God Hates Us All began as a fictional piece of work that was referenced in the Showtime series “Californication”. On the show, the main character, Hank Moody, is a famous writer that lives in Venice Beach, CA and had a hit book titled “God Hates Us All“. He rises to even greater fame when the book is turned into a popular movie by the same name. This prompted an actual “God Hates Us All” book to be written. What is interesting is this book completely stays in character. The author credit is given to the fictional character “Hank Moody”, many of the acknowledgements appear to be characters from the show, and even the artist bio on the back cover is all Moody.

What’s even more intriguing is it’s actually a pretty solid book. It tells the story of a young Hank Moody in his early twenties who moves to NYC for his first job (as a drug dealer) and takes up residence at the famous Chelsea Hotel. As he narrates his way through tales about his psycho ex-girlfriend, a super-model love interest, and his relationship with his parents you will soon forget that this book began as a spoof. Think Sid and Nancy meets Catcher in the Rye, meets Hank Moody from Californication.

Although writing credit is given to “Hank Moody” the inside flap also gives a credit to a Jonathan Grotenstein. I couldn’t dig up much about Grotenstein online so if anyone else has more information to the degree he was involved in the book I’d really appreciate it. I’d like to know if he wrote the whole book, and if so, if he plans to write anything else. All in all this is a great book and worth checking out. Even if you aren’t familiar with the TV show, you will still enjoy God Hates Us All.

Rating: 3 out of 5 | Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment | Pages: 208 | Buy on Amazon