A Literary Garage Sale



I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President

by Josh Lieb

Lieb, J. (2009). I am a genius of unspeakable evil and i want to be your class president. New York: Razor Bill.

I know one should not judge a book by its cover – or its title – but I just couldn’t help myself with I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President.  With a title like that, I just had to read it.

In some ways, it reminded me of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series; including the layout with double-spacing between paragraphs.   Like Wimpy Kid, the writing could certainly appeal equally to young readers and adults.  The wit was simultaneously down-to-earth and insightful.

But I was especially drawn to the absurd collection of elements all crammed into one book like a literary garage sale.  Chapter titles range in length from one to twenty-four words.  Photographs include authentic pictures like the crash of the Hindenburg to obviously posed shots designed to be pure camp.  There were also: charts, play scripts, and footnotes that were more like melodrama asides.  Chapter 41 consisted of only two words:  “Go away.”  The only book I have ever seen that could beat that kind of brevity is the final chapter of Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, whose final chapter consists of the one word, “Tis.”  I Am a Genius was fun!

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