Customer Reviews

All My Friends Are Superheroes

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman is like getting the precise helping of your favourite food the very moment you crave it.

An excellent read that holds up over time. I first read it late last year and recently brought it with me on a road trip. Despite knowing exactly how things turn out I found myself falling for the characters again.

Do yourself a favour and buy two copies. That way you won't have to give yours away.

I'm looking forward to Kaufman's next work.

I loved this book from the first page straight through to the last page. This book is funny (laugh out loud) and fresh. It is a charming and suave love story with a most original wrench thrown in the machinery of love. No one needs to die or mistakenly break up or fall in with evil in this love story; a mere disappearance will do. Our hero (normal, not super) becomes invisible on his wedding day but only to his wife. He has to reinstate her vision of him or he will lose her forever. How's that for a premise? Actually, it sounds almost Shakespearean but given all the superheroes floating and flying and slinking around, dipping in and out, this is not Elizabethan England.

In fact we are in Canada and superheroes abound (of course: we all know about the low crime rates and fantastically cheap health care). The powers of these superheroes, at times listed in encyclopedic fashion, are indeed super and quite urbane. Their unique powers make perfect sense in the crazy world that we live in. My favorite (and I will only give away one but trust me, these superheroes are brilliantly imagined) is Mistress Cleanasyougo: "At the end of every day she folds her clothes. She never leaves scissors on the table, pens with no ink are thrown in the trash, wet towels are always hung up, dishes are washed directly after dinner and nothing is left unsaid." You go, girl.

Even with such fantastic powers, just because "you're special really doesn't mean anything. You still have to get dressed in the morning. Your shoelaces still break. Your lover will still leave you if you don't treat her right."

And so our normalhero Tom must figure out how to save his superhero wife and himself and thier marriage, but using only the good old standby powers of love and faith and ingenuity. Let's hear it for the regular Joe, er, Tom.

Great good comes from reading great books. [...]

I am really torn about my ultimate response to this novella. As many others have already said it is a simple, cleverly-written sweet little story. The crispness and freshness of both the language and the premise make it charming and so very hard to resist. I loved the descriptions of the superheroes and how Mr. Kaufman was able to cast this world of everyday superheroes without making it ridiculous or absurd or weird but completely relatable and engaging.

My one criticism is that I think it lacked a level of depth that would have made this a perfect reading experience for me - particularly in regards to the two main characters and their relationship. I think the novella would have benefitted from a little more development. Similarly, I think the scenes on the plane on the way to Vancouver could have been utilized better to create more tension and anxiety - a greater sense of peril. Tom spends the first few hours of the trip just watching her sleep and thinking back rather than doing more. And while a simple ending generally suits a simple story - I was left a little let down with the end - wishing it had given me more to relish.

That being said, with a simple and clever story like this, the slightest overreach might have thrown it all off and I commend Mr. Kaufman for staying true to the story throughout - even if I might wish for a little more.

A friend who gave me this book called it "a cute little book," and while he wasn't trying to stop me from reading it, he almost did. And he was right, but in the best way he could be. This is indeed a "cute, little" book, being both short (just over 100 pages) and cute (meaning light-hearted and funny). It's a sweet urban love story that is both surprisingly clever and unexpectedly poignant. More than anything else, though, this is a wildly funny and inventive little book that you'll want to recommend to both your friends and enemies, superheroes or not.

All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman is like getting the exact helping of your favourite food the very moment you crave it.

An excellent read that stands up over time. I first read it late last year and recently took it with me on a road trip. Despite knowing exactly how things turned out I found myself falling for the characters again.

You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to Kaufman's next work.

Do yourself a favour and buy 2 copies of this book. That way you won't have to give yours away.

I loved this book, started the first few pages then couldn't put it down. It's so smartly written you'll find yourself wanting to punch Kaufman out of sheer jealousy. What I loved most though is how I knew the secret identities of each and every one of the superheroes, you will too...!

One of the funniest books I have read in a long time. The jokes are ones that everyone can relate to. All of them are in good taste and very very witty.
One can't help but associate with Tom - the main character - and laugh out with every turn of every single page!
The only bad thing about this book is how short it is.
If Kaufman were a superhero, am sure he would be Mr. Witty.

this was a good story. the protagonist, who is just a normal guy, know all of these people with 'super powers', but they're odd super powers, like he's dating the perfectionist, who makes everything perfect. there was a guy who's super power was to take tension away from people, so he was always invited to parties, and my personal favourite, the spooner, who would sneak into the houses of lonely women to spoon with them. these kinds of things. so it was more of an an everyday interpretation of a super hero, making specific human characteristics super. because the super powers were so 'common' each interaction the protagonist had with a super hero seemed like a journey within the self because we, of course, all have at least a little of every 'power' within ourselves. so in that respect its an interesting read. but the ending is cute, even if you don't get over analytical like some (>.>).

It's cliché, but this book made me laugh, made me cry, and everything in between. Despite its shortness, this book will draw you into the lives of the characters and their stories. You will be quietly cheering Tom and the Perfectionist along on their journey.

Andrew Kaufman has such a lovely style that even single sentences are a pleasure to read. These sentences then develop into character depictions that are believeable. I would and do highly recommend this book to everyone.

Kaufman does a good job of showing how being a regular guy can be special. Following Tom, who has become invisible to his wife, the story tells his experiences with the superheroes of Toronto. Descriptions of the character's superheroes friends are also included throughout the book and it is brilliant how Kaufman can make an unexceptional behaviour a super power.
Overall a very enjoyable and fun read.