All My Friends Are Superheroes seems to have developed a cult following. The book’s biggest fan is Scott Pack, but the premise didn’t really appeal to me and so I resisted reading it. All this changed when I saw the author, Andrew Kaufman, at the Fire Station book swap event. Andrew Kaufman had me crying with laughter for several hours and so I decided to give his book a chance. Unfortunately, I didn’t find his writing as funny as his real life appearance, but I admire the book’s originality.

All My Friends Are Superheroes is a heartwarming romance. The characters aren’t the flying, invisible, super-strength superheroes we are all used to seeing in Hollywood films – they are just normal people with an extreme aspect to their personality. Tom has married The Perfectionist, but at their wedding her ex, Hypno, hypnotized her into believing that Tom is invisible. Unable to see her husband the Perfectionist thinks Tom has abandoned her and so Tom has to do everything within his powers to show The Perfectionist that he does exist and that he still loves her.

It is a clever idea for a book, but I think the magic relies in the humor and this book failed to make me laugh. The book is peppered with examples of Tom’s superhero friends, many of which were very cleverly thought-out, but I’m afraid I failed to see the funny side.

THE PROJECTIONIST
The Projectionist can make you believe whatever she believes. If she believes interest rates are going to fall, and you have a short conversation with the Projectionist, you will too. If she believes that, no, in fact, you didn’t signal when you turned left, causing the Projectionist to ram her car into the back of yours, so will you.
Her downfall began when she fell in love with the Inverse. She absolutely, 100% fell in love with the Inverse. She projected all this emotion onto him but the Inverse, being the Inverse, simply reflected the opposite of everything she was sending.
Strangely, neither the Inverse nor the Projectionist can let go of the relationship. 

This quirky humor really clicks with some readers, so if you found the above extract amusing then I highly recommend that you get this book.

It is very short (100 well-spaced pages) and I read it in under an hour, so it will be appreciated by those looking for a quick, light read. I thought the ending was lovely, but I’m afraid that most of the rest of the book fell flat for me.

Recommended to those who like quirky, humorous books.

Would it be wrong to suggest that men seem to enjoy this more than women?

…..an utter treasure of a book… Bart’s Bookshelf

What starts off as a seemingly clunky metaphor, becomes a beautifully surreal examination of the complexities of relationships. ResoluteReader

…a wonderfully quick read… Winstonsdad’s Blog