The Story Eaters of Yamm Book Review

by Catalina Bonati

2.5/ 5 stars ★ ★ ⯪ ☆ ☆

The Story Eaters of Yamm by Kevin Hincker (to be published 17 June 2026) tells the story of Larry Palczewski, a struggling science fiction writer living at home with his mother. Larry becomes involved with Sky Company, a business urgently hiring science fiction writers to address imagined scenarios of alien invasion. He becomes the leader of the Alien Invasion Cohort, and their inanity provides humor for most of the story. At home, his 90-year-old mother Dosia is up to unusual shenanigans and must be tended to by a third party. It all comes to a resolution in unexpected manners.

The story is narrated in a curious way. Larry is affected by Temporal Dysphasia, which means he does not understand or believe in time. He doesn’t know what hour is earlier than other hours, does not believe in the existence of tomorrow, and keeps timers in his backpack to alert him to the passage of time. Therefore, the chapters in this book are out of order and some chapter numbers are repeated. This is a fun way to immerse the reader in Larry’s mindset.

The writing style is witty and tongue-in-cheek and reminiscent of John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces (1980). The similarity of Ignatuis with Larry is strongly intentional and Dosia is somewhat similar to Mrs. Reilly, although more interesting. All dialogues and actions are absurdist and ridiculous, and sometimes this writing style seems too much for the plot, which at times lacks substance and is flat. The characters and dialogue are convoluted, which at times focuses on the absurdity of events rather than any actual meaning. The plot is also messy, as there are two different storylines which have nothing to do with each other yet eventually come together in a completely senseless way. Each character has their own particular way of speaking, which is appreciated.

The most interesting aspect of this story is Dosia, who is the most intriguing character as well as the only character with any sense of purpose. She is also the one with the most action. The relationship between Dosia and Larry is quite frustrating and funny to read.  

Overall, this story is an absurdist comedy centering around science fiction/fact that is highly recommended to readers of absurdist fiction genre. Otherwise, this book is mainly a skip.