Well, this is certainly one of the oddest books I've read in a long time. 
 In Grasshopper Jungle, we meet 16-year-old Austin Szerba, who lives in Ealing, Iowa and is very much in love with his girlfriend Shann... and with his best friend Robby. Austin spends much of his time either confused or horny, or both. Ealing is a dead-end town that's dried up after its major business, McKeon Industries, has shut its doors and left most of the Ealing residents unemployed -- as a result of which, stores have shut down, people are constantly being foreclosed or evicted, and the entire town has a feeling of hopelessness. 
 And then one day, things take a decided turn for the apocalyptic. In a weird confluence of events, Austin and Robby get beaten up, some nasty boys steal a McKeon Industries artifact that contains a lethal mold, and a chain of events starts that leads to the end of the world as we know it. This particular end of the world takes the form of 6-foot-tall praying mantises with exoskeletons strong as armor who only want to do two things... 
 It's up to Austin, Shann, and Robby to save the world -- or not, maybe. Or possibly just figure out what the heck is going on and salvage what they can. Oh, and also figure out what their own little triangle means, and whether anything good can possibly come of it. And yeah, maybe repopulate the planet, if necessary. 
 Grasshopper Jungle is strange and hilarious, often disgusting, completely rambling, with odd flights of free association and bizarre facts, and a connect-the-dots feel to it that shows either that all life is connected and that the smallest moments may have huge meaning and consequences... or that everything is random and trivial, and that nothing we do matters in the long run. But not really -- even in the midst of giant bugs destroying humankind and chowing down on everyone they encounter, there's a sense of joyous celebration of life that keeps Grasshopper Jungle flying along despite the body parts and cataclysmic events. 
 Grasshopper Jungle is weird and wild, but utterly wonderful -- in its own bug-infested, sex-obsessed, end-of-the-world way. 
 (For more, see my review at Bookshelf Fantasies.)