The Most Hilarious Book I've Ever Read!
Rating:
5 / 5
this book is great! i found it when i was walking through the aisles at barnes and noble. i read the first few pages in the store and was hooked. i bought it, read it, and laughed. i had people in class stare at me because i was laughing so much. it was hard to contain my laughter. they probably thought i was insane or something. i let them read a part i considered funny and then they would be laughing as hard and as much as i was. that's how hysterical this book is. if you're into comedies, this book is for you.
A great read that will have you laughing out loud
Rating:
4 / 5
The past few months have been terrible for James Zoole. His apartment's been robbed twice. His best friend Pete passed away. He was laid off from the play in which he had a lead role (and rehersals hadn't even started). His girlfriend Kate dumps him on New Year's Eve. And, Bobby Seale, his cat, died. What a way to bring in the new year!Feeling angry and sad, Jimmy decides to hole up in his apartment and to not answer the phone, knowing that if he'd been robbed twice, the burglar was sure to come back again. Enter Vito Antenucci, a bisexual burglar who returns for a third robbery. They struggle, and Jimmy knocks Vito out, then ties him to the kitchen counter. Throughout this New Year's Eve together, Jimmy discovers what he's been avoiding in his life and begins to understand that he and Vito aren't that different from each other in what they want from life. To Jimmy's surprise, he begins to find friendship with his captive. A few unexpected interruptions from people in Jimmy's life help to liven up this dark comedy from one of the writers of "A Chrous Line." It's full of strong characters, even those with only minor roles such as Jimmy's Aunt claire, a rich spinster who sublty tries to control Jimmy's life, and Crazy Carmine, a drugged-out sex fanatic who's been trying to get into Jimmy's pants for years. It's the developing friendship between Jimmy and Vito that drives this story, though. I wanted them to get together at the end, either as friends or lovers, it didn't matter. I laughed out loud while reading some of the passages. Though it was written in the 1970's, the humor is defintiely NOT dated. If you're looking for some light, fun reading, then this is the perfect book for you.
Pretty dated by current standards
Rating:
3 / 5
I'm reading other customer reviews - "The best book I've ever read" and "My favorite book of all time." Still others have wildly praised the novel's comedic elements. Hmmmmmmm. I didn't get it. I felt that the basic plot premise was rather tragic. Sure it had a "happy" ending and there were a number of funny quips. However, this book is not "a laugh riot" - I never had one burst of uncontrolled laughter (as I have many times when reading books by Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris and Dan Savage). I felt that the characters were contrived and the situation seemed forced. The physical writing is rather simplistic - there are no flurishes of great prose styling. The tough guy is gay and the artistic guy is straight. Alright, I can accept that. Why then does the author burden the straight guy with numerous gay stereo types like cleaning his apartment while listening to his original cast album of "Candide?" "Me thinks the lady duth protest too much." Alright, straight guys can love musicals too. All I'm saying is that it just didn't ring true for me. I wanted to laugh a lot more. I didn't hate this novel, but I didn't love it either. I expected more based on the reviews of other readers. Oh, well.
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