6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious!!, August 2, 1998
By A Customer
Why hasn't anyone picked up the movie rights?? This is a gem of a book, I'm on my second copy because the first got passed around so much I lost track of the web of borrowers. Anyone who loves shopping, eating, or just a good belly laugh, must read this book. My favourite moment is the aunt who tells the poor little rich girl "Whaddya mean, you don't need any shoes? You got feet- you need shoes!" My thoughts exactly... buy the shoes, buy the book, and copies for your mother, your friends - everyone!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Funniest Book I've Ever Read and Reread, March 25, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: I'll Take It (Mass Market Paperback)
As an adult I've read hundreds of books but this is by far the funniest book I have ever read. I enjoyed it so much that I've reread it three times (something I rarely do).
Joe Reckler is a 26 year old Yale graduate who is self-employed as a pickpocket, and shoplifter extraordinare. As fall approaches Joe's mother convinces Joe to accompany her and her two sisters [Ida and Pola] on a trip to Maine to shop at the outlets and take in some foliage on the way.
But Joe's mother has an ulterior motive for going to Maine - and it's not leaves! Over the years Mrs. Reckler has spent thousands of dollars at L.L. Bean and now it is time for her to retire. However she has one last wish before she retires and that's to remodel her living room. It's really not for her though, it's for her husband Saul, who's already retired and deserves nice surroundings. She figures that $10,000.00 will be enough to make it look spiffy. And she figures that L.L. Bean is just the place to get the money. To the casual observer it would appear like robbery but to Mrs. Reckler it's seen merely as a discount or maybe a refund for her loyal patronage over the years. After all the money she's spent there they owe her! She confides in Joe and tells him her plan and asks for his assistance, but her sisters have no idea they're leaf peeping with a modern day Ma Barker. And the results are hilarious!
Some of the more memorable stops along the way are a trip to Bloomingdales to pick up a few brownies for the ride (and as long as you don't have one of your own but just take bites off of someone else's the calories don't count). A stop at Loehmann's (before they even leave New York), to try on a few things. A visit to Joe's brother Clark and his live-in girlfriend Patty in a run down farmhouse in Massachusetts. And although the leaves are beautiful here in Massachusetts, Mrs. Reckler tells the others they can rest their eyes because it's not Vermont. "Don't look! The foliage doesn't count until you get to Vermont."
Clark and Patty's living room couch is a carseat rescued from a '57 Chevy, this trigger's Joe's Aunt Ida to comment "I feel like we're still driving!" And the decrepit condition of the house in general makes Mrs. Reckler decide to up her ante at L.L. Bean hoist to $12,000.00 so that she can help Clark and Patty spruce up the kitchen a bit.
Then there's Vermont and a trip to the Bennington Pottery Barn, and eventually Maine and L.L. Bean's. But not before more hi-jinx and some interactions with one of the depressed local shopkeepers [Kerry] and her husband [Grey]. By the time the interaction is through Kerry's troubles aren't the only think that's disappeared.
What makes this book the funniest book I've ever read is the realistic Jewish dialogue, the quick banter and comebacks and the outrageous antics (even when you can see it coming you're saying to yourself NO, NO he's not going to let them do that is he: oh my God he is!). The writing style and humor coupled with America's passion for shopping make Paul Rudnick's I'LL TAKE IT a real winner.
If you like this book try his earlier book SOCIAL DISEASE which is being reissued in June 1997 or his screenplay JEFFREY or IF YOU ASK ME by Libby Gelman-Waxner (a pseudo-name that Paul uses to write humorous movie reviews for Premier Magazine - this book is a collection of those reviews). Enjoy!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely hilarious, June 14, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: I'll Take It (Mass Market Paperback)
This book is so funny, I cried. It reminds me of my mother and her sister, the most fiercely competitive shoppers I've ever met. They passed it onto me! I shop every day. Every day.
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