By Dave BarryPutnam
One of the back cover blurbs on my copy of I'll Mature When I'm Dead states that Dave Barry is "The funniest man in America." Now, I am not quite sure I agree with that, although Barry is quite hilarious. There is no overarching plot to his new book, and I don't think each piece is considered a short story. I guess one could call this book episodic. There were pieces that had me running to show everyone around me, and pieces that have already been overdone by other comedians.
The subjects of Barry's essays run the gamut from raising a dog to the marriage of one's child to a parody of Twilight. Some of the subjects I had an easy time relating to—such as the dog essay and the Twilight parody—but the others, not so much since I'm unmarried and lack children. However, I don't think you need to connect with each story to enjoy this book.
I found I'll Mature When I'm Dead to be an incredibly fast read and a good transition for going back to reading adult books. I say this because 90% of my reading has been YA lately, so adult books are quite a change of pace. I would say this book read as fast for me as Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.
Now, what hindered me from loving this book was the section where "a man answers a woman's questions." Basically, it was cliche after cliche after cliche. Perhaps I am a humorless feminist, but I don't really find repeating tired old stereotypes all that funny. Ha ha, women have emotions and talk a lot. Ha ha, men hate listening. Tee-hee, men only listen to you talk so they can figure out how to get in your pants. The intro to the book said to take what was written with a grain of salt, but this really rubbed me the wrong way. The book was full of laugh-out-loud moments with the exception of this section.
However, the good parts of this book outweighed the one that is bad. I am not in the Twilight fan club, so I totally found his riff of the series to be spot on. The characters' names are changed, and it takes place through Bella's point of view; he states that all these males are attracted to her for absolutely no reason, and that she has to make every situation about herself. The Jonas Brothers and Zac Efron make a cameo. It is great. If you have no inclination to read the entire book, at least read that one chapter.
Review by April Conant
Cross-posted from Good Books & Good Wine
