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Tag Archives: humour

Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny

17 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by Annette in review

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contemporary fiction, fiction, humour

cover75774-smallI read A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart earlier this year. It was OK, but I wasn’t in love with the character of the father and found him to be selfish and needing to grow up more than his son. Standard Deviation’s viewpoint character is a father with a son with autism and a more likeable and caring father you’d be hard pushed to find.

Graham is married to his second wife, Audra, a woman to whom saying good morning is likely to get you an invite to dinner and an active interest in your affairs. She has an almost childlike quality to her, saying what she things, seeing everyone as a potential friend. Together, Audra and Graham discover their son has an interest in origami and take him to a weekly origami club where he makes friends for the first time in his life. The fact that these friends are all adult matters not to Matthew and his parents see the same characteristics in these grown ups as in their son. They are outsiders, innocents, and utterly obsessed with folding bits of paper.

When Graham’s first wife Elizabeth re-enters his life, things start to get complicated and Audra, who couldn’t be more different from Elizabeth, tries to make her a part of their family.

That, really, is all that happens in this wonderful, funny book. Rather than relying on a fast driven plot, Ms. Heiny gives us an affectionate character study which details the small changes that can happen in anyone’s life.

I loved all the characters. The author always stayed on the right side of caricature while creating characters that are so much larger than life. The sensible Graham grounds the others, rooting them all to reality, and making them totally believable.

This is a lovely, funny book that left me smiling. Recommended.

Facial by Jeff Strand

28 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by Annette in review

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horror, humour

cover54751-smallI’m a fan of Dark Fuse novellas. Almost every one I’ve read has been well written and enjoyable and Facial by Jeff Strand is no exception. Although I very nearly put it down after just a few pages…

To call the plot of this book bizarre is to do it a great injustice. It is totally nutty bonkers but in such an entertaining way that I read it all in one (late night) sitting.

I really don’t want to give anything away – discovering the madness is all part of the fun – but it involves brothers, a cheating wife, murder and a few heads. Oh, and not forgetting the decomposing lion. Look, it’s not a long story but it is fun and well worth the price.

Recommended.

poodles4

The Shape of Shit To Come

19 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by Annette in review

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Tags

humour, non-fiction

Humour books are a bit of a hit or miss with me. Take the humour of Pratchett. Can’t stand it. Far too self congratulatory and knowing. But I thought I’d give this book a try because I was feeling pretty fed up and needed a good laugh. Did I get one? Well…

The book is fairly depressing in its take on what we as a species have done to our planet. There is a lot of humour there and there were many places where I smiled wryly. No belly laughs though.

If you liked “Is it Just Me or is Everything Shit?” you’ll love this. It just didn’t hit my funny bone.

poodles33 poodles

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