3.5 rounded up.
This is one weird book. It was marketed as horror, but I did not get horror at all. For me this was a book about friendship. I though the two friends had a running joke between them about vampires. I'm not sure what it really was. The author tried to blur the lines between fantasy, reality, and memory.
The writing style is one of the most interesting I have read. The author used nouns as verbs too much. While this was interesting, the technique was overused to the point that it became annoying. However, the interjections of humor made me laugh out loud, which does not happen often. I enjoyed the interaction between Art's "memoir" and his friend's critiques in the margins. The character development was excellent. I imagined so many possible endings for this book and these characters. What actually happened was a surprise and left me saying "what?" I think that was the point.
The atmosphere was also perfectly presented. It felt dark, depressing and creepy. Mission accomplished.
Parts of this story were painfully dull and I almost to skipped the end when I was ~30% through. However, I stuck with it, skimming the more tedious parts. At 80%, I was enthralled by the reunion between Art and Mercy.
This is probably the only time I have liked the execution of a novel better than the story itself. It was unique and grabbed my attention immediately. Unfortunately, the boring, repetitive parts of the book were challenging to slog through.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The writing style of this book was really unique. It was a memoir with notes written by someone else in the margins. The formatting did make it difficult to read digitally but it was a neat way to write it. The characters were odd, but well written. Art, the narrator/memoir author, was an odd teenager at the beginning of the story. We follow him over the years and watch him become an odd adult. The stories involving his mysterious friend Mercy are strange but interesting. I've heard good things about Paul Tremblay's books but this was the first I'd gotten around to reading. I'm definitely interested in checking out more!

This book is very difficult to read in an electronic format, and I highly recommend everyone go out and get it in physical form. That being said, paul is a master storyteller and this is his best work yet.

This book was so unique and I loved the concept of a memoir and a friend leaving notes in the margins as they read it. I really enjoyed the friendship discussed in the book and loved seeing the progression through time. I will say, the middle was a little boring and overly wordy. The ending was fantastic and I think wrapped up everything so well. While I enjoyed how different this book is, the pace was slower than I like.

Sadly not for me , i tried reading it and thrn i would find myself putting it down and not picking it back up

Okay, I couldn’t resist the title that sparked way too many crazy mental images. In the late 1980s Art Barbara (maybe not his real name) was an awkward 17-year-old with serious scoliosis. To gain community service hours, Art forms the pallbearers club for volunteers to carry caskets for people who died without families. Creepy enough. His small crew disbands but one girl bonds with Art thinking the club is cool and shares of love of punk rock. She carries a Polaroid camera that spits out photos that takes a minute to develop and uses it to takes pictures of the dead. Decades later Art is a struggling musician and decides to write a memoir about The Pallbearers Club. Somehow his friend who may be named Mercy, or not, gets her hands on the manuscript and edits by adding her thoughts in the margins making for a unique format. What slowly comes to light is maybe Art is becoming a vampire and Mercy has a disturbing knowledge of New England vampire lore. The final pages are deviously creepy. Halloween is just around the corner.

This did not live up to the hype! I was so bored throughout most of the book, and I skimmed through a lot of the last half to just try and make it through. I thought the idea was interesting, with Mercy's annotations added in. But I really just have nothing else to really add to this review.

This is a memoir by Art Barbara (not his real name?) that is read by his friend and comments are made at the end of each chapter and throughout the manuscript.
It begins in high school senior year when Art is in need of an extra curricular activity to show on his college application. He forms a club to act as pallbearers that help when the deceased have no one. A college girl, Mercy Brown (not her real name?), who saw a club flyer and decided to join.
As Art and Mercy form a strange friendship, she talks about soul sucking vampires and is on a quest to find them. While Art has to navigate all his physical handicaps but it also begins to invade Art mentally.
Over the years they part but always come back together until something makes Art need to leave. He starts to believe that Mercy is the one causing his misfortunes and has been slowly removing his soul.
An intense story that has Art believing that he is becoming what he fears most.
Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for this e-galley of "The Pallbearers Club".

I was so excited to read this book but unfortunately, I am unable to download this book past the acknowledgments with the Pocketbook App. I have requested assistance with no response.

Update...I ended up reading this through the app which is my least preferred way of reading so it took awhile. I had trouble following along where this story was going. I didn't enjoy the storyline of kid's being in a pall bearer club. Some of it was cute and the writing itself was fine but I couldn't get into the story and ended up quitting at about 40%.

A very interesting take on a traditional story, in both style and structure. I was very happy to receive the physical book rather than continue reading the digital copy, and the author's note added to the themes of loneliness and isolation.

I love the ambiguity Tremblay employs in the supernatural elements of his novels, so I loved his play within this story.

This book…. While I found it interesting and loved how there was additional commentary, it was also sad at time. Very quick read! I would definitely recommend this book.

Loved this.
As usual, I have a habit of reading Tremblay's novels all in one sitting, and I think it takes real talent to grab and hold attention like that for 8 hours straight. I don't know how often one would describe a horror novel as "relatable" and have it be an actual good thing. But it was. Maybe it's my own 2007 Rhode Island music/goth scene nostalgia, and/or my own experiences with a connective tissue disorder and sleep paralysis, but Tremblay hit all the points in what I love in a novel. Abjection! Obsession! Excessive footnotes! Unreliable narrators! Despite it being so heavy on nostalgia, it still felt refreshing and new.

This book has an interesting mismash of genres and narration of the plot. I’ve loved many of his previous books but this was a bit of a departure from those. I loved some of the nostalgic references but I really didn’t connect with the characters. It was a slow and bit of a dry read compared to previous books by him and just really didn’t click for me.

⚰️ A R C • R E V I E W ⚰️
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Title: The Pallbearers Club
Author: Paul Trembley
Rating: 2/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️
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When this one became available to me on Netgalley I was stoked. The endorsements and the description of this one led me to believe it was going to be one super awesome and spooky read. It however, was not.
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First let me start off by saying I am absolutely obsessed with the way this book was written. This was written as a memoir but throughout the memoir and after each chapter there are red pen edits. The editorial responses are so witty and had my laughing multiple times throughout the book. I always love when authors choose unique epistolary writing styles, it always keeps me more interested in the story.
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This one gripped me right from the start until about page 50 or 60, and then it kind of seemed redundant and just downright boring. I understand that this was supposed to be a memoir of sorts, but I found myself really not caring what exactly the main character was incessantly rambling on about; I felt like I was rushing toward the end of the chapter just for the editorial responses. There really isn't much horror in this one, which was a huge let down; this mostly is a man reminiscing and complaining about life. This one finally picks up with roughly 20 pages left. Once again, I was wrapped into the story, I finally felt a creepy/horror vibe, this time I was more upset because I really just wished that this one had this eerie pace the entire story. If it did, it would have been GOLD.
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Overall, I think this one had potential, but it definitely fell flat for me. I loved the ending, wishing that the entire story was more like the ending and I loved the writing style.
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The Pallbearers Club was just released on 7/5! Huge thank you to @Netgalley and @williammorrow for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!
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#netgalleyreview #netgalleyearcreview #advancedreadercopy #vampirestory #memoir #uniquewritingstyle #episotolarynovel #notahorror #grippingending #blueorbs #polaroidpictures #netgalley #williammorrow #thepallbearersclub #paultremblay

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! In typical Paul Tremblay style, this book has you guessing until the very end about what is truly paranormal or psychological. Our narrator (or primary narrator), Art Barbara, is a man who grapples with extreme pain (and often medicates with alcohol and other substances) making his narrative unreliable, but there is also "Mercy's" side of the story, and though she does protest at times, there is much that doesn't seem all that different to the facts that Art details. The story is at times fun, deeply emotional, or unsettling, but it will have you asking, "Are the New England vampires real?"

The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay

⭐️⭐️

Welp, this one was tough. I’m still not really sure what it’s about. Vampires. Carrying caskets. Just not much happening at all. The author is a talented writer though and while I found it boring it was written well and uniquely so I give it two rather than 1 star. I listened to it on audio so I’m curious how those who read a physical copy felt about it. Im still going to read future works by this author.

Quick synopsis: Art Barbara (surely not his real name?) starts a club called The Pallbearers Club mostly to have a good activity to place in his college applications. They go to the funerals and serve as pallbearers for those who have no one. A new member joins named Mercy. Art is immediately fascinated with her and their relationship will be a tumultuous one for years to come.

Thank you to @netgalley and @harperaudio for the copies.

I had a hard time with e book, so I ended up reading a physical copy. This was super different and interesting! The writing and format are unique and there are parts where I am not sure what is going on but I actually enjoyed that. There are spooky parts and some parts that made me laugh. Overall, I would recommend this.

I did not even read this book. The PDF font was too small and I could not read it on Kindle because it did not read the same. I hope to really read this in hardcopy because I loved the premise and what little I was able to read was quite intriguing. Very disappointed

Creepy but well done, as per usual for Paul Tremblay.
There is a lot going on, and I don’t want to give anything away, but ultimately it is the story of a friendship between Art and Mercy. But everyone perceives friendships differently.

This book was not what I was expecting. I had read some glowing reviews and was excited to read it. I enjoyed the dual POVs and liked the "marked up" look of the book. I did not like Art. I liked Mercy. It was a differnt variety of psychological novel that I've read. The ending redeemed it for me. I'm glad I stuck with it. Thanks for the free copy!