Customer Reviews

Stern

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

 

 

Bruce Jay Friedman wrote the screenplay for several movies including "Splash". His book, "Stern" is the story of a man named Stern who has forsaken New York City for a home in the suburbs with his family. Things in paradise quickly collapse when a neighbor yells a slur at Stern's wife and knocks her down. Stern is overcome with a mixture of guilt, fear, anger and dementia. His attempts to confront the neighbor (as well as his own fears) lead to an endless paranoid mind-game and Stern's eventual physical collapse. Yeah - I guess this sounds sort of sad - BUT I guarantee you this book is HILARIOUS!! As in all of Friedman's books - the world of "Stern" is seemingly normal but filled with ridiculous and comic elements. Stern's attempts to face his neighbor, to convince himself that he can "take him" are really funny. I can not recommend this book highly enough. If you have ever felt persecuted or if you are neurotic AT ALL - this is the book for you.

Stern is perhaps the funniest book i have ever read. it has incredible depth and, at the same time, has remained true to the humerous aspect of the story.

This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. Required reading for comedy writers. Friedman, one of my favorite comedy writers, takes you to the depths like no other writer. This is a weird classic folks. Not recommended for light reading. Very dark, bleak, and utterly hysterical. I would also highly recommend his short stories as some of the greatest gems in contemporary comedy writing.

Plain and simple, this book is atrocious.

To quote the handwritten note found in the library book I had of this story, "THIS BOOK IS DUMB. IT IS NOT FUNNY." (etc.) I couldn't help myself. I added, "I AGREE."

The only thing that kept me reading was the fact that THE LONELY GUY is a movie that has stuck with me ever since I was a kid, and I have a fair amount of respect for author Friedman as a screenwriter. SPLASH even has its moments. "Maybe there'll be something later on and besides," I kept telling myself, "it's barely 200 pages."

I've only put down two books in my life, and I didn't want to make it three, so I plowed ahead... despite the fact that, yes, the story is incredibly dull, the jokes are outdated (and probably were NEVER funny), and the main character is an annoying, passive twit who needs to stop whining all the time and actually do something.

I'm a huge fan of Roth's PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT, which has a similar feel. But what Roth did so eloquently (and why he is considered one of our nation's greatest writers of all time, having won every award under the sun), Friedman didn't even seem to TRY to do with this stinker: and that's make something equally accessible and entertaining while still targeting a very specific sector of our society.

I haven't added a review on Amazon in years, and I don't believe I've ever added a negative one, but this book was so bad that--though I know most people would never even hear of it anyway--I had to add my thoughts. Take 'em or leave 'em, my thoughts are at least pretty obvious: THIS BOOK SUCKS!!

I am an avid reader & can wrap my mind around just about any genre or author (except epic saga romances) but this book was unreadable to me it was maybe interesting in the 60's when it was first released (although to whom I can't imagine) but i just couldn't stomach this book It is just plain silly, frustrating & boring and I am sorry I wasted $ on ordering it hopefully anyone considering this book won't make the same mistake I did, thinking you're getting a quaint, rediscovered gem because, like me you'll regret it.