| A Review of: All My Friends are Superheroes by W.P. KinsellaWe have here a very short tale, probably less than 30,000 words,
however the laughs are plentiful. One has to suspend disbelief and
accept the narrator's statement that "There are 249 superheroes
in the City of Toronto. . . None of them have secret identities.
Very few wear costumes." Tom, our narrator, is married to the
Perfectionist, whose superpower is an ability to will things to be
orderly. On their wedding day, a bad superhero, Hypno, hypnotizes
the Perfectionist to believe Tom is invisible. Thinking Tom has
disappeared the Perfectionist is heartbroken and six months later
decides to fly to Vancouver to start life anew. Tom occupies the
"empty" seat beside her and he has until the landing in
Vancouver to convince her he is there or he will lose her forever.
A decent premise, however it is imperative that, by whatever means,
Tom solve his own problem. This doesn't happen which makes for a
real letdown at the end. The positive aspect of the story is Tom's
descriptions of the superheroes. For instance, The Couch Surfer:
"Empowered with the ability to sustain life and limb without
a job, steady companion or permanent place of residence. . . is not
only able to withstand long periods of acute poverty but is also
able to nutritionally sustain himself on only handfuls of breakfast
cereals, slices of dry bread and condiments. Mysteriously always
has cigarettes." The standup comedy aspect of the descriptions
of the superheroes is worth a quick glance.
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