Customer Reviews

Taming a Liger: Unexpected Spiritual Lessons from Napoleon Dynamite

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book has lots of great observations and conversation starters concerning the characters and situations seen in the great comedy film NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, and I'd like to see more of that, since this is such a fun movie!

This is pretty much a collection of short observations of scenes or dialogue from the movie, then some thoughts about the spiritual aspects of each sample, as seen from a Biblical viewpoint. SWEET!

This is a 24-piece set (like the NuPont bowls that Uncle Rico sells). There are 24 short chapters, each about 4 pages long, plus a Glossary, a Discussion Guide, and some Recipes.

For example, Napoleon tells Pedro, "Just tell them all their wildest dreams will come true if they vote for you." To which the authors contrast it to Psalm 37:4, where David says that God will give you the desires of your heart if you delight in Him first. Then they do a bit of deeper Bible commentary when they suggest that maybe the Psalm means that God will DEFINE the best desires for you to have in your heart, (which agrees more with other scripture verses saying God will give you what you REALLY need), and this is much different than thinking that God will give you ANYTHING superficial that you might wrongly lust over, like a fancy bicycle, or dating the wrong girl, etc...

This book is not just for Christians. It also points out some interesting observations about the movie characters that you might not have noticed; like Kip gets converted into a clothes horse for ghetto rapper styled clothing, but later, at the wedding, we see that he has ditched the style experiment and gone back to being himself, though he's still with LaFawnduh.

The Glossary is pretty cute, like--
"BODAGGIT: Derisive name directed at an especially despised person. Often accompanied by large citrus fruit hurled at same."

The Discussion Guide also has some good conversation starters to ponder, like--
"Kip meets his soul mate online. How do you feel about Internet dating? Why?"

Only the most jaded anti-Christian would be offended by this fun book. The cover does say "Unexpected Spiritual Lessons from NAPOLEON DYNAMITE," instead of perhaps, "Unexpected Christian Lessons...," but I think it's fair to say that Christianity is a form a spirituality. Maybe "Spirituality" is too often misused to describe New Age tomfoolery?

All in all, this is a nice little book, if you are a fan of the movie. You will find plenty to think about and talk about with your friends.

If you're not bright enough to take a cursory glance and notice that Amazon lets you know this definitely deals with Christian view points, then you might just review the book as a one star read.

For those with basic logic skills and like taking their bikes on sweet jumps -- read on. Taming A Liger is a witty and insightful read. Christian or no, there indeed are basic spiritual lessons that any person can gain from this. It's also an exhaustive resource of some of the best quotes from the movie.

The one ironic thing is that two Christian authors are writing a book based on a movie written by a Mormon. Ah...America. Anyway, I heartily recommend checking it out.

Digging into Hollywood and Indie films for spirtual meaning is one of the latest fads in Christian resources. Over the past few years studies have came from films as diverse as Star Wars and now, Napoleon Dynamite. I acquired this book to use as a study for the Youth Group I help out with. Their interest was definatly peaked when I mentioned using a book about Napoleon in class. The film is non-offensive so I was able to show a lot of it in class free from guilt. The lessons are sharp and quick and some of them use a good bit of scripture to back up their facts. The studies are presented in a hip fashion that holds kids attention pretty well. My only complaint is lack of discussion questions in each lesson. Some discussion questions appear at the end of the book un-related to each individual lesson. Sometimes teaching out of it ended up with me just simply reading out of the book and showing clips. If you work at it however, you can come up with a good lesson and teach a thing or two in the process.

Yes, this is a Christian Devotional. If you are a Christian and a fan of the movie, then you'll enjoy looking at the events in the movie from a Spiritual point of view. If you're not a Christian, this could be a good introduction to the truth for you, just so long as you know that's what you're getting. I guess a lot of people thought this was going to be some "spiritualistic new age enlightening zen" kind of thing and were disappointed when they got the book and it talked about Jesus, but hey, maybe if they actually read it and thought about what it was saying rather than just getting offended at the name of the one person who loved them more than anyone they'll ever know, the book could actually change their lives......

It was pretty much a great freakin' idea to write a book like this! It's good to know that there could be deeper meaning to everyday things that happened in the movie. Too many times, my life was like the action figure that Napoleon drug behind the bus (until I found some decent friends, and later became a Christian...but that's a story bigger than a block of government-issued cheese) (by the way, I once drug a cassette tape behind the bus, and it was pure awesome).
In the book, the authors do a sweet job of explaining how things like, "taming a wild stallion," building a cake," and "three hours of upper lip shading," can add to your skills. I think it's pretty much my favorite book right now...and it will help make my wildest dreams come true (and there are a buttload of delicious recipes in the back)! I'm giving the book five stars, but would've really liked a double-page drawing of our underwater ally, Nessie.

It was a very easy read mainly because of the humor. Some connections between the film and Scripture were a stretch, but the authors claim it in the beginning. Fun devotional for a youth group ages 11-17.

Man, this was a totally awesome book. It does not take itself too seriously, but has fun with the movie while looking for the real meaning of it all in the movie. If you are a Christian or kind of like Jesus and you saw the movie Napolean Dynomite and laughed at least one time, this book is for you!

I loved the movie. But I love the book even more. This book has made me laugh so much but has also made me think just the same. This book is life changing. If you read it "all your wildest dreams will come true."

Don't be fooled, this book is not about Napoleon Dynamite. The movie is mentioned only for the occasional quote, and the vast majority of this book is dedicated to biblical references and religious rhetoric. This book may be well-suited for providing material for Sunday School lessons, but don't waste your money if you are simply a fan of the movie.

Ok, this is probably the funniest book I have ever seen in my life. And the most entertaining. It even includes recipes from the movie like kip's nachos and quesa-dilluh's.