Customer Reviews

Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid

5 star:		(103)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(41)

 

 

First off, this book is a riot from page one. I don't write reviews because I think everyone else out there does it better, but after reading the one star reviews on this book I had to chime in. Leary has a mean and angry style to his comedy. If you're easily offended, every other paragraph will get under your skin. This would not be the book for you. This would be a great book for anyone that does have a sense of humor and that can laugh at themselves without being offended.

The one star reviews annoy me. I like hard rock and to me, those reviews come off as being the same as if I wrote a one star review of the latest blue grass album because it's not what I like. It would be a waste of my time and the reader's time.

In the Prologue, Leary comes out saying that this is a comedy book. It is a parody, satire and poking fun. His exaggerated take on life. That's what all comedians do and Leary does it well. He also points out that there are endless things you can buy in America - but a sense of humor isn't one of them. Well put.

I received "Why We Suck" as a gift on the same day that shoppers killed a man trampling him while lined up for "Holiday Shopping" at Walmart and realized this is WHY WE SUCK.
Happily, the book is funny and fun to read.
Sadly, it is a true commentary about our lives.
From CelebuTards to Dr Full to Mr Leary's idea of justice for Michael Vick, the book is astounding in it's genuine insights into WHY WE TRULY SUCK. Mr. Leary is a man with his eyes open and a mind that has not been brainwashed by the spin doctors and Dr Fulls of this world.
If you read one book this year, Why We Suck should be the one.

Hilarious. The kind of biting comedy that could only come from Denis Leary. The book tackles some of the most absurd things about our culture in a very funny and un-PC way. I would definitely recommend this book.

"Dr." Denis Leary explains it all --- literally. (Leary earned an honorary doctorate in 2005 from his alma mater, Emerson College, and he intends to use it.) For the Boston-bred comedian, there are no sacred cows, no taboos, no subjects off limits --- the Catholic Church, celebrities, politicians, even his Irish lineage. No one is safe from ridicule, and when Leary takes aim with his razor-sharp wit, he takes no prisoners.

When first published in November, WHY WE SUCK and its author courted controversy concerning his statements on afflictions like childhood autism, especially when he says: "There is a huge boom in autism right now because inattentive mothers and competitive dads want an explanation for why their dumbass kids can't compete academically so they throw money into the happy laps of shrinks and psychotherapists to get back diagnoses that help explain away the deficiencies of their junior morons. I don't give a **** what these crackerjack whackjobs tell you --- your kid is NOT autistic. He's just stupid. Or lazy. Or both."

This hardly seems like the diagnosis of a doctor, but as Leary clearly states in his lengthy prologue, "This is a comedy book. Which means it's meant to be funny. So when I say something in here I am offering up my opinion, my slightly exaggerated take on people, places and things and very often a twisted take on reality. In other words: it is parody, satire and poking fun." So I guess the offended parties skipped right over the prologue to get to the offending chapter.

Leary has been a comedian/actor for over 20 years. He created and stars in the popular F/X series "Rescue Me," which is about to begin its fifth season. But even in his earliest stand-up days, he wasn't a stranger to controversy. His first comedy special, "No Cure for Cancer," and his quick MTV commercial spots touting his love of supermodel Cindy Crawford launched him into Hollywood, with more specials ("Lock 'N Load") and even movies (The Ref, Wag the Dog). But now he's in charge of his own show, and we get the feeling that's just the way he likes it.

WHY WE SUCK reflects his own sardonic and incensed viewpoint on America's celebrity-obsessed culture and why people like Anna Nicole Smith should serve as a cautionary tale ("...she serves up a great argument against taking strippers out of the strip club....it's like taking King Kong off the jungle island and dropping him into the middle of midtown Manhattan --- nothing good can come from it."). He also rails against President Bush, whom he refers to as "Bush Jr." and advocates taking bratty teens who appear on the show "My Super Sweet 16" and dropping them chuteless into Iraq. Sure, he exaggerates and embellishes a bit, but some of his points make sense. No wonder our reputation has been less than sterling in the global arena. We live in a culture where a person will sue McDonald's if they get fat from eating their grease-laden food. What really irks Leary is that the notion of personal responsibility is completely forgotten in our modern-day, Wii-obsessed world. And you know what? He's right.

Fans of Leary will devour this book and appreciate his humor. It's not for the faint of heart or humor-impaired. The real surprise here is the touching relationship he shares with his mother. He describes her as "Mary Tyler Moore, Mother Teresa and Joe Pesci in a blender and set it on high..." Their conversations back and forth provide this work with a surprising amount of heart. Maybe it's because I grew up in an Irish Catholic household quite similar to Leary's, but these sweet exchanges with his mother, peppered with reports of who died and who has cancer, read like a chapter out of my own family's book. After finishing WHY WE SUCK, I related some of the best bits to my father over the phone. "I'd like to read that. Send it to me when you're done." Of course, I warned him about the language.

--- Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller

This book delivers as promised. It finds a way to offend everybody and every imaginable grouping of everybodys.

But it does so in a nice, mostly entertaining way. It makes us laugh---at ourselves and at others.

And isn't that what the old TV show, "All In The Family" did? Offended nearly everyone and made us find a way to laugh at ourselves? And, doing so, find some measure of common ground?

That's what this book does: Meathead meets Archie Bunker in one long rant, 240 pages worth, guaranteed to make you laugh, make you smile and, a times think, "Oooh, Don't believe I'da said that..."

There's something here for everybody

As a lifelong Leary-fan I had to read this book. It is generally as good as i hoped, but some chapters/passages resembles a transcript of a stand-up show, which should have been avoided.
I seriously believe that doctor leary is on to a good thing with this book, and I do not envy those poor schmucks who are provoked by this book, because they have missed out on most of whats true and real in life.

I belive a lot in this book can be summed up like this:
"Do not make life into something more complicated than it is..."

From Loren Keim, author of How to Sell Your Home in Any Market: 6 Reasons Why Your Home Isn't Selling... and What You Can Do to Fix Them:

I never realized how fat, loud, lazy and stupid I was until I read this book (just kidding). If you can laugh at yourself and not be easily offended, this book is hysterical. If you take yourself too seriously, you will hate it.

Leary takes an extreme view of life and exaggerates to both make a point and make it funny. It is a bit of dark humor, but it is funny - page after page. I recommend it!

I work three jobs.
I need to laugh on a regular basis.
When I saw the segment on MSNBC featuring Mr. Leary (of whom I was familiar, but not an over-zealous fan) selling this book, I thought "Maybe I'll buy it."
I watched the segment some more and this poor journalist lady was ducking her head under the desk because she was laughing so hard at the excerpts she was browsing thru. "I'm definantly getting this book!", I thought. TV journalists don't mess up their makeup on camera for just anything.
So I strolled thru Amazon, found the book and it was here in just a few days.
It's hard to make someone laugh out loud thru print, but Denis Leary does it! It's funny, it's smart and it's THE TRUTH!
Buy this book.

Sometimes spoken comedy works on the written page and sometimes it doesn't. This one mostly doesn't.
While I love hearing Denis Learys rants on the talk show circuit and am a fan of his show Rescue Me, this book comes off as flat and sometimes juvenile. There are too many obvious, easy targets that have been done over and over, like Starbucks and Oprah.
To really appreciate the humor (and the stinging truths behind the jokes) its better to hear it live.

One of the first things Leary will tell you when you open this book is that he will end up pissing you off. No matter your background, your gender, your age, he will manage to anger you some way or another.

Saying that, I admit there were moments where I found myself disagreeing with Leary, mostly on the stereotypes of men and women, though I only disagreed a little, and I only disagreed when it came to the behavior of my husband and myself. Most other men and women do often fit into the stereotypes, but even then you have to keep in mind that at times Leary is intentionally exaggerating.

His style of writing is very personal, do not go nitpicking at grammatical errors or at lazy word choices, because again, it's intentional. If you can't help nitpicking, then don't read the book.

Overall the book is very funny and very interesting. Hopefully, one might make a mental note of self-improvement if they find that they make some of the mistakes that Leary points out here. The ones that particularly stick to me are his rants on raising children and being politically correct. If you can stand brutal honesty, go ahead and read this book, if you can't stand it at all, run as far from it as possible, although I don't think running will be of much use in the real world.