Customer Reviews

Don't Read This Book If You're Stupid: Stories

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3 star:		(1)
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Tibor Fischer is the adroit master of the biting edge of black comedy. In Don't Read This Book if You're Stupid he puts that talent to prodigious good use. These 7 stories about life in London told form the perspective of various social misfits and outright losers are biting, hip, edgy and hilarious.

Fischer has always been a master of character development-he's even rendered a 5000 year old bowl a convincing main character in The Collector Collector-and that skill is on full display in these stories, even though a couple of them are very short. The characters may be fully developed-are fully developed--but are also quite loathsome on the whole.

The result is a book that is funny, insightful-and a bit put offing. These are stories about people on the margins of society-losers, whiners, and predators. I appreciated the skill and talent on display in every story-I actually liked only a couple of them.

Fair warning should be made: The book has moments of genuine raunchiness-both just general icky raunchiness and a fair amount of sexual raunchiness. Nothing particularly egregious, but in sufficient volume and sufficient intensity to warrant those who have a problem with that sort of thing to think twice before diving in.

The short story is obviously a form Fischer can excel in. I hope one day he'll write a series of stories more in line with the tenor of his novels. That, I suspect, would be a book I could both appreciate and like as well.

This book delivers wickedly hilarious entertainment, which I enjoy. The subjects of the stories (corrupt and egoistic artists, comediennes, businessmen...) are snapshots of modern culture that duly receive spiteful treatment by the author. Which I enjoy.

The highlights of this collection are "We Ate the Chef," which explores a Web salesman's frustrations while he takes a French vacation; "Portrait of the Artist as a Foaming Deathmonger," which tells the story of a narcissistic, failed painter who invents a manipulative "art form" he aptly names the "grabby"; and "I Like Being Killed," which probes a female comedian's greedy love life and acrimonious behavior, on- and-off-stage. The three share the theme of egoism.

"Ice Tonight in the Hearts of Young Visitors" introduces young journalists at the site of a revolution; "Then They Say You're Drunk" is about a stand-in for a solicitor with a cruelty towards street people; "Bookcruncher" is an entertaining story about a devout, dispossessed reader who attempts to read every written book; and "Fifty Uselessnesses" is about a poor fellow whose love for the wild West constitutes his only excitement in the face of his emasculating "proper job."

Other than self-absorption, dampening jobs and materialism are at least lightly touched upon.

My only gripe is with a part of the writing style. Tibor Fischer examines his characters' minds by showing their ratiocination in his sentences. I prefer reading terse, stark sentences; Fischer, on the other hand, will layer "althoughs" on "althoughs" and it gets somewhat tedious to read. It's like straining to eke out the benefits of a first-person narrative into third-person. Others like it, though.

That said, this is a great collection of mordant fun that I would recommend to anyone who appreciates some dark humor.

the first story in this collection is so true to a certain type of life, and yet so hilarious. the language is is casual and deft, like a expert twist of the knife, sliding right into your heart. and then he makes you laugh. the following stories are somewhat more abstract, but the laugh factor is even higher. recommended for those who like their reading with a light touch of acid.

Just to let people know "Don't read this book if you're stupid" and "I like being killed" are both the same set of short stories, I think the later release is the US title, and the former the UK. So if you already own "I like being killed" then as far as the first title goes, don't read this book unless you're stupid.

Tibor Fischer is one of the three greatest living British novelists, a modern day Celine who makes the majority of his peers look like they write with Scrabble boards. "We Ate The Chef", the first story in this collection, is hilarious, sad and above all VERY true.

I should have paid more attention to the title. It is the same book as the one titled " I Like Being Killed" I must be stupid for buying this one.
Anyway, Fischer is one of my favorite authors. I really enjoyed "The Collector Collector" and "The Thought Gang."
Both were superb -much better than this collection of stories.

This collection of short stories was less than stellar. The writing was simplistic and obnoxious, with no purpose or irony to any of the stories. Everyone is so impressed with the fact that his stories are `true' - I'm trying hard to figure out why blatantly writing about everyday situations-i.e., being forced to interact with losers on a daily basis - is suddenly innovative art. The self-deprecating characters did a good job of observing how life sucks-something I easily do myself everyday within my own mind or via conversation with other disillusioned people. These stories left me dry, empty, and disappointed that I wasted both my precious time and money.

Admittedly, I did laugh a few times-so I guess all was not forsaken.