through Trainspotting- so it might be too much for me 😉 Great review though- boy this is gonna be stuck in my mind a while!!
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Well this sounds very interesting and also reminds me to not judge a book by it’s cover , because the moment I saw that cover I was a bit skeptical.
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🙂 hehehe.. I now right? It was really good reading, this!
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Haha– This is one of the reasons I love following your blog, Liis: You read so many books I look at and say, “No thanks.” Don’t get me wrong, I do love a good anti-establishment book. But I would probably get distracted by all the profanity and such. I’m such a delicate flower. 😉 I’m glad you enjoyed reading this, though! It’s reviews like this which keep me coming back.
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😀 Thank you for reading my reviews for books that you’d never pick up 😀 That’s dedication and blogger support. Mucho love to you for this! 🙂
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Hahaha. Any time! There is a wide and vast world of books out there. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll find my newest favorite author by reading your reviews?! 😉
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I haven’t heard, nor read, the term “crust punks” in ages, ha ha. It is also the first time I have read that a book had too much puking, in a review. I don’t quite know what to say, ha ha, but this does sound like a fun read in many other non-puking ways. I definitely agree with the ideals of the story. I will put it on my Goodreads tbr. I plan on doing a NO ARCS year next year and that might give me a chance to read books like this one. Thanks for sharing your review. 🙂
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I love the cover, too!
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ha, it’s a brilliant book… I plan to read more from the auhor soon and hopefully score a guest post or interview off him as well…
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