Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Dave Barry Slept Here by Dave Barry
Well, this will be a first for The Book Beat--a negative book review.Let me start with this disclaimer: this is the first (and likely only) thing I have ever read by Dave Barry. Yeah, I know he has been really popular for a really long time. Yeah, I know people have read his newspaper columns forever. Yeah, I know people think he is really funny. I realize that sometimes you have to get a sense of an author to really "get" his/her stuff. If that is the case, then I will probably never "get" Dave Barry as I don't plan on reading anything else he's written in the near future. Feel free to recommend something else that would change my mind or to convince me otherwise. I'm open to being convinced.
I love comedy and satire, so it wasn't lost on me. I love history, which probably didn't help in liking this book. Basically, this was a smart-alleck's recounting of the history of the United States. He told the history, but mixed up the facts and basically made fun of everything. For example, everything happened on October 8 (his son's birthday.) It's not that I don't like humor or wise cracks; it's just that I thought that his schtick got really old after the first chapter. It was like being around an obnoxious 9 year old who makes you laugh once, but then keeps doing the once funny thing until you begin to get annoyed and finally tie him to the chair and duct tape his mouth shut (not that I've ever done that--or at least that can be proved!)
My brother (who loaned me the book) can't understand why I didn't like it. For which, I don't really have an explanation except this: it probably is funnier the less history you actually know. Of course, I teach some college students who would probably think this is an actual history book, but that is the subject of another blog.
Rating: 0 Stars (OUCH!)
