Customer Reviews

I Dream of Microwaves

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Absolutely hilarious! I was laughing out loud! It reads like a Pakastani version of Rikki Travolta's send up of Hollywood would-be actors 'My Fractured Life'. Naming the actor Kareem Abdul-Jabar was so irreverant and nonsensical it couldn't be funnier! You will laugh out loud, I promise. It has the same kind of funniness as 'My Fractured Life' and 'Postcards From the Edge.' Absolutely hilarious!

Very similar in structure to Rikki Lee Travolta's "MY FRACTURED LIFE." This is a series of interconnected stories following the exploits of a fictional would-be B-movie actor as he sets off to become a "real person" in the "real world" only to find the world outside of Hollywood far more surreal than one might expect. Like "MY FRACTURED LIFE" each chapter can stand alone as a short story, but are expertly intermixed to tell one all encompassing tale. Although it lacks the dynamics and power of Travolta's fact-based account of the underbelly of Hollywood, fans of "FRACTURED LIFE" should be well entertained by Imad Rahman's "I DREAM OF MICROWAVES." A tandem, side by side read is probably the best bet for maximum enjoyment.

In the same tradition as "My Fractured Life", "I Dream of Microwaves" is a fun stomping of Hollywood's B-list subculture. If you enjoyed "My Fractured Life" and "Running With Scissors" you should enjoy this.

Great book! The writing is very funny and nicely tied together. Similar to the book My Fractured Life, but more surreal. Still very funny.

Imad Rahman borrows heavily from author Rikki Lee Travolta's life story "My Fractured Life" in his "I Dream of Microwaves."

Where Travolta tells of the tragically funny tribulations of starring in the so-bad-it's-good "Anne Frank: The Musical", Rahman places his B-movie actor hero in "Apocalypse Now: The Musical" for similar effect. In "My Fractured Life" Travolta tells of his short lived retirement from acting leading to a career in the "literary field" which translates to working at an adult video store. Rahman borrows the theme and places his retired B-movie star as a repo man recovering unreturned rented videotapes. And where Travolta's actor friend becomes oddly fixated on Edgar Allen Poe and begins speaking exclusively in quotations of the dead poet, Rahman creates a similar actor-friend character who speaks exclusively in movie dialogue quotation.

Imitations are rarely as good as the original, and such is the case here. However, while it won't replace "My Fractured Life" on 'Must Read' recommendation lists, it doesn't mean that "I Dream of Microwaves" isn't enjoyable. It certainly is a fine tribute to Travolta's writing.

Rahman uses Travolta's "My Fractured Life" as a jumping off point and has created a somewhat surreal but entertaining book.

The thing that bothered me about I DREAM OF MICROWAVES is the same thing that I liked about it. You just can't get past the point-by-point way it follows the same story as MY FRACTURED LIFE. On the one hand this is what I enjoyed about it because it does cover the same territory so it was familiar to something I already enjoy. However it was also bothersome in some ways because I wanted something more than the main character being turned into a middle easterner and renamed after a basketball player. It is a nicely written book. I did enjoy it. However I did not enjoy it as much as MY FRACTURED LIFE because it didn't seem to add as much to the story as I would have liked.

If you like books like 'my fractured life' and 'running with scissors' you'll like this.

I loved it! It has the same off kilter spin on Hollywood as My Fractured Life does. You will fall out of your chair.

Wierd but good. It's like "My Fractured Life" meets Wierd Al Yankovik or Mel Brooks.

"I dream of Microwaves" is like sitting in your favorite couch and flipping through channels on the TV when there is nothing good on... And then by chance landing on a show on some obscure channel that totally captivates you and forces you to watch it till the credits are done rolling.
A simple yet hillarious account of the adventures (or misadventures) of an underrated Pakistani Actor trying to survive from day to day in the land of freedom filled to the brim with stereotypes.
The book offers you something you will rarely find in storytelling these days: the simple absence of fantastic events. Something for everyone; this book applies to all our lives at some point in time. The character of Kareem Abdul Jabbar (no relation to the NBA star) is just trying to make ends meet and do what he knows best: act. His overanalysis of every situation and his 'Forest Gump' ways make for hours of good story telling.
A must-read for those who find joy in simple things and find Irony humorous.