Customer Reviews

Politically Correct, the Ultimate Storybook: Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, Once upon a More Enlightened Time, and Politically Correct Holiday Stories

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Politically Correct Bedtime Stories" is, in truth, a hilarious book that will have you busting at the seams. However, it is also a mocking reflection of the Monster we have created that we call "Political Correctness." One excerpt that had me cringing was from "Chicken Little" when Henny Penny tends her garden with "...no fertilizer, insecticide, and no herbicide and allowed the various non-edible types of wildflower (sometimes called weeds) to mingle with her food crop..." Garner is indeed hysterical, but it also makes you step back and think a minute. What has our society really become? Is it really necessary to distinguish that Little Red Riding Hood is a "person" and not a "girl?" Since when was it offensive to denote someone's gender? I salute Mr. Garner on his awesome achievement, and I hope it shakes up people's minds as much as it shakes them up with laughter.

When one has read every fairy tale out there, it's refreshing to come to one that has put a new twist on the old classics. It pokes fun at everybody by attempting to poke fun at nobody. Warning! Do not read this book if you are a person who takes things too seriously. If you're actually worried about every single person who may be offended by something, then this book probably isn't for you. For those of you who like to laugh at society, though, and the silly things we all say, then you've come to the right place. It's a more enlightened time, surely, when we are finally able to laugh at ourselves. Besides that, even though stories like "The Duckling That Was Judged On Its Personal Merits And Not On Its Physical Appearance," were deleted due to space reasons, this book will leave you in stitches!

James Finn Garner has taken the Politically Correct movement to its logical extreme in Politically Correct, the Ultimtate Storybook and shown just how truly ridiculous it is. These stories are best read aloud to a group. However, you may have trouble finishing the story due to the necessary pauses while waiting for the laughter to die down.

This book is hilarous! I loved it, it was awsome! Anyone that enjoys silly and sarcastic humor who isn't so 'uptight' about things should read this one.

I've read the other reviews and they are all fine but, I think, miss the real pleasure of this book. It needs to be read to your spouse/lover in bed! It's witty and really, really funny and will put you in the best mood for enjoying a good night's sleep -- or whatever. Savor it one chapter at a time, over and over...

This book hits the nail on the head! In our ultra politically correct times it is comforting to see that not everyone fails to see the inherant humor in them.We get so caught up in saying the right thing all the time we forget how dangerous it can be not to feel free enough to express our own oppinions and views. This very funny and insightful book shows us how entirely silly our society has become in its fear of saying the wrong thing. If we were always afraid of who we might offend what would happen to the oldest and best loved folk tales of our time? This book answers those questions with a hearty belly laugh from begining to end. AndIf you don't love this book...lighten up man!

I first read some of these stories quite a while ago. I enjoyed the Snow White story quite a bit, and having spent some time in a trailer park, I can easily understand the people in Pied Piper of Hamelin. Although I am not a feminist and think personally that the old values are better than the new ones, I can still appreciate the humour in most of the stories. I can't say I enjoyed all of them though.

Mostly the reason I got this book was because of the Christmas collection, which is by far the best set of these stories that James Garner has done. This section gets three of my stars.

"The Night Before Solstice" is a very well-done parody. "The children were nestled all snug in their beds, dreaming of lentils and warm whole-grain breads..." He talks about how overfed Santa is and how bad smoking is for Santa's health.

"Frosty the Snowman" concerns two argumentative children who build a snowman and when he tells them he's going to melt, they march to Washington to protest about abuse of the ozone layer.

"Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is the story of a disliked outsider who suddenly became OK to Santa when Santa could get some use out of him. But Rudolf won't have any of it. He says the deer are underprivileged and need a more flexible work schedule and a retirement plan.ù

"The Nutcracker" is in here too, but at the time I read it I didn't know the real story and therefore it didn't make any impression on me.

The there's "A Christmas Carol"... You know, the story that begins with that famous line: "Jacob Marley was non-viable." The ghosts try to teach him all he needs to know. The second one in particular I remember. He was a fat slob and went from house to house to raid the fridge. When all is said and done, Scrooge decides he's a victim of circumstance like Diminutive Timòn... It's all quite involved and you really have to read it for yourself. But it's very funny. I've read it many times. (I recommend that you read the real story by Dickens first - it's not that long - it will make you laugh more at the PC one.)

So if for nothing else, get this for the Christmas section.

Politically Correct Storybook

I found, "Politically Correct Storybook", a very amusing commentary on our modern, "wossified", don't offend any political group, gender, race, creed, alternative lifestyle or anything else for that matter, (unless of course it happens to be of male Northern European origin). A good friend of mine gave me a copy knowing that I had just read and reviewed, "Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales", and said that I needed a brake from the serious reading, she was right. This was like a cool breeze of fresh humorous air on a hot solemn day. I can relate to Mr. Garner's plight of being , in his own words, "the descendant of dead white European males".

All and all a very amusing satirical look in the mirror. It's a good thing to be able to look at the absurdities of social life and be able to laugh at them. Otherwise you end up believing them. The only problem I have with the work is not the book itself but with the people who read it and say to themselves, "It's about time they redid these!". The scary thing is, those folks are out there.
Well done Mr. Garner, thanks for the laughs.

In Frith,
Spence The Elder
"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc"
M. Addams

I'm sure most of us can empathize with how the orge of "Political Correctness" has become an increasingly annoying monster in recent decades. In this delightful offering, the author mischeviously tweaks the proverbial tiger on its tail by re-telling some of our classic childhood bedtime tales with a politically correct spin.

Reworked Tales Include:
* Little Red Riding Hood
* The Emperor's New Clothes
* Three Little Pigs
* Rumpelstiltskin
* The Three Codependent Goats Gruff
* Rapunzel
* Cindarella
* Goldilocks
* Snow White
* Chicken Little
* The Frog Prince
* Jack and the Bean Stalk
* The Pied Piper of Hamelin

One of the hallmarks of a great humorist is their ability to make us laugh at ourselves while also pointing out uncomfortable, and timely, truths, and by that measure, the author, and this book, get 5 stars from me.

Highly recommended.

p.s. My only nit is that the cover price is a bit high, and works out to almost 10 cents per page. Buy it used.

IT WAS A REALLY NEAT BOOK, I REALLY ENJOYED I