Customer Reviews

Revenge of the Latchkey Kids: An Illustrated Guide to Surviving the '90s and Beyond

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Ted Rall is a great guy who just happens to be a little angry. Fortunately he's learned to funnel this into a fantastic book which I highly recommend. If you've ever in any way found yourself disgruntled with a terrible workplace or happen to be a latch key kid yourself, this book will speak a lot of truth to you. It's clever and funny and I can't wait for Ted Rall's next tome.

Although there were some items of amusement, for the most part, this book is rather cliche and the artwork lacks clarity. As a relative newcomer to the scene, however, this young man (I assume he is in his 20s) may have a bright future in the world of satire once he develops a unique outlook of his own and a bit more life experience from which to "draw" on.

Ted Rall succeeds where Scott Adams fails. These cartoons are the biting real-life social commentary that Dilbert likes to think it is. Burn those Dilbert books and buy more Ted Rall.

I must admit, I can relate to a lot of what Rall has seen and has to say, so naturally I'd end up reading this book. "Kids" is a deeply analytical book compared to some of the drivel I've had to read by "experts" before, and it's eerily correct in most cases. An article in July's "George" about pro wrestling being a populist assault on America immediately reminded me of the section on talk shows in this book. By God, people are going to be heard one way or another; be it Montel Williams or "Raw". I love this book, and I wish I could read it again if it weren't packed away in some box. As for Littleton, if people actually listened to him and others like him in the first place (especially those involved on both sides) it would have at least been less of a surprise. Hell, I anticipated something like that at my or another local high school until the day I graduated because things don't seem to have changed since he was in high school except that they have provoked even worse results- something that was to be expected if no one cared until it was too late.

Originally called "Kill Your Parents Before They Kill You," this hateful book (disguised as "a joke")looks especially bad after what happened in Littleton, Colorado. Spiteful, angry and mean-spirited in an attempt to be "funny," this book goes far, far astray. Too bad Ted Rall can't tell the difference between humor and abusive violence. Shame on him and anyone who would publish such tripe.

This is, I think, the only book I've seen by a living author where the introduction is less than flattering. Jules Feiffer points out that Ted Rall seems to've never gotten over his father's leaving the family, and he hasn't. Good god, no. No publisher in their right mind should have accepted 216 pages of something Ted Rall should've...accepted for himself at some point in early adolescence.

I have all his other books, and enjoy them no end. Don't buy this; you will only end up with a nagging distrust of Rall that you didn't have before. A caring friend should ensure that his doctor reads the thing, but that's about it. The few laughs in the book aren't worth the bitterness, and his few points are so laboured that...oh, forget it -- I am sounding about as bitter as him!

Now get it from Rall.

Too bad the publisher demurred at using the original title: "Kill Your Parents Before They Kill You." "Revenge of the Latchkey Kids" sounds like the newest release in the Goosebumps series. "Kill Your Parents" fits this hilarious, edgy read about pitting yourself against squabbling divorcee parents, an unbalanced education system, boomer bosses, information overload and, of course, your dead end job. I laughed through the whole virtuously pessimistic book that reminded me that even if I could be part of The System, I wouldn't want to be. Excerpts from Latchkey could be used as a 9-to-5 survival guide. Even if you aren't daring enough to follow Rall's advice on using company resources for personal gain, reading the book between breaks will prevent you from becoming a drone. The book is half prose, half cartoon and entirely comic. When I first approached it, I floated along its surface, turning the pages to get to the next witty cartoon, reading the text because it was in between the last satirical doodle and the next page. However, as I progressed with the book I found myself flipping back a few pages to catch the cartoons I had skipped over, so engrossed had I become with Rall's writing. Consequently, I reread the first part of the book to comb over what I might have missed on the first exposure. Rall attacks the various mundane, yet unassumingly debilitating systems that we encounter in our daily lives, while seething beneath a veneer of humor.

An excellent commentary on the 90s