Free-Range Chickens [Paperback]

Simon Rich (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 12, 2009

After a riotous debut collection, Ant Farm, Simon Rich returns to mine more comedy from our hopelessly terrifying world. In the nostalgic opening chapter, Rich recalls his fear of the Tooth Fairy (“Is there a face fairy?”) and his initial reaction to the “Got-your-nose” game (“Please just kill me. Better to die than to live the rest of my life as a monster”). He gets inside the heads of two firehouse Dalmatians who can’t understand their masters’ compulsion to drive off to horrible fires every day (“What the hell is wrong with these people?”). And in the final chapter, he tackles one of life’s biggest questions: Does God really have a plan for us? Yes, it turns out. Now if only He could remember what it was. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rich, an author and Saturday Night Live writer, delivers a punch-and-jab gigglefest in his follow-up to the similarly chaotic Ant Farm. A slim book of short takes, Rich doesn't stray far from his formula-many of these pieces would work as mercifully brief (and funny) SNL skits-but it's a formula that delivers a laugh on every page. Split into thematic sections-Growing Up, Going to Work, Daily Life, Relationships, Animals and God-Rich's twisted observations are often dark, especially in the Growing Up portion; "terrifying childhood experiences" include "peek-a-boo," and the people hiding in 7-year-old Rich's closet (Freddy Krueger, Chucky, a murderer, his dead uncle, and his doctor) pine, "Man, I cannot wait to kill this kid." Rich offers this brand of humor in a wide range of flavors, going, for instance, directly from Pheidippides of 490 B.C. to an "All-you-can-eat buffet fantasy" in the Daily Life portion. Still, there isn't much here that's not laugh-out-loud funny, perfect for rainy-day/toilet-top browsing or one long, painful guffawathon.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“A punch-and-jab gigglefest . . . that delivers a laugh on every page.”—Publishers Weekly

“Simon Rich is still the freshest, funniest new writer today.”—Chicago Sun-Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812977114
• ISBN-13: 978-0812977110
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.4 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #692,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Kindling Fodder February 6, 2009

By Bart King

Format:Hardcover

Don't be thrown by the high ratio of negative reviews for FREE-RANGE CHICKENS. As many readers point out, the book was a free addition to their Kindle purchase, so they went "into" the book cold.

As for me, my only real complaint is that the book has far too many blank pages (about 16) in an already slender volume.

But will YOU like Simon Rich's humor? Here's your acid test: Read the following excerpt, and if it tickles you, you're in.
***
GOD: Did you start that war over in South America?
ANGEL: Yes sir, just as you specified.
GOD: And you gave Fred Hodges that migraine? In Fayette, Maine?
ANGEL: Of course, I followed all your orders to the letter.
GOD: Okay, great. So the next part of my grand sweeping plan is... the next part is... um...
ANGEL: Yes?
GOD: Wait, hold on... I know I was going somewhere with this...
ANGEL: . . .
GOD: It's the [darndest] thing. I had this giant, all-encompassing plan, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was.
ANGEL: Did you... write it down somewhere?
GOD: Nah. It was all up here. (Points at head.)
ANGEL: Well... maybe if I say some of the things that you've done so far, you'll remember?
GOD: That's a good idea. Let's try that.
ANGEL: Okay... um... assassination of Julius Caesar... the great San Francisco fire... World War I... World War II... is anything coming back?
GOD: I know all those things are connected somehow.... they were all part of this awesome plan I had... I just can't remember what the payoff was.
ANGEL: . . .
GOD: I guess I bit off more than I could chew.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars (3.5) "All-you-can-eat-buffet-fantasy." August 30, 2008

By Luan Gaines HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

When all else fails, humor is the saving grace of a world awash in crisis. Thus, a sob becomes a hysterical segue into burst of laughter inspired by a twenty-four year old writer for- why not?- the infamous "Saturday Night Live". Rich's random flights of wit and fancy are presented in sections: "Growing Up"; "Going to Work"; "Relationships"; "Daily Life"; "Animals", and- again, why not? "God".

A quirky kid already hip to the craziness around him, Rich's collection kicks off with threat assessment, the same old canards adults have poured into the fertile imaginations of children for generations: "Got your nose.-Please just kill me. Better to die than to live the rest of my life as a monster." Then there is the matter of the tooth fairy: "Is she... a cannibal? What else does she take? Does she take eyes?" Or an intimate conversation between two frogs: "Why do human children dissect us?"

As the inquisitive boy grows through the awkward stages of adolescence no one can avoid, he betrays his geekiness, vaguely hoping to slide through a series of social blunders. The oddities only become more specific and embarrassing. Reality is closing in, time travel the only option for changing the past, unsuccessful Opium Wars, a Greek marathon, a creative approach to a seriously bad actor's presence in the world, life's absurdities served up as a rich buffet no mean feat for this young torturer of logic.

And who else but Rich could manufacture the hubris to challenge God, to ask the harsh questions ("Why did Seth Brody of Hartford, Connecticut, have a seizure while ordering a hamburger at Denny's?"). The age-old question of why bad things happen to good people is sometimes resolved as a simple case of mistaken identity. Okay, so certain types of humor are an acquired taste. But you never know until you sample the menu. It takes a unique mind to imagine these bizarre scenarios, the perspective of an absurdist and the free-floating anxiety of youth channeled into a universe that sorely needs a good laugh. Luan Gaines/ 2008.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brief but Enjoyable December 13, 2008

By D. Buxman TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

To a certain extent, Free Range Chickens is observational humor with a kick. It reminds me of what I find to be funny in Futurama. There isn't a story line here, but rather a collection of dialogues and chains of thought. If you've studied much philosophy, I think you'll have several laugh-out-loud moments, plus a good deal of laughing to yourself. I didn't find the language to be particularly offensive, but there was a section about God that might leave a strict fundamentalist cold.