Rick B. (bup) - , reviewed on 5/29/2011 + 166 more book reviews

While the format of the book makes it hard to get into, when somebody ordered this from me I had only a few days to read it, and I got into it. It helped that the power has been out most of today.

It's really funny! There's lots of good absurdist humor with good improv-style justification, context and backstory that makes much of it seem almost believable. Yet stupidly funny.

Some of the best stuff is in the 55 dramatic situations (based on the 4 categories of stories many of us learned as students, but with 'a stranger comes to town' added on with 'a town springs up around a stranger,' and many of the 'man versus nature scenarios' laugh-out-loud funny - 'volcanoes come to town,' 'Saint Bernards arrive first as rescuers, but later reveal themselves to be evil captors.'

Another very strong part is the state trivia section (if Alaska were superimposed on the lower 48, it would stretch from Texas to Manhattan, and DESTROY ALL BENEATH IT).

Also, finally, I'm pretty sure the guy has read my mind. Or we have similar senses of humor.

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