Oh, the Things I Know! by Al Franken
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Book Reviews of Oh, the Things I Know!
Book Review: occasionally funny, and often tasteless
Summary: 2 Stars
Having recently read a very strange conversation between Franken and journalist Bernard Goldberg (in Goldberg's book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America," I read this book, trying to understand Al Franken's humor style. I don't care about his political activities, but I basically wanted to know if he's funny, and if so, why.
The book is occasionally funny at best, and often tasteless. There are no belly laughs here, but quite a few chuckles, and some serious giggles in Chapter 26, which contains a list of diseases caused by certain people or things as you get older. (No spoilers here.)
His jokes are is often tasteless, and occasionally, utterly disgusting for no good reason. There are occasional jokes on [...:], which were all completely unfunny; one really stupid joke in Chapter 26 about a man with an extra male organ growing out of his forehead, and frequent gratuitous profanity and obscenity. (The only one of those in the entire book that made me laugh was: "'But I don't have enough time to give to my own kids, much less someone else,' they might say. Well, numbnuts, have you ever thought of giving something back with *your* children?") This is entirely an adult humor book; I wouldn't expect a kid to read it, but if you see one pick it randomly off a shelf and open it, don't let them keep reading it.
This book suggested to me that Al Franken is a mildly amusing second-rate comedian who wouldn't be so popular if not for his political activities. He can't resist injecting a *little* politics into this book, but generally, he does a good job of keeping it apolitical, so if you're either annoyed by political tangents or don't share Franken's ideology, Oh, The Things I Know won't annoy you much.
Book Review: Not Standard Franken
Summary: 2 Stars
I think fans of Franken's political satire books will find this book a sad change of pace. While certainly not the worst book of the year and even funny in some places, Franken's trademark bite is curiously lacking. Perhaps one of the strangest things Franken tries to do several times throughout the book is to change pace abruptly from comedy to serious advice. It does not work well, and is almost a pardoy of itself in that sense. Although the sections on marriage are often well-written and humorous, Franken partisans should know they aren't getting Al at his best here. True fans won't mind, but the casual reader will want to wait for another book in the political medium Franken seems to save the best of his talent for.
Book Review: Oh, How This Book Doesn't Work for Its Market
Summary: 2 Stars
If you can endure Franken's cycle of hilarious writing to crap to writing about how crappy it is before finally getting back to the good stuff, go for it.
"Oh, the Things I Know" takes great pains to steer clear of incindiary comments so that lots and lots of people who don't know a college graduate well enough to get them something they really want will buy this book as a graduation gift.
Unfortunately for Franken, he's playing to the right audience - the over 35 buyer of the gift for a college graduate - who will likely flip through a few pages and chuckle before setting it back down. Because the book isn't comforting, uplifting or even really that funny for the market.
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Book Review: So Sad...
Summary: 2 Stars
When I reviewed Franken's "Why Not Me?" I explained that I had read it because I loved "Rush Limbaugh is a Big..." but "Why Not Me?" had fallen short of my high expectations. THIS book was even MORE disappointing. The subject matter is worn and the material is not that creative, and sadly, just not that funny. Honestly, I WANTED to laugh- I LIKE Al Franken, but this book just feels forced, the kind of thing that's churned out just to meet a publisher's deadline and get Franken's face back to the front of book racks (Pre- "Lies..." of course). It's worth reading if you are stuck on an airplane, or an elevator, or something. Otherwise, pick something else by Franken. ANYTHING else by Franken.Book Review: Pure Disappointment
Summary: 2 Stars
After reading Al's book on Rush I was ready to read anything Al Franken wrote. Wow, was that a mistake. Oh the things i know! makes me think Al wrote the book in his sleep. Not only is it not funny, it's not clever either. Al fills his book with bad advice and tries to pass it off as him being humorous. Sure, there's the occasional funny part- the politics chapter- the religion chapter- but overall this Al book is simply dumb and unhumorous. It is a shame Al used his big name to get away with publishing such crap.