I have a difficult time describing this novel. On the surface it is a very humorous plot involving superheroes and supervillains portrayed as actual people - you get a look at how annoying it can be to have to save the world when one's marriage is breaking up, for instance. You grow to understand how embarrassing it is to be a supervillain genius putting up with a misguided colleague's cheesy catchphrases and general stupidity. Beneath that highly entertaining surface is, I think, an intelligently written satire of the entire comic book milieu. A comic book fan can read Soon I Will Be Invincible and immediately pick out who is supposed to be the Superman, the Wonder Woman, and so on, and can instantly recognize the ways in which the author paints such characters against the backdrop of our own ordinary reality.

Some comic book fans who have written reviews of this book love everything about it. Others complain about the relative dullness of the hero characters, or about the fact that it seems to be a generic amalgam of all classic comic book stories with almost nothing new or innovative. These reviewers are correct in their cursory descriptions of the book, but they are also completely missing the point. If a comic reader picks up this book expecting to read a cutting-edge original tale of heroes and villains, he or she will inevitably be disappointed. The imagination with which its fans credit this book lies not in the plot or the characters themselves, but in the way they are used to tell an entirely unwritten story. Grossman is using his unillustrated prose to poke fun at the genre with the fondness unique to a genuine fan. Frankly, if he had merely set out to write a brand new comic, I imagine he would have grounded it firmly in the industry by writing in the usual comic book format instead of taking a chance on the readers of general fiction.

The reason for my difficulty in writing this review is this - I am a complete comic book dunce. I've seen the movies. I read [b:V for Vendetta|5805|V for Vendetta|Alan Moore|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165548128s/5805.jpg|392838] because I wanted a few plot points cleared up, and apart from a few forays into Archie as a child, I don't think I've ever read any other comic books or graphic novels or anything of the kind. My comic-fan perspectives are only conclusions I have based on the words of those who know the genre. I wish to make this perfectly clear because it is the reason for my five-star rating - even though I have no interest in the world of comic books, even though I had to have the subtexts pointed out to me by my boyfriend after failing to notice them myself, I still quite thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is a comic book in novel form that manages to be universally accessible and enjoyable. The satirical overtones naturally add to the experience, but even without them, you'll have a very good time.