Customer Reviews

The Thong Also Rises: Further Misadventures from Funny Women on the Road (Travelers' Tales Guides)

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

 

 

The stories in this book are told in a manner such that you feel like you've lived the experiences. And they will most definitely make you want to book your next ticket asap! All in all, a very funny and entertaining read. I definitely plan to purchase a few copies for Christmas for the females in my life.

The thirty-two pieces in this book, all by women, cover quite a range. In the first piece, Ellen Sussman relates the story of her first trip to a nude beach, a theme revisited later in the book by Elizabeth Asdorian in "The Naked and the Wed," an article about the difficulties of seeing the entire wedding party at a beach where clothes are forbidden. Other authors discuss almost everything travel related, from smuggling prescription drugs into the United States to the difficulty using bathrooms in foreign countries to how to respond when airport security in Laos alerts you that your bag is not quite ticking but rather vibrating.

The pieces here are mostly magazine fare and a rather mixed lot at that. Several I enjoyed immensely. Tamara Sheward's "Pills, Thrills, and Green Around the Gills" is an extremely funny account of how not to travel in Laos and what to do if, against all advice, you insist on traveling in a flight on a plane that inspires anything but confidence. Susan Orlean's "Lifelike" is a fascinating glimpse at taxidermists and the 2003 World Taxidermy Championships. I'm not sure what exactly this article had to do with travel, the ostensible theme of the book, but I found Orlean at her best here as she shares a world far removed from most people's everyday experiences. A third piece worth mentioning is Amy C. Balfour's "Just Another Malibu Minnie," an account of the author's participation in a triathlon.

In addition to these three, there are other solid pieces worth reading, but I found the collection too uneven to be truly outstanding. Still, the length of the articles allowed me to move quickly through the book, hoping the next piece would be a gem. Sometimes, it was.

From the very moment you open this book, you will become immersed in the hilarious, often cringe-inducing antics of women on the road. These brave souls bare all (literally, in some cases) as they face challenges and difficulties with spirit, courage, and a good measure of chutzpah. Every woman should own a copy of this book - absolutely brilliant.

Having bought several other works with Laurie Notaro's name on it and gotten some good laughs out of them, I was expecting more of the same, only to be sorely disappointed. This is a collection of short stories that are rambling and not particularly well written. The best you might get out of this is a smirk; don't waste your money - go buy one of Notaro's other full novels and thoroughly enjoy yourself.

I enjoyed reading some of the authors in this book (eg Ayun Halliday), but these stories aren't necessarily new- they're extracts from already published novels. I was disappointed about this as I was looking for well crafted short stories, but what you get is a series of anecdotes, not all of them funny and not many of them particularly interesting.
Look up the contributors and buy their individual works.

This book was recommended to me by a former fellow traveler to Morocco as being laugh-out-loud hilarious. I just must have a different sense of humor, because it did not tickle my funny bone enough for me to even finish it. And I hate to leave a partially read book unfinished.

Ok, so I've read two others in this series (Sand in My Bra and Whose Panties are These) and didn't really enjoy them. But as they were lent to me I felt compelled to keep reading. I really wish I hadn't. This book was just as dismal as the first two. And another note, these are geared towards women, and as such, I just can't understand the cover. It doesn't bother me per say, but it seems like the kind of missed their audience there.

These books are supposed to be short stories from women travelers that range on the funny side. The traveling takes place all over the world, including the USA and to be honest, there were a couple stories that were so mind numbing I didn't even quite catch where they took place in this one. Some of the stories ranged from sharing a bus with a grandma who kept dirty diapers in a suit case, to other stories about buying underwear. Another story mused on the differences between men's and women's vacations. All travel was varied from airplanes, buses, and car travel.

All of these writers are supposed to be humorous, but I really didn't find them so. In fact, I don't think I even cracked a smile with this book. A couple of the stories were interesting at the very most, but that was about it. Some of them were completely boring too, like the woman who gets jealous over her husband's GPS in a story that could have been told in one paragraph instead of a few pages. And once again, with this book, most of the stories could have happened anywhere. I guess I don't see the point of travel if all you focus on is your underwear. I guess I'd just rather enjoy the travel part of travel in a travel book.

Hopefully I'll manage to stay clear of any other books in this series. I gotta say, there's just better things to read out there.

The Thong Also Rises
Copyright 2005
217 pages

Review by M. Reynard 2011

When you compile other authors' stories, you might hire an editor to find all your grammar mistakes. I counted 3 without really looking. Mostly good stories, but not as funny as Laurie Notaro's books. I had high expectations and was very dissapointed, overall.

This book isn't great literature, but it is great fun and a quick read. Aimed towards a female audience, it consists of a series of short travel narratives by many different women writers. It also includes some quotes and some short anecdotes (think "Laughter Is The Best Medicine" from the Reader's Digest.) That means that there is a huge variety of places visited. Some of the authors are well-known names such as Laurie Notaro and Susan Orleans.

Stories include:
- an "oops" moment on a nude beach on St. Martin
- An American (Drug-Smuggling) Girl - getting prescription medications across the border from Mexico
- communicating info about an intimate problem in sign language to a pharmacist in Paris
- flying on a rickety old plane in Laos
- mistaking an offer of Scottish sausages for a sexual proposition
- trying to make amends on Capri for the writer's mom having shoplifted a cheap and obscene little geegaw
- family budget-travel in South Dakota
- a wardrobe malfunction during a blind date with a sexy Yoga instructor in India
- funny mistranslations and an embarrassing medical emergency at a cooking school in Italy
- attending the fashion shows in Paris with Mom
- the writer's embarrassing mistranslation of her name in China (unrealized until after working there and using it for a year)
- attending the World Taxidermy Championships in Springfield, Illinois
- a homestay with a Gautemalan family
- locking the keys in the car WAY out in the Australian Outback
- a nude Valentine's Day event for newlyweds at a couples resort in Jamaica
- the adventures of a newbie triathlete in a Malibu competition
- the difficulties of riding a camel while wearing thong panties
- a coach class ticket that got the writer a private plane
- a frightening bus trip through a bandit-controlled region of India
- a close call with getting busted for an accidental and unwanted lump of hash in Germany

. . . and of course there is the usual component of toilet disasters. These seem to be mandatory for all books of travel humor. But you have to admit they're funny in a juvenile sort of way - and you also have to admit that they do give you important information about travel off the beaten path.

Oddly, some of the quotes have nothing whatsoever to do with travel. Often they're about marriage or men. They appear to be just filler. One would think that the editors could have taken the time to find some quotes about travel instead.

Also, a few of the stories and quotes are thoughtful and serious, and one essay reads like a steamy romance novel. Some of these are worthy efforts, but what are they doing in a book subtitled "Further Misadventures From Funny Women on the Road"?

But these are minor flaws in a highly entertaining read that is sure to whet your appetite for adventure.

(217 pages)

Quote from The Thong Also Rises:

". . . no matter how clueless I was, the people around me knew what they were doing. And no matter how mistrustful I was, they were willing to help me." - Megan Lyles

A humorous collection of travel tales by women writers I picked up because Laurie Notaro is included and I figured she would be among equal talent. She was not. Decent writing and a few chuckles, interesting tales of far off and not-so-far off travels. There's much better beach/summer chick lit out there (like any of Laurie Notaro's works). Grade: C