Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Date Published: 1996-05
ISBN-13:9780374130336ISBN:0374130337
Description: Good. A former library book in protective mylar cover with the usual library markings. No writing or highlighting noted inside. Good Binding. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780312420581ISBN:0312420587
Description: Good. Good: A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels. About Austin eBooks Austin eBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service! We add inventory to our store daily, and guarantee order processing and shipment ... read more
Description: Good. Light shelving wear with minimal damage to cover and bindings. Pages show minor use. Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse! read more
Description: Very good. Appearance of only slight previous use. Cover and binding show a little wear. All pages are undamaged with potentially only a few, small markings. Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse! read more
"This was funny, but the real gem of the book is the legal brief "Coyote v. Acme", Wyle E's lawsuit against the company that provided all those faulty roadrunner traps..."
"Though praised as one of the forerunners in American humor writing, Ian Frazier fails to deliver any laughs outside of pity or nostalgia for shoddy, safe witticisms.
In concept, Ian Frazier's 1997 book Coyote V. Acme (Picador, ISBN: 0312420587) should turn out great: twenty-two essay/short-story hybrids, each satirizing a different topic in American culture from a different point-of-view. However, in execution, Frazier falls between otiose wit and contrived, trying-too-hard absurdity.
The First Essay Gives Way to Much Weaker Writing
First essay "The Last Segment" depicts the unity that The Mary Tyler Moore Show brought to the world, almost convincing the reader that a balance was thrown off upon the cancellation of the series. The writing is pretty good, too: informal, yet, poetic, with a prose-poem that could stand alone thrown in the middle for good measure. This essay was written closer to Frazier's true thoughts as a humorist, pop-culturist, and literary scholar.
With the next essays came the bad humor that could be (and is) found in freshman creative writing workshops and/or Dave Barry books: dumb, knee-slapping groaners that appeal to middle-aged housewives, clever kids with nothing to say, and old men who are pragmatically tactful and ignorant as to how what's funny has changed since their glory days. This sort of "nyuk nyuk" tripe ruins almost the entire book, and only parts of essays even come close to resembling interesting as one reads beyond "The Last Segment."
Frazier and Pop-Culture
Frazier appears to be knowledgeable when he touches upon pop-culture topics, but his end effect is uneventful. "Coyote v. Acme" is as predictable as one would think it is. "Bowell's Life of Don Johnson" could have been extremely funny if it had forgone the broader appeal of trying to portray someone talking about "his buddy" Don Johnson as this everyday guy and made some cracks geared towards Miami Vice and Johnson's failed music career. It's not shop talk: it's playing to a specific audience.
"Thanks For the Memory" follows Bob Hope's elaborate and fabricated golfing career with the sort of fair-natured ribbing that tries so hard to nail an edgy-yet-tasteful type of humor that it ends up coming off as safe as a glass of water and a slice of bread. Leno wouldn't touch this one. Besides, the two contradicting stories from two different biographies as told by the same Bob Hope are funny enough. The pages that follow stomp all over the joke.
The Infamous Line
After standing on his soapbox and waxing heavy-handedly about humor ("Stalin's Chuckle"), New York ("Making 'Movies' In New York"), and tax forms ("Line 46a"), Frazier ends all of his preachy pieces with pseudo-asides that sound like answers to questions nobody asked. "Brandy By Firelight," "Child of War," and "The Afternoon of June 8, 1991" are gimmick stories whose only redeeming quality is that they're short and able to be skipped with no fear of missing a big payoff at the end. With the exception of "The Last Segment," that statement is representative of the entire collection.
Frazier walks that fine line between genius and stupid, and he walks it very poorly. His randomness is artificial, the interaction between his characters is stock and overwrought with predictable retorts, and - perhaps worst of all - his wit is sharp but pointed at nothing."
"What if Wile E. Coyote sued Acme? What if someone wrote a play entirely about inanimate objects and intangible ideas? What if someone wrote a terribly unfunny book about random premises?"
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