Customer Reviews

Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm not the most unbiased reviewer because I have to confess that I have read every book that Barry has ever written including his not so stellar novel. Still, I can't imagine anyone I'd ever want to have coffee with not thinking this book is hysterical. I'm always amazed at his turn of phrase and wit in every single article on any topic imaginable. Whether he's talking about flushing "acts of congress" (#2) down a low gallon toilet or his coffee addiction, he makes me laugh out loud every 2 minutes. I was so engrossed in the book that I didn't realize I was near the end and sat around not believing that it had ended. Then, I entered a deep depression.... Okay, I'm lying, but I was disappointed that I didn't have another one of his books right there to keep me going.

If you've never read Barry before, rush out and buy this. I guarantee that within minutes, you'll be dialing friends and relatives to read snippets out loud -- I try to, but I ususually collapse into gales of laughter while I'm trying.

Our local newspaper has been on strike for several years now, and not wanting to be a scab I stopped my subscription and had to cut myself off from the Dave Barry columns. So, when I bought "Dave Barry is not Taking This Sitting Down" for my sister's Christmas present, I decided she wouldn't mind if I did a bit of catching up on my favorite humor columnist.

That was a mistake.

I took it to bed with me and laughed so long and hard, the cats refused to come into the bedroom. And THEN I got to the column he did on SUVs. That's when I laughed myself into an earache. How many of you out there drive one of those big honker Chevrolet Subdivisions (as Dave has rechristened them)? You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, and you will be after you read this book---if you don't die laughing, first. I can't wait until Dave Barry comes out with the ultimate tome on Southern Florida voting customs.

Now my husband wants to read "Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down" before I wrap it up for my sister. After all, he had to spend a sleepless night listening to me read it.

I first read this book in a quiet bookstore coffee shop. I don't think that the people studying at the tables around me appreciated it too much. I kept making strange noises in an effort not to laugh. After a little while I just started crying because it was so funny. About every 5 minutes I had to put it down and rest because my stomach hurt so much from laughing. Anyway, it's one of Barry's best and definitely a book you'll want to read in the privacy of your own home.

I wish I had followed Everett Logan's advice and skipped this cassette. You can tell that the material itself is great, but the narrator is terrible, terrible, terrible. He dumbs down the text. I bought this to give to someone recuperating from surgery, but decided to listen to it myself first. I'm glad I did -- I would have been embarrassed to give this to anyone.

This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. I'm 8 months pregnant and had to stop reading several times for fear that my laughter would cause harm to my unborn child! I would recommend not reading this book in public because the constant laughter will cause people to stare and point. I would highly recommend this book to everybody!

Dave Barry himself deserves six stars at least. This is his latest hilarious collection of columns from papers across the nation. Mr. Barry is as gut-wrenchingly funny as ever. (And he got a toilet on the cover of the book)

Among the intense, serious topics discussed in this are:

*"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and their questioning system ("You call your mother DURING THE X-FILES??")

*The new toilets and why we hate them so much. ("They stink. Literally")

*The return of Mr. Language Person! ("I Lost 40 Lbs. in Two Months! Call For Free Samples!")

*Titanic II: The Sequel (Starring Leonardo DeDweebio and Demi Moore)

*Luwak coffee, which is so disgusting that I probably wouldn't get this review posted if I told you what it is and how it's *ahem* processed.

*Childbirth classes ("...when the woman in the movie makes a noise identical to what you'd hear if a live yak went through a garlic press...")

And many more. Mr. Barry thrives on the absurdity of real life in his own warped universe, and the scariest thing is that he makes a great deal of sense. He also has an endearing way of creating a perfectly normal sentence, and then ending it with something bizarre like "weasel boogers."

With the help of alert (or possibly insane) readers across the world, Mr. Barry brings the weekly belly-laugh to American doors. And this fantastic (or possibly insane) volume is every ounce as good as the previous ones.

Unless your marriage is solid DO NOT BUY this book. My wife and I have been fighting over possession of the book since its arrival at our home earlier this week. As we each individually read this book, we find ourselves constantly annoying the other by giggling or laughing out loud. Now, in our house, the serious news of the Presidential Election (otherwise known as "Miami" Blues) is constantly interrupted with phrases like "You've got to read this" or "Listen to this" or "I can't believe he said this" or we just read a small excerpt and laugh. I think my marriage may survive our joint reading of this book. Otherwise I'm sending my lawyer's bill to Dave in Miami.

Have you ever wanted to see a Pulitzer Prize-winning author sitting on the pot? Well, here's your chance with Dave Barry's book, Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down! While the cover shot may have visions of the scatological Farrelly Brothers doing the can-can in your head, you can put a lid on that: Barry's humor is irreverent, yes, but it is tidy-bowl clean.

Although I appreciate a good laugh as much as anyone, I have a rather serious countenance. I'm the kind of person that total strangers come up to and command, "Smile!" Another oft-posed question is, "Why aren't you smiling?" Like I'm supposed to be standing in line at the Post Office or the DMV grinning like an idiot. One possible solution could be Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down! This book did have me smiling a lot, chuckling, and even - lo and behold! - laughing out loud. (This gets an entirely different reaction while standing in line at the Post Office or the DMV... It has fellow line-loungers casting furtive glances at the "wanted" posters on the walls.)

Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down! is a collection of the humorist's previously published columns. Barry has been with The Miami Herald for nearly 20 years now, and his commentary has been syndicated all over the planet - in case you are wondering (as was I), he received the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1988. According to his bio, "Barry writes about various major issues relating to the international economy, the future of democracy, the social infrastructure and exploding toilets."

I have read several of Barry's books before, and while I prefer the ones on a theme (Dave Barry Does Japan is my personal fave), the compilations are fun too, because I'm always bound to find a little something that tickles me. The only complaint I have about these compilations, and this one in particular, are when timely themes are included. They "date" the book, and even though it's brand new, it seems old in some places (one I can recall offhand is mention of the impending Y2K problem that never materialized).

There were quite a few bits and pieces that struck a personal chord with me. As the driver of a little sports job, I was howling with laughter at Barry's rant on SUV drivers:

"...What people mainly do with Sports Utility Vehicles, as far as I can tell, is try to maneuver them in and out of parking spaces. I base this statement on my local supermarket, where many of the upscale patrons drive Chevrolet Subdivisions. I've noticed that these people often purchase just a couple of items - maybe a bottle of diet water and a two-ounce package of low-fat dried carrot shreds - which they put into the back of their Subdivisions, which have approximately the same cargo capacity, in cubic feet, as Finland... Then comes the scary part: getting out of the parking space... I drive a compact car, and on a number of occasions have found myself trapped behind a Subdivision backing directly toward me, its massive metal butt looming high over my head, making me feel like a Tokyo pedestrian looking up at Godzilla. I've tried honking my horn, but (they) can't hear me, because they're always talking on phones the size of Chiclets (The Bigger Your Car, The Smaller Your Phone, that is their motto)."

And forget Mars and Venus - Barry knows guys better than Gray could ever hope to. He has a reoccurring report in his column on Stuff That Guys Do, and a couple of them are presented here in the chapters Rubber-Band Man ("...Guys like to do stuff. This explains both the Space Shuttle and mailbox vandalism."), and Rock of Ages ("At some point or another, almost every guy wants an electric guitar. Electric guitars exert a strong appeal for guys, because they combine two critical elements: 1. guitar, 2. electricity.")

This is the sort of book that you'll want to read passages from, aloud, to anyone within earshot whether they like it or not. Barry has something to say about everything from the government's spending habits to the climate in Florida. Even if you're not especially interested in the government's spending habits or the climate in Florida, I bet you'll get a snicker or two from Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down! You really can't go wrong with this book.

Let's just say Dave Barry is the American Standard of humorists working today. He goes to the head of the class. He's a damn sight funnier than Harry Potter. And as I mentioned previously, Barry's humor is clean: With the holidays coming up, you can safely buy this book for all the Janes and Johns on your list. (Okay, even I'm flushed with embarrassment now...)

When Barry is on -he is hysterical and some of the columns in this collection clearly demonstrate that. However there are a few clunkers mixed in. By and large I enjoyed it but found it a hit and miss experience.

I am reviewing the audio version of the book. I would give this zero stars if I could, only because of the narration. As usualy, Dave Barry is very funny, but it doesn't come through in this version because it's impossible to get past the narrator's reading. In a word, he is AWFUL. He sounds like a combination between a bad Paul Harvey impersonator and the adult voice of Ralphie in "A Christmas Story." His timing and inflection are totally wrong for the material and he completely ruins the whole book. I couldn't get through one of the five CDs before I wanted to throw the thing out the window. It would have been great if they had used someone like Harry Anderson (who played a fictionalized version of Dave on TV a few years ago) to read this, and then perhaps Barry's humor would have come through. If you like Dave Barry, skip the audio book and read the paper version.