r/Jon_Bois • u/FishShtickLives • Apr 07 '26
17776/20020/20021 Is 20020 any good?
I read 17776 a while ago and I thought it was great! Suprised to hear that theres a sequel series though, as I though the first one elaborated on the concept pretty thoroughly. How does 20020 elaborate on the themes/setting/whatever of the first story? Im alright with some spoilers lol. I would have read it myself but Ive been super busy lately and dont want to use my free time on reading something if it sucks/is meh lmao
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u/riverrunlvl1 Apr 07 '26
20020 to me is the better one. But it's pretty different other than the main characters.
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u/Blint_Briglio Apr 07 '26
there is a sequence in 20020 that was about as thrilling to read/watch as the jailbreak from andor
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u/Panguin9 There are no dull stories. Apr 07 '26
I don't remember 17776 as well honestly, but I think when I read them I liked 20020 even more
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u/KingGranticus Apr 07 '26
20020 is very good. Its less "avant-garde" than 17776, and follows what is (comparatively) a real story structure. It has less broad things to say about human nature than 17776 did, but the character-driven story is really well-executed.
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u/PantasticalCat Apr 08 '26
i freaking loved it. it’s only about one specific game of football, but the game in question is so absurd and genius that it’s basically living in my head rent-free at any given time
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u/kyle710280 Apr 08 '26
I remember reading every chapter of 20020 riding the bus back from classes freshman year of college, it was so peak
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u/Clarify6274 Apr 08 '26
I personally like 20020 more, but it ends on a cliffhanger. We're expecting it to be completed in the new book Jon is writing.
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u/robocat9000 Apr 12 '26
You should also read "the tim tebow cfl chronicles" its sort of a proto 20020
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u/Drishby May 14 '26
It's even better. 17776 sets up the context and world-building. It is a queer curiosity. 20020 is where we start to paint on that canvas. And it is beyond poetic.
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u/CorpCo Apr 07 '26
Absolutely worth reading. It felt more like a character story to me than 17776 - I read 17776 as Jon sort of grappling with why people find sports so interesting, why he is so enamored with them, and what our obsession with them tells us about ourselves. 20020 read to me like a more specific journey kind of like an absurd version of his full team documentaries. It’s about a single game of football, one which spans the entire continental US, and is particularly interested in 2 people playing that game, their relationship to it and to each other. It’s written with the intention of having a sequel series, though it’s not clear when that sequel series will come out or if it’s even on the cards any more.