You Can Date Boys When You're Forty: Dave Barry on Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00IGFKZBA | Format: EPUB
You Can Date Boys When You're Forty: Dave Barry on Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About Description
A brilliantly funny exploration of the twin mysteries of parenthood and families from the Pulitzer Prize winner and The New York Times best-selling author of Insane City.
In uproarious, brand-new pieces, Barry tackles everything from family trips, bat mitzvah parties and dating (he?s serious about that title: ?When my daughter can legally commence dating - February 24, 2040 - I intend to monitor her closely, even if I am deceased?) to funeral instructions (?I would like my eulogy to be given by William Shatner?), the differences between male and female friendships, the deeper meaning of Fifty Shades of Grey, and a father?s ultimate sacrifice: accompanying his daughter to a Justin Bieber concert (?It turns out that the noise teenaged girls make to express happiness is the same noise they would make if their feet were being gnawed off by badgers.")
Let?s face it: families not only enrich our lives every day, they drive us completely around the bend. Thank goodness we have Dave Barry as our guide!
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 3 hours and 22 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Penguin Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: March 4, 2014
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00IGFKZBA
Being a long-time Dave Barry reader (along with Mike Royko and the other "old school" humor set for years), I enjoyed this book.
It is straightforward, like his other humor books, "The Taming of the Screw," "I'll Mature When I'm Dead," etc. The general subject matter is "getting older." While there were not any fart or booger jokes that I can recall, there was a long section on the nationwide epidemic of "noodle d**k," 50 Shades of Grey, musing about turning 65, and Justin Bieber/One Direction. It made me laugh out loud at least three times, AND I was reading this at the same time that I had the flu, i.e., feeling miserable. No mean feat!
While the majority of the best essays are stacked up front, this is still a book to read. Dave Barry is a master of situational comedy, he does it in print, and he's been doing it for years. Buy it.
By Jessica in NE
Dave Barry has been writing humorous essays for decades and has polished his skills to the point that he can effortlessly skewer just about any cultural trend he cares to. Though the title of this collection suggests that it will be about parenting, it isn't really. Only one of the nine essays touches on the subject (and even that one is devoted mostly to making fun of Justin Bieber). The longest essay in the collection is about a trip to Israel. But the collection needed a title, and I suspect his publishers felt that a "parenting" collection would sell best, so here it is.
Barry is in good form here; I chuckled out loud many times when reading this book, starting in the introduction. Barry has always been self-deprecating, and it's often funny, and it works well here. It's especially good when he can simultaneously make fun of himself for being a wimp, for example, while mocking those who behave differently for being foolhardy (see his discussion of young men shooting bottle rockets out of their derrières, for example).
The book is best when Barry makes fun of things he hasn't mocked before — Justin Bieber, Fifty Shades of Gray, Viagra commercials. It's weakest when he uses the same techniques to tread over ground he has visited before, like trying to help his daughter with her homework, or when he makes fun of his wife for shopping too much. He returns to that last trope repeatedly, and it seems chauvinistic and kind of mean.
On balance, this is another excellent collection from an author who has hit his stride. Not a long collection; I read it in about two hours. It would be a good gift for most grownups, especially fathers.
By Neurasthenic
TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE VOICE
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