Rating: 
Summary: misleading but funny!!
Review: If your're buying this book as a guideline for combining Godly principles with those of money management, put it back on the shelf. The inside cover synopsis of the book is misleading in that sense. Otherwise, as a work of fiction, it is funny and entertaining
Rating: 
Summary: satirical & hilarious
Review: This book had me laughing at every other turn of the page. The way the authors combined the themes of spirituality and greed is timely, but extremely funny. The character of the abbott is particularly crass, hypocritical--the funniest one of them all!
Rating: 
Summary: This is perhaps one of the funiest books I have ever read.
Review: This is about a stock broker who can't seem to pick a winner; and at the same time drinks way too much. After drinking what is the worst wine in the world; he decides he has to sober up. His friend the bar owner sends him to a retreat house where they make this awful wine. The brothers have sold everything they own including the floors to keep up their meager life style. They are really at the bottom when the head monk decides to raise money in any devious way he can think of after reading several success books. Trouble comes when the IRS and the ATF investigate.
Rating:
Summary: It is real in life
Review: I began reading it two days ago. I did not regreat having passed such an order. The story runs through smoothly yet I think it is the real, I mean the essential feelings, life inside the Church. I think this book reveals what kind of world we are living in. Monastery, Church, Political Socieities, all are are on the same logic of existence.
Rating:
Summary: Comedy that doesn't let up!
Review: John Tierney and Chris Buckley combine satire and sophistication in a comedy that doesn't let up. Even better, the humor never interrupts the onrushing get-rich-quick story which keeps us hoping for the impossible. You don't have to be a reader of self-help books to find your quality of life immeasureably improved by the pleasure of this story.
Rating: 
Summary: SAVE YOUR MONEY!!!
Review: A clever satire of self-help pop-culture, perhaps... But if you pick up this book thinking it's really about a monk who gets stock tips from God, then get ready to feel like a sucker! Shortly into the book, you'll realize you're being scammed, and you will feel full-on humiliation by the time you reach Law #7.5. The point is, if you like Buckley, you may like this; but if you accidentally pick it up thinking it's really a guide to combined financial and spiritual success, you're in for a rude awakening!
Rating:
Summary: Heavenly Hilarity Hits Home
Review: The audio version of this book delighted me tremendously. I found myself laughing out loud. Not only is the story a funny satire on the state of the art in self-help but on the ancient forms of "holy" self help, with a little divine intervention, as well. Perhaps my Catholic past and familiarity with those who serve added a solid base for appreciating the humor, satire and fun of the work. Two colleagues thoroughly enjoyed the audio version. One felt a bit grief-struck when the tapes came to an end; the other said he laughed and laughed and found the whole story delightful.
Rating:
Summary: A Robust Bouquet With No Succulent Aftertaste
Review: I enjoyed this book. But I have seen better (and much worst) satires of self-help and of American values. This book lacks the mordancy and scathing hilarity of THANK YOU FOR SMOKING; I enjoyed it, had a few good laughs, but would not buy it for friends or recommend it. Satire it is, and good satire, but much much closer to such "non-books" as 10001 Uses for a Dead Cat, or THE RULES OF DUCT TAPE, than to the best satiric books which earn a permanent place on our book-shelves. This vintage, finally, is too light and frothy and a little "too" easy. I missed the mad brilliance I have seen in Buckley's other books and think that perhaps I would have rated this book higher if the author's other work had not given me such gleeful expectations.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful send-up of the whole self-help genre
Review: When I first saw this book displayed, my interest was piqued - it is highly unusual for a true Christian monk to be engaging in the whole business of financial advice, yet given the slew of books from the Chopras, Beardstown ladies, and other unlikely characters in the market today, I wasn't totally surprised. I bought it without my usual survey, and set down to reading it. It was apparent that after the first couple of chapters that this was fiction, and that Brother Ty was not who he says he is. I suspect that if he is that oxymoronic combination, a "monk-tycoon", if indeed he really exists at all, his collaboration with Buckly and Tierney is in the spirit of Anonymous and "Primary Colors". Yet, sadly, I saw elements of the truth in this whole novel - it takes very little to derail ones spiritual journey given the overwhelming temptations of the marketplace, and there are quite a few examples (too many) of this even in the religious community, although not often as egregious as the events in this book. God help us if this isn't fiction. I truly struggled in the first couple of chapters in trying to determine whether this was a true story or fiction, as the authors masterfully build farce upon farce, skewering everything and everyone (a la Monty Python's "Life of Brian") until the final chapter, when the one all important truth is revealed - you can only get rich from a self-help book by writing one. Maybe "Brother Ty" can be coaxed into a sequel on a related topic, or an entirely different one.
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: I was a huge fan of Thank You For Smoking. Bought it several times for friends. This was dull and plodding.
|
