Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's

Darkly Funny, Desperate, and Full of Rage

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Pub Date 28 Jul 2015 | Archive Date 8 Aug 2020

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Description

Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's is a dystopian comedy like no other. It's debauched, depraved, delirious, delightful. The Bloomfield Review says, "Like an obnoxious spy-comedy seen through the eyes of a filthy drunk ... The language can be absurdly, almost heroically obscene." The TBR Pile says, "Bonkers. Weird. Surreal. Satirical. Politically incorrect. Clever. Absurd. Witty. Disgusting." Winner of the 2015 Lord of the Book Covers award. Voted No. 6 in the 50 Top Indie Books of 2015

Joe Chambers is a CIA operative working in Dublin. Assigned to an agency-fronted publishing house, his problems include, but are not limited to, errant MI6 agents, insane profit-making schemes, a Francoist dwarf, and a tapeworm named Steve. He is an utterly reprehensible character, fond of submerging his head in a sink-full of whiskey and fantasising about brutally murdering irritating teenagers. He is, in other words, the perfect guide to this bizarre and repulsive journey into Dublin’s gutters. 

Jay Spencer Green presents a twisted and exaggerated, but wholly recognisable vision of Dublin. A place of suicide bombings, mass canine culling in the Phoenix Park, “cheap Moore Street socks (35 euros for 6 pairs)”, online divorce, and enough red tape and bureaucracy to drive a man to murder. A place where “cat’s cheese salad” and a dubious pork/human hybrid meat share the menu. It is a Dublin of no redemption. 

A raucous mix of double crosses, brothels, triple crosses, and cocktail recipes, Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s is a dark, twisted, and picaresque tale, a transgressive black comedy like no other.

Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's is a dystopian comedy like no other. It's debauched, depraved, delirious, delightful. The Bloomfield Review says, "Like an obnoxious spy-comedy seen through the eyes of a...


Advance Praise

Devilishly delightful, wickedly funny. This novel surprised me at every plot turn and made me erupt with laughter at each turned page. An absolute gem! I don't write many reviews but when I stumble across a book this fun, witty and enjoyable I take the time to let others know that I recommend it highly.

Devilishly delightful, wickedly funny. This novel surprised me at every plot turn and made me erupt with laughter at each turned page. An absolute gem! I don't write many reviews but when I stumble...


Available Editions

ISBN 9781514377659
PRICE US$2.99 (USD)

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Average rating from 23 members


Featured Reviews

I wish to thank Jay Spencer Green, BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's in exchange for an honest review.

Joe Chambers (CIA operative) is sent to manage a publishing house in Dublin following an indiscretion in Greece; he continues to misbehave in Dublin. Jay Spencer Green has a wonderful sense of humour. This is a dark satirical novel; there is a laugh on nearly every page. It’s just what I needed at this point in time. Recommend.

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A really nice, enjoyable read for me. I've never read anything quite like it - the dystopian comedy genre is such a niche and Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's really filled that niche for me.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Everything about this book was enjoyable, from the unique title to the cover art. The storyline made along at a fast pace without any lags. Overall, I really enjoyed this one!

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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.

WARNING: 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.)

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Well what can you say about Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's? After reading this I'm not too sure, Slaugter House 5 meets Robert Rankin with an unhealthy dose of vulgarity. It is either a work of genius or the worst thing ever written. and I'm sat befuddled on if I love the book or loathe it.
The story would be a very short one if not for the tangents, but it does have a lot of charm and in many a part it is genuinely funny. not one for the squeamish or easily or moderately offended.
If your on the fence about reading this, give it a go.
I'm going to go and ponder what it is I've just read.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the review copy

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While enjoying the assignment as the CIA operative for Ireland dark clouds are gathering on the horizon for Joe when headquarters are thinking that there is no need for an office in Ireland. Determined to push back and save the operations leads to a series of failed attempts.
The black humor had me in fits of laughter and critique about modern society spread throughout the story was just genius and like all good stories a fitting end.
This is an independent review NetGalley / Books go Social

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I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! The world the author has created is chaotic and dark, creating a very unique story. This is balanced out nicely with the book’s frequent comedy. The reader is given an interesting and varied cast of characters, in a dystopian world which instantly draws you in. I would definitely recommend this book and couldn’t wait to finish the story. I loved the cocktail recipes at the beginning of every chapter too.

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Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This one won't be for everyone, but if you like dark comedy with a bit of a nihilistic touch, this one is for you. I personally think the author is brilliant and searched for more books by him after reading this one.

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Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's is a dark, disturbing comedy ostensibly about espionage in a dystopian Dublin, Ireland, either in the present or near future. The focus is CIA operative Joseph Chambers and his exploits to avoid repatriation to the States by keeping afloat the front company he runs in the face of financial, political, and underworld challenges. The book is also an immensely funny - but almost nihilistic - satire on contemporary capitalism, including agribusiness, Big Pharma, the surveillance state, and neoliberalism.

I suspect that this will be a challenging read for some, given its fragmented structure and surreal, almost absurdist plot. It features an unusual but very clever trompe l’oeil narrative, so that readers experience the narrator's distractedness and confusion directly. The plot is fractured and piecemeal, so that it is difficult to follow at times but deliberately so, as we discover. The story nevertheless repays persistence and provides a good deal of entertainment and amusement along the way.

All in all, it's a genuinely original and exciting work. For those who read to have their imaginations stimulated and who aren’t afraid of robust language, adult situations, and intellectual adventures, Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's offers something entirely new and fun.

Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

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