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Manic Pixie Egirl
THE MOST CANCELED BOOK ON TIKTOK — Manic Pixie Egirl is a prophetic chronicle of cults, conspiracies, and the darkest corners of the internet. Across three parallel narratives, Lemcke draws readers into a depraved universe of chronically online camgirls, alternate timelines, and one man’s chaotic quest to be healed.
Neurotic loner and self-diagnosed girl addict Aldon Goodknight has sworn off women altogether, but when a provocative young content creator moves into the apartment above him, his resolve to stay celibate is put to the test. Claiming to be the new messiah of the twenty-first century, the audacious and irresistible Abbie Cadabra is anything but your typical girl next door. Enigmatic, ambitious, and a bit naive, she is determined to become the most esoteric egirl the internet has ever seen.
Aldon soon becomes captivated by her irreverent charm and the unlikely pair set out to create a salacious social media empire, even if it means starting an apocalyptic sex cult in the process. But as their controversial content catapults them to unprecedented levels of fame, a chance encounter with a mysterious book has them scrambling to find a way to reset the 9/11 timeline before a shadowy government organization jumps the entire planet to the darkest timeline.
Intertwined with a tarot-inspired fantasy about a man without a shadow and the tell-all confession of a former top secret government official, Lemcke’s debut novel is a narrative particle accelerator that explores everything from simulation theory to our capacity for redemption in the digital age.
Neurotic loner and self-diagnosed girl addict Aldon Goodknight has sworn off women altogether, but when a provocative young content creator moves into the apartment above him, his resolve to stay celibate is put to the test. Claiming to be the new messiah of the twenty-first century, the audacious and irresistible Abbie Cadabra is anything but your typical girl next door. Enigmatic, ambitious, and a bit naive, she is determined to become the most esoteric egirl the internet has ever seen.
Aldon soon becomes captivated by her irreverent charm and the unlikely pair set out to create a salacious social media empire, even if it means starting an apocalyptic sex cult in the process. But as their controversial content catapults them to unprecedented levels of fame, a chance encounter with a mysterious book has them scrambling to find a way to reset the 9/11 timeline before a shadowy government organization jumps the entire planet to the darkest timeline.
Intertwined with a tarot-inspired fantasy about a man without a shadow and the tell-all confession of a former top secret government official, Lemcke’s debut novel is a narrative particle accelerator that explores everything from simulation theory to our capacity for redemption in the digital age.
- GenresTarot
229 pages, Paperback
Published June 20, 2023
About the author
Nate Lemcke
1 book22 followersNate Lemcke is an American novelist whose work explores a diverse range of topics including metaphysics, spirituality, and internet culture.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
September 12, 2023
R/menwritingwomen
September 12, 2023
oh yes the incel and the hot cam girl i love when men profit off the objectification of women
September 19, 2023
why are most of the 5 star reviews for this book written by empty accounts that were clearly made to try to improve the star rating? 🤔🤔🤔
September 19, 2023
who's gonna tell this guy there's fanfic writers on tumblr that have done better with the insane premise of incel dude and cam girl smut
October 12, 2023
I hope get the chance to piss on a physical copy of this book.
Oh. My. God. This is genuinely the worst books I’ve ever read in my entire life. The prose is awful. The content is terrible. The book is stupid. Just plain stupid. The author thinks he unlocked the secret to women but he’s is so painfully clueless. The books is full of his kinks. Mommy fetish, cum fetish, voyerism, hu-cow (human cows for milking, sexually) and many many more. He fucks a girl in front of her dad on stage at one point. This book is FULL of Qanon bullshit. Just full of it. 9/11 was manifested by a secret government agency. Women want to be sent dick pics if they post nudes on Reddit. (I’m 100% sure that the author has sent unsolicited dick pics) His “musings” on things borderline incoherent. He couldn’t write a decent plot to save his life.
“I live in a garden level apartment. Which means it’s about eye level with the garden.” NO SHIT SHERLOCK.
That’s the level of “literary genius” in this book.
There’s a rock shaped like a mothers breast.
He has to baptize women into his egirl’s cult by Cumming on their faces.
He claims drunk driving gets you closer to god.
There’s a therapist he wants to fuck bc she’s motherly.
There’s a whole asshole gaping scene where they take his ex gfs fruit and ruins it…
And the man still has to come in and save the world at the end of the day.
Oh? Did I mention? The main characters name is Goodknight and Abbie Cadabra. That’s insanely stupid.
This book is rife with grammatical errors, punctuation errors and plot holes.
This author is an idiotic grifter.
Oh. My. God. This is genuinely the worst books I’ve ever read in my entire life. The prose is awful. The content is terrible. The book is stupid. Just plain stupid. The author thinks he unlocked the secret to women but he’s is so painfully clueless. The books is full of his kinks. Mommy fetish, cum fetish, voyerism, hu-cow (human cows for milking, sexually) and many many more. He fucks a girl in front of her dad on stage at one point. This book is FULL of Qanon bullshit. Just full of it. 9/11 was manifested by a secret government agency. Women want to be sent dick pics if they post nudes on Reddit. (I’m 100% sure that the author has sent unsolicited dick pics) His “musings” on things borderline incoherent. He couldn’t write a decent plot to save his life.
“I live in a garden level apartment. Which means it’s about eye level with the garden.” NO SHIT SHERLOCK.
That’s the level of “literary genius” in this book.
There’s a rock shaped like a mothers breast.
He has to baptize women into his egirl’s cult by Cumming on their faces.
He claims drunk driving gets you closer to god.
There’s a therapist he wants to fuck bc she’s motherly.
There’s a whole asshole gaping scene where they take his ex gfs fruit and ruins it…
And the man still has to come in and save the world at the end of the day.
Oh? Did I mention? The main characters name is Goodknight and Abbie Cadabra. That’s insanely stupid.
This book is rife with grammatical errors, punctuation errors and plot holes.
This author is an idiotic grifter.
June 30, 2024
Men after saying the most misogynistic thing you’ve ever heard: It’s a joke. Your existence is meaningless enough for me to comfortably make a joke about your suffering, and being treated like you’re just meat. But that doesn’t mean anything, because those things I say are just satire. Talking about real women’s realities is actually satire to me. Maybe you’d be less offended if you could take a joke, I’m sorry that you’re offended.
A book written to “confront women’s discomfort when facing true masculine vulnerability.”
AKA, a man has decided he needs to spread a message to women that … not all men are bad… or … men are bad but because they are victims? because of women? or…. because men are good but misunderstood?
either way, women have lessons to learn about the struggles men face when … when women exist and … breasts sexy??????????
The author really said “Y’all are acting like I wrote the next Lolita or something.”
….. Ok. NOBODY was thinking that.
To be clear, Nabokov wrote Lolita as a long time victim of childhood sexual abuse from his uncle, not as a pedophile. There’s very obviously a big big big difference. Lolita, and most of his other books, is a social commentary, most likely a way of working through his extreme trauma, and about how sexualisation of vulnerable people (particularly children and young people) is life destroying, an disgusting, unforgivable crime… How men get off on the power unbalance to commit the most violent acts possible, how they get away with it, play victim, make you pity them somehow.
But you wrote this book inspired by your porn addiction and specifically a sex worker who dresses up and role-plays as the lolicon, underage Chibiusa, right? That 6 year old? And we know this because you literally wrote about it on your public instagram???
How dare you?
You did not write this book to start a conversation with women about masculine vulnerability (whatever that is, I don’t know because he never really speaks about it like a grown up), or the struggle men with a porn addiction face in society (how sad for them), or the way men perceive women as purely sexual objects.
It’s not satire either, because it’s not funny.
You wrote this book to get money. Just money. I hope you got almost nothing out if this, and that you never publish anything ever again.
But I guess you were right about one thing. You didn’t write the next Lolita. You wrote its antithesis, which is commendable. It’s amazing how a man’s ego can let something like this happen. It baffles me every time.
I wasn’t shocked at all by any of this.
I’m sorry you get hate comments for writing about women in a way that women have said for centuries is dehumanising and oppressive. It’s a tough world out there, and women don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to misogyny, so it’s difficult to cope when they keep bringing it up. How overwhelming!!! CAN they just listen for one second to what a MAN has to say?!
It must be a struggle trying to overcome your misogyny, but I mean this in the meanest way possible, keep it to yourself, and between your closest friends and relatives. You’re so embarrassing yourself
A book written to “confront women’s discomfort when facing true masculine vulnerability.”
AKA, a man has decided he needs to spread a message to women that … not all men are bad… or … men are bad but because they are victims? because of women? or…. because men are good but misunderstood?
either way, women have lessons to learn about the struggles men face when … when women exist and … breasts sexy??????????
The author really said “Y’all are acting like I wrote the next Lolita or something.”
….. Ok. NOBODY was thinking that.
To be clear, Nabokov wrote Lolita as a long time victim of childhood sexual abuse from his uncle, not as a pedophile. There’s very obviously a big big big difference. Lolita, and most of his other books, is a social commentary, most likely a way of working through his extreme trauma, and about how sexualisation of vulnerable people (particularly children and young people) is life destroying, an disgusting, unforgivable crime… How men get off on the power unbalance to commit the most violent acts possible, how they get away with it, play victim, make you pity them somehow.
But you wrote this book inspired by your porn addiction and specifically a sex worker who dresses up and role-plays as the lolicon, underage Chibiusa, right? That 6 year old? And we know this because you literally wrote about it on your public instagram???
How dare you?
You did not write this book to start a conversation with women about masculine vulnerability (whatever that is, I don’t know because he never really speaks about it like a grown up), or the struggle men with a porn addiction face in society (how sad for them), or the way men perceive women as purely sexual objects.
It’s not satire either, because it’s not funny.
You wrote this book to get money. Just money. I hope you got almost nothing out if this, and that you never publish anything ever again.
But I guess you were right about one thing. You didn’t write the next Lolita. You wrote its antithesis, which is commendable. It’s amazing how a man’s ego can let something like this happen. It baffles me every time.
I wasn’t shocked at all by any of this.
I’m sorry you get hate comments for writing about women in a way that women have said for centuries is dehumanising and oppressive. It’s a tough world out there, and women don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to misogyny, so it’s difficult to cope when they keep bringing it up. How overwhelming!!! CAN they just listen for one second to what a MAN has to say?!
It must be a struggle trying to overcome your misogyny, but I mean this in the meanest way possible, keep it to yourself, and between your closest friends and relatives. You’re so embarrassing yourself
October 27, 2023
ban men from writing books
October 17, 2023
[10/17/23 edit: the author is clearly trying to rebrand this book in a new attempt to viral market it to 4chan instead of tiktok, crossposting screenshots of his own greentext posts on reddit to drum up interest, so I’m going to include the original book synopsis here. See if you can spot the difference:
“Manic Pixie Egirl is a deep dive into the damaging world of hypersexualized online environments. With honesty, wit, and compassion, Lemcke explores the crippling effects of growing up with unrestricted internet access.
Much like the iconic manic pixie dream girl trope itself, this narrative unveils a disconcerting truth: countless men raised on the internet find themselves trapped in a paradigm where they perceive women as nothing more than idealized objects of desire, tragically overlooking their fundamental humanity.
The story centers around the troubled and perverse mind of Aldon Goodnight, an internet-addicted loner, as he struggles to overcome the symptoms of a debilitating mental illness. With the help of a well-intentioned, if slightly misguided therapist, he embarks on a chaotic and ultimately transformative journey to fully embrace all of his addictions in an effort to rid himself of them forever.
Prescient, timely, and utterly captivating, Manic Pixie Egirl is a literary tour de force that explores trauma, addiction, and the yearning for intimacy in the digital age.”]
This story is told across three alternating narratives - an allegorical fantasy tale about a man named Anon who has to rescue the missing “””free-spirited””” princess of a magical kingdom, excerpts from a gritty dystopian tell-all “Confessions of a Government Manifestor”, and finally a poor attempt at semi-autobiographical Charles Bukowski, following a 33yo Redditor who makes occasional half-hearted internet references but is mostly trying to have sex with his tiktok camgirl neighbor, who is the egirl guru of a cult of dumb bimbos.
The totally mysterious awesome literary significance of these three tooootally unique and intriguing storylines is that around halfway through, Confessions of a Government Manifestor reveals that 9/11 was an inside job (to defeat communism in the year of our lord 2001) that resulted in a split timeline, and the fantasy world narrative is the Original Good Ending Timeline where Americans discovered the 9/11 plot, and as a result society devolved into a magic feudal monarchy city state. The 22-year-old camgirl was conceived on 9/11, and was basically a byproduct of the negative energy of the 33yo redditor’s parents’ divorce, so in order to fix the timeline they must basically have sex. The book ends as they’re orgasming.
If that doesn’t already sound annoying to you, remember that a real life 33-year-old Redditor who has opinions on crypto and Harambe the gorilla is writing this book. The narrator spends the majority of one chapter describing, in detail, the gonewild subreddit and how Reddit karma works. He talks about ahegao faces and “uwu” expressions. Characters argue about Berenstein vs. Berenstain bears. The camgirl posits that maybe Mother Nature is a kinky slut who loves being abused so maybe it’s anti-feminist if we DON’T litter, and the 33yo Redditor thinks about how special and Not Like Other Girls she is.
This book is annoying. It’s trying to be onlyfans Fight Club, written by a guy who clearly LOVES Chuck Palahniuk but doesn’t even have the guts to commit to the gross-out elements that made his writing so memorable to teenagers. Scenes might as well end with “and then he fucked her with a carrot (horny smiling devil emoji) >:)”. It’s Scott Pilgrim written by a dude who wants to have sex with Belle Delphine, Lana Del Rey, the Red Scare podcast chicks (I’m assuming), and definitely 100% envies Grimes and Elon Musk’s relationship.
It’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation by someone who is trying really, reeeeeally hard to half-ass some #Deep emotions regarding 9/11 by comparing his two parents getting a divorce to the twin towers crashing (he has a poem on the same topic in one of his instagram story collections), and who has also clearly never read a book written by a female author before last year aside from Harry Potter, and maaaaybe Flannery O’Connor if he saw her as the one obligatory addition in a playboy “100 books every man HAS to read before he dies” list. There’s attempts at tarot and numerology and zodiac signs to appeal to the tiktok girlies, but all of it falls so laughably flat that it gives me second hand embarrassment.
I could go on and on about how vapid, unoriginal, and poorly-written I found this book. I don’t think you should spend $3 on it, or spend three hours reading it.
Disclaimer: this book IS self-published, so it was possibly a TINY bit unfair for me to hold it to the artistic standards of a traditionally-published novel, and I only paid $2.99 for the ebook out of morbid curiosity after hearing secondhand about the author’s failed corny tiktok self-promotion campaign, in which he vowed to read a different book written by a woman every day until his book got on the NYT bestsellers’ list. I don’t use tiktok, but this seems like such a hilariously misguided and obviously cynical attempt to profit off of booktok that I am mostly, again, just embarrassed for the author. It’s also actually REALLY funny how many of the five star goodreads reviews for this book are transparently sock puppet accounts with literally ONLY this book on their page.
“Manic Pixie Egirl is a deep dive into the damaging world of hypersexualized online environments. With honesty, wit, and compassion, Lemcke explores the crippling effects of growing up with unrestricted internet access.
Much like the iconic manic pixie dream girl trope itself, this narrative unveils a disconcerting truth: countless men raised on the internet find themselves trapped in a paradigm where they perceive women as nothing more than idealized objects of desire, tragically overlooking their fundamental humanity.
The story centers around the troubled and perverse mind of Aldon Goodnight, an internet-addicted loner, as he struggles to overcome the symptoms of a debilitating mental illness. With the help of a well-intentioned, if slightly misguided therapist, he embarks on a chaotic and ultimately transformative journey to fully embrace all of his addictions in an effort to rid himself of them forever.
Prescient, timely, and utterly captivating, Manic Pixie Egirl is a literary tour de force that explores trauma, addiction, and the yearning for intimacy in the digital age.”]
This story is told across three alternating narratives - an allegorical fantasy tale about a man named Anon who has to rescue the missing “””free-spirited””” princess of a magical kingdom, excerpts from a gritty dystopian tell-all “Confessions of a Government Manifestor”, and finally a poor attempt at semi-autobiographical Charles Bukowski, following a 33yo Redditor who makes occasional half-hearted internet references but is mostly trying to have sex with his tiktok camgirl neighbor, who is the egirl guru of a cult of dumb bimbos.
The totally mysterious awesome literary significance of these three tooootally unique and intriguing storylines is that around halfway through, Confessions of a Government Manifestor reveals that 9/11 was an inside job (to defeat communism in the year of our lord 2001) that resulted in a split timeline, and the fantasy world narrative is the Original Good Ending Timeline where Americans discovered the 9/11 plot, and as a result society devolved into a magic feudal monarchy city state. The 22-year-old camgirl was conceived on 9/11, and was basically a byproduct of the negative energy of the 33yo redditor’s parents’ divorce, so in order to fix the timeline they must basically have sex. The book ends as they’re orgasming.
If that doesn’t already sound annoying to you, remember that a real life 33-year-old Redditor who has opinions on crypto and Harambe the gorilla is writing this book. The narrator spends the majority of one chapter describing, in detail, the gonewild subreddit and how Reddit karma works. He talks about ahegao faces and “uwu” expressions. Characters argue about Berenstein vs. Berenstain bears. The camgirl posits that maybe Mother Nature is a kinky slut who loves being abused so maybe it’s anti-feminist if we DON’T litter, and the 33yo Redditor thinks about how special and Not Like Other Girls she is.
This book is annoying. It’s trying to be onlyfans Fight Club, written by a guy who clearly LOVES Chuck Palahniuk but doesn’t even have the guts to commit to the gross-out elements that made his writing so memorable to teenagers. Scenes might as well end with “and then he fucked her with a carrot (horny smiling devil emoji) >:)”. It’s Scott Pilgrim written by a dude who wants to have sex with Belle Delphine, Lana Del Rey, the Red Scare podcast chicks (I’m assuming), and definitely 100% envies Grimes and Elon Musk’s relationship.
It’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation by someone who is trying really, reeeeeally hard to half-ass some #Deep emotions regarding 9/11 by comparing his two parents getting a divorce to the twin towers crashing (he has a poem on the same topic in one of his instagram story collections), and who has also clearly never read a book written by a female author before last year aside from Harry Potter, and maaaaybe Flannery O’Connor if he saw her as the one obligatory addition in a playboy “100 books every man HAS to read before he dies” list. There’s attempts at tarot and numerology and zodiac signs to appeal to the tiktok girlies, but all of it falls so laughably flat that it gives me second hand embarrassment.
I could go on and on about how vapid, unoriginal, and poorly-written I found this book. I don’t think you should spend $3 on it, or spend three hours reading it.
Disclaimer: this book IS self-published, so it was possibly a TINY bit unfair for me to hold it to the artistic standards of a traditionally-published novel, and I only paid $2.99 for the ebook out of morbid curiosity after hearing secondhand about the author’s failed corny tiktok self-promotion campaign, in which he vowed to read a different book written by a woman every day until his book got on the NYT bestsellers’ list. I don’t use tiktok, but this seems like such a hilariously misguided and obviously cynical attempt to profit off of booktok that I am mostly, again, just embarrassed for the author. It’s also actually REALLY funny how many of the five star goodreads reviews for this book are transparently sock puppet accounts with literally ONLY this book on their page.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2023
Author is misogynistic and that is reflected by his writing.
October 21, 2023
is like scott pilgrim but written by an incel addicted to p*rn
October 11, 2023
This book is exactly what you think it is based on the authors approach to publicity. The author admits to not reading many woman works and that is very clear in his writing. The overuse of comparing random objects to woman's breasts and the mommy obsession was too on the nose.
The 3 story lines all connecting could have worked if they would have actually connected in the end. One story just had the same sex fueled situation and never connected back to the bigger story. The connections that were there were so on the nose and the over explanations of every topic (including the basics of Reddit) feels like the author doesn't trust his readers enough to actually understand things if he doesn't explain it to them first.
This idea in someone else's hands could have had promise.
The 3 story lines all connecting could have worked if they would have actually connected in the end. One story just had the same sex fueled situation and never connected back to the bigger story. The connections that were there were so on the nose and the over explanations of every topic (including the basics of Reddit) feels like the author doesn't trust his readers enough to actually understand things if he doesn't explain it to them first.
This idea in someone else's hands could have had promise.
October 30, 2023
Heaven almighty, this was a rough read. Misogynistic, bloated, and pointless, Manic Pixie Egirl falls short on all accounts.
Let me first start off with what *did* work. The short chapters and trim paragraphs made this a relatively easy read, and the writing style is succinct and straightforward. Sadly, that’s all that did work.
What *didn’t* work? Everything else.
Manic Pixie Egirl attempts to combine a few different genres: literary fiction, comedy, satire, and science fiction/fantasy. However, this book fails to deliver on any of these fronts.
It fails as literary fiction because the protagonist’s motivations are unclear and unfocused, and by the time the book was finished, I still had no idea what his arc was supposed to be, other than getting laid, which not only made for an uninteresting character arc, but it also made for a really boring book.
It fails as a comedy because, frankly, it just isn’t funny. Listen, I understand that comedy is subjective, but there are some elements of comedy that can be judged more objectively, such as comedic timing, which this book lacks. There are some amusing similes that could have worked as their own punchlines with better timing, but that’s just it—they aren’t timed well. None of the similes or jokes get a chance to breathe because they’re thrown next to phrases like “jiggly titties” or “therapy mommy” or “organic herbal supplements,” which completely disrupts the comedic timing, and the end result is juvenile, unoriginal, and—worst of all—unfunny.
It fails as satire because there is no clarity of purpose or criticism of power—just ridicule of women and sex workers, which only punches down and defeats the purpose of satire. What even was the point of this book, that women are horny, self-centered bimbos who spend too much time online and that men masturbate too much? Wow, such biting commentary.
It fails as science fiction/fantasy because the fantastical elements are explored in uninteresting POVs that tonally conflict with the protagonist’s narrative. There’s a light mystery woven throughout the fantasy-centric chapters (each titled after a tarot card), but so little detail is given about this tarot-themed fantasy world that it fails to connect the reader to the mystery and its overarching themes.
Overall, this book absolutely deserves all the one-star reviews. It’s misogynistic, unfunny, and painfully boring. It’s not even enjoyable in a “so bad that it’s good” sort of way. It’s just bad.
Let me first start off with what *did* work. The short chapters and trim paragraphs made this a relatively easy read, and the writing style is succinct and straightforward. Sadly, that’s all that did work.
What *didn’t* work? Everything else.
Manic Pixie Egirl attempts to combine a few different genres: literary fiction, comedy, satire, and science fiction/fantasy. However, this book fails to deliver on any of these fronts.
It fails as literary fiction because the protagonist’s motivations are unclear and unfocused, and by the time the book was finished, I still had no idea what his arc was supposed to be, other than getting laid, which not only made for an uninteresting character arc, but it also made for a really boring book.
It fails as a comedy because, frankly, it just isn’t funny. Listen, I understand that comedy is subjective, but there are some elements of comedy that can be judged more objectively, such as comedic timing, which this book lacks. There are some amusing similes that could have worked as their own punchlines with better timing, but that’s just it—they aren’t timed well. None of the similes or jokes get a chance to breathe because they’re thrown next to phrases like “jiggly titties” or “therapy mommy” or “organic herbal supplements,” which completely disrupts the comedic timing, and the end result is juvenile, unoriginal, and—worst of all—unfunny.
It fails as satire because there is no clarity of purpose or criticism of power—just ridicule of women and sex workers, which only punches down and defeats the purpose of satire. What even was the point of this book, that women are horny, self-centered bimbos who spend too much time online and that men masturbate too much? Wow, such biting commentary.
It fails as science fiction/fantasy because the fantastical elements are explored in uninteresting POVs that tonally conflict with the protagonist’s narrative. There’s a light mystery woven throughout the fantasy-centric chapters (each titled after a tarot card), but so little detail is given about this tarot-themed fantasy world that it fails to connect the reader to the mystery and its overarching themes.
Overall, this book absolutely deserves all the one-star reviews. It’s misogynistic, unfunny, and painfully boring. It’s not even enjoyable in a “so bad that it’s good” sort of way. It’s just bad.
December 8, 2023
The book is currently sitting in my trash 🧡 thanks Nate Lemcke for the free copy 🧡
February 3, 2024
I knew Goodreads couldn't ban ratings forever. I hope this book flops and that this man never tries his hand at writing again.
November 6, 2023
If I could rate it zero I would. But ig 1 will suffice. Sexist male author. Need I say more.
April 23, 2024
A grossly misunderstood book. It had so many things I love in fiction: fantasy, adventure, satire, & more!
i absolutely loved: (in no particular order)
· that the book follows the mystical journey and how Lemke used the tarot arcana
· the theme of the shadow self /split selves
· how Lemke used the three different types of chapters and the way they converged
· the meme culture references
· the literary, film & song references & inspiration
· the anti-capitalist philosophy and climate anxiety
· the growth and healing from sexual trauma & shame narrative
· the balance of satire and honesty & vulnerability
· the conspiracy theories (i’m not generally into conspiracy theories but i read the Gateway report for fun when the missing page was released to the public last year so it was cool to already have an idea of the things Lemke wrote about in the chapters that were signed off as “Excerpts From a Government Manifestor”.)
The people that hate on the book don’t understand that it is a satire. They think the book is misogynistic but I think it is meant to be a self-critique as well as a narrative about healing from sexual trauma, and how that trauma can cause you to hurt yourself and others. The beginning of the book has a scene where The Fool throws three rocks over the edge of a cliff, and each rock is meant to represent the three women that the main character hurts through the story due to his sexual trauma (Abbie, Emma, and the therapist). It’s very open, honest, vulnerable, and self-aware and people seem to miss that. The narrative is about accepting your whole self, even the ugly parts of yourself, as it is the only way to heal.
i absolutely loved: (in no particular order)
· that the book follows the mystical journey and how Lemke used the tarot arcana
· the theme of the shadow self /split selves
· how Lemke used the three different types of chapters and the way they converged
· the meme culture references
· the literary, film & song references & inspiration
· the anti-capitalist philosophy and climate anxiety
· the growth and healing from sexual trauma & shame narrative
· the balance of satire and honesty & vulnerability
· the conspiracy theories (i’m not generally into conspiracy theories but i read the Gateway report for fun when the missing page was released to the public last year so it was cool to already have an idea of the things Lemke wrote about in the chapters that were signed off as “Excerpts From a Government Manifestor”.)
The people that hate on the book don’t understand that it is a satire. They think the book is misogynistic but I think it is meant to be a self-critique as well as a narrative about healing from sexual trauma, and how that trauma can cause you to hurt yourself and others. The beginning of the book has a scene where The Fool throws three rocks over the edge of a cliff, and each rock is meant to represent the three women that the main character hurts through the story due to his sexual trauma (Abbie, Emma, and the therapist). It’s very open, honest, vulnerable, and self-aware and people seem to miss that. The narrative is about accepting your whole self, even the ugly parts of yourself, as it is the only way to heal.
September 7, 2023
intriguing, twisted ::
it is a fascinating twist of multiple threads into one crazy story - one worth reading, maybe more than once!
it is a fascinating twist of multiple threads into one crazy story - one worth reading, maybe more than once!
October 31, 2023
Just helping the average be where it should.
October 19, 2023
I did not have high hopes for this book going in, but I did at least expect some kind of interesting deconstruction of the manic pixie dream girl trope. Or at least an attempt. The whole time I was reading it, I was waiting for Abbie to be given a shred of development or character beyond just leading the protagonist through his journey of self discovery, but it never happened. There were hints of an interesting character in there somewhere, but both our main character and the author seemed adamant to ignore it in favor of this idealized sex positive savior. I can theoretically appreciate the themes of letting go of shame and judgement, but there was never any actual accountability or personal responsibility involved so it just read as enabling with the vague hope that "accepting yourself" will make you a better person. It won't
October 19, 2023
Read the ebook on Amazon. It's giving very similar vibes to Chandler Morrison's DEAD INSIDE, which was equally horrific. Conincidentally, Morrison ALSO insisted that his book was satire and that the audience just, "didn't get it." While there are some decent ideas muddled into Manic Pixie Egirl, I won't be reading anything else by this author. I try to make it a point to support non-exploitative and ethical authors. This isn't a safe book for a lot of people to read and there were zero content warnings included in the version I read.
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October 23, 2023Ugh. The way he markets it is giving Robey Harvey. Another man writing about women’s issues thinking it makes him special. This is definitely his wet dream, I’d rate it -76794720 stars if I could.
December 21, 2023
Hated this book. The author clearly knowns nothing about women and doesn't respect women
July 2, 2024
Working in a review video for my Bindery subscribers, but let me just say that I believe this book to be part memoir and I’ve never been so disgusted.
December 31, 2023
There’s a lot I could say about the structure, pacing, and writing style of this book (both good and bad), but I don’t think there’s a whole lot of need for that. The main problems with this book stem from its themes.
The main theme of this book is learning to accept misery while you’re in it and know that it will eventually pass and lead to something better. The two main stories reflect this and each show a man (Aldon and Anon) going through a troubled time in their life as they try to make the best of it. This is a fantastic thematic premise. The question is, how is it portrayed?
Not well. Not well at all.
Let’s start with the good, because there is some good here. Anon’s story is fantastic, to a point. This storyline is a simple hero’s journey fantasy plot line with the gimmick of Tarot cards. I loved it. Truly, it was so fun. There are so many points where it feels cliché, and these chapters were where I could really tell it was Lemcke’s first novel, but that didn’t deter me from enjoying it. It’s unpolished, but it’s genuine. There were some things I thought were a little meh; Lemcke seemed to follow the hero’s journey structure too finely, and his insistence on using the Tarot imagery suffocated a few scenes a little, but overall I thought it was great. There’s also an absolutely beautiful scene where Anon meets a non-binary angel, Temperance, who has some really good wisdom about accepting your circumstances even if they’re bad, but knowing things will eventually change. It was easily the best scene in the novel and encapsulated the main theme of the book so well. That scene is the only reason this book has a rating of more than one star.
The problem is, this energy doesn’t persist. In Anon’s story, it ends with a truly bizarre sex scene with dubious consent that just feels super out of place. Thus far, the fantasy story had been untouched by the main plot — and it should have stayed that way.
Aldon’s story is just odd. He sort of finds acceptance in his misery, but then he ruins his relationship with everyone in his life by violating his roommate’s (who is, coincidentally his ex-girlfriend) and his therapist’s boundaries and raping his new pseudo-girlfriend’s best friend. Then, after driving drunk and crashing his car, he comes to the realization that he’s the messiah of his pseudo-girlfriend’s sex cult. He tells her this, and she forgives him immediately and the book ends when they have sex live on the internet for thousands of people to see.
At least Anon had a clear story arc that sort of fulfilled the thematic structure set up in the beginning of the novel. Aldon’s story, the main story, doesn’t get that.
The plotline with the cult and the apocalypse and 9/11 was also really wacky and made me uncomfortable at best, and downright shocked at worst. The portrayal of conspiracy theories is just an odd addition to the story that had very little to do with the main themes. Lemcke could have removed all that and focused on Aldon and Anon and the book would have been much better for it. In fact, take Abbie’s character out altogether. If the focus is on Aldon’s trauma, she’s just a deterrent for that theme. She’s only there to be a tool for Aldon’s development, and the fact that our main female character is a pseudo-psychotic amateur porn star cult leader doesn’t send a very good message.
I do want to address one other issue, and that’s the community response to this book. It’s sad that this even has to be said, but it is never okay to harass people. It is never okay to review bomb a book. It is never okay to try and censor a book. Anyone has the right to their opinions, and there are plenty of reasons to dislike this book — but there’s no reason to harass the author. He’s an indie author and this is his first book. People are allowed to make mistakes.
The main theme of this book is learning to accept misery while you’re in it and know that it will eventually pass and lead to something better. The two main stories reflect this and each show a man (Aldon and Anon) going through a troubled time in their life as they try to make the best of it. This is a fantastic thematic premise. The question is, how is it portrayed?
Not well. Not well at all.
Let’s start with the good, because there is some good here. Anon’s story is fantastic, to a point. This storyline is a simple hero’s journey fantasy plot line with the gimmick of Tarot cards. I loved it. Truly, it was so fun. There are so many points where it feels cliché, and these chapters were where I could really tell it was Lemcke’s first novel, but that didn’t deter me from enjoying it. It’s unpolished, but it’s genuine. There were some things I thought were a little meh; Lemcke seemed to follow the hero’s journey structure too finely, and his insistence on using the Tarot imagery suffocated a few scenes a little, but overall I thought it was great. There’s also an absolutely beautiful scene where Anon meets a non-binary angel, Temperance, who has some really good wisdom about accepting your circumstances even if they’re bad, but knowing things will eventually change. It was easily the best scene in the novel and encapsulated the main theme of the book so well. That scene is the only reason this book has a rating of more than one star.
The problem is, this energy doesn’t persist. In Anon’s story, it ends with a truly bizarre sex scene with dubious consent that just feels super out of place. Thus far, the fantasy story had been untouched by the main plot — and it should have stayed that way.
Aldon’s story is just odd. He sort of finds acceptance in his misery, but then he ruins his relationship with everyone in his life by violating his roommate’s (who is, coincidentally his ex-girlfriend) and his therapist’s boundaries and raping his new pseudo-girlfriend’s best friend. Then, after driving drunk and crashing his car, he comes to the realization that he’s the messiah of his pseudo-girlfriend’s sex cult. He tells her this, and she forgives him immediately and the book ends when they have sex live on the internet for thousands of people to see.
At least Anon had a clear story arc that sort of fulfilled the thematic structure set up in the beginning of the novel. Aldon’s story, the main story, doesn’t get that.
The plotline with the cult and the apocalypse and 9/11 was also really wacky and made me uncomfortable at best, and downright shocked at worst. The portrayal of conspiracy theories is just an odd addition to the story that had very little to do with the main themes. Lemcke could have removed all that and focused on Aldon and Anon and the book would have been much better for it. In fact, take Abbie’s character out altogether. If the focus is on Aldon’s trauma, she’s just a deterrent for that theme. She’s only there to be a tool for Aldon’s development, and the fact that our main female character is a pseudo-psychotic amateur porn star cult leader doesn’t send a very good message.
I do want to address one other issue, and that’s the community response to this book. It’s sad that this even has to be said, but it is never okay to harass people. It is never okay to review bomb a book. It is never okay to try and censor a book. Anyone has the right to their opinions, and there are plenty of reasons to dislike this book — but there’s no reason to harass the author. He’s an indie author and this is his first book. People are allowed to make mistakes.
November 9, 2023
I sincerely believe the author donated a kidney to be given such a favor to be published. This book is a waste of storage in someone’s home or reading device.
July 25, 2024
Great summer day read! Loved the storytelling, the sexy content & the liberating freedom of full expression. ✌🏽
July 23, 2024
Misogynistic, lame and inane. An utter waste of the time spent read it.
July 9, 2024
So, I read this book because of the reviews, knowing I was going to hate it! I didn’t hate it. I mean, he’s clearly a first time author and he would definitely benefit from the help of an editor. However, the stories were cohesive. And true, I didn’t love the anti-heroes, and found most of their story arc to be unnecessarily vulgar. But at least they acknowledged the fact that they had issues and were in some way trying to address them. I really did enjoy the Tarot and Manifestor’s stories though, and not just because I needed a break from the main story. Also, I have to give him some credit. He created something, and put it out there in the world. Love it or hate it, the world needs more of that.
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