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Momus' book is funny sometimes laugh-out loud, sometimes wincingly and the humor is delivered in Joycean puns, dry British parody and spoof...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The punchline knocked me out,
By
This review is from: Book of Jokes, The (British Literature) (Paperback)
A joke is a tiny machine made of words, and these machines can humiliate and violate. Indeed, in this book, they can mutilate and kill. The characters in Momus's first novel helplessly live through joke after joke. They know exactly what will come next, yet are unable to escape the rat-trap logic of the joke's construction.This is not a conventional novel. It doesn't sit on an existing shelf, in an existing genre. Better - more accurate - to say it forms a triangle with Jean Cocteau's Les Enfants Terribles and Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye. And this is not a conventional five star review. I took away a star for the extreme coldness of the book. I took away another star for its relentlessness. And then I added two stars, for the extreme bravery of the book. Much of which is to do with how cold and relentless it is. The chances are high you will hate it. I enjoyed Momus's The Book of Jokes. It gave me moments of great unease, as I assume he intended, but I thought that the ending was beautifully done. A meta-punchline to the book's sophisticated, ironic jokes about crude, unironic jokes about murder, bestiality and incest, it was quite a thump to the heart. The mask of irony falls to the ground at the last possible second, and reveals faces wet with real tears. I'm still thinking about it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Dirty Book,
By Keith Otis Edwards "Keith Otis Edwards" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Book of Jokes, The (British Literature) (Paperback)
Somewhat reminiscent of the plays of Eugène Ionesco, in "The Book of Jokes" we follow Sebastian Skeleton's prison diary which is based on several old dirty jokes. I had to strain to remember them, but perhaps these were false memories planted in me by the book.The Murderer and the Child Molester, like a sinister Vladimir and Estragon, are waiting for the punchline, so Sebastian must keep dragging the jokes out like some old Shaggy Dog story. Read this book for an unpleasant time. 3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended to those who have an appreciation for nasty humor,
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Book of Jokes, The (British Literature) (Paperback)
The lives of some aren't governed by logic. They're governed by something far worse. "The Book of Jokes" is a humorous adventure following one Sebastian Skeleton. Murderers and child molesters are his constant companions in his macabre and bizarrely brutal life. Sex crimes of all types appear in this a wickedly dark novel from an offbeat (unhinged?) mind. "The Book of Jokes" is something that has to be read to be understood and is recommended to those who have an appreciation for nasty humor.
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