Rating: 
Summary: Pure genius
Review: Absolutely hilarious...Read it alone because you'll embarass yourself laughing outloud.
Rating:
Summary: A searing documentary (or, maybe, lightly braised)
Review: As anyone who has seen the TV series 'Strangers with Candy' will know, the people responsible for it are certifiably insane. Who better, then, to write this searing oral history of a town FULL of certifiably insane people? Oh, sure, you may find yourself, not sympathizing, but, laughing hysterically on every page. But, ask yourself, what does that say about you? Also recommended: Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Motorcycle Maintenance and the Art of Origami. How to Drive an unmaintained Motorcycle
Rating: 
Summary: They phoned this in. Dreadful. Self-indulgent.
Review: Excellent, dead-on, I'm convinced Wigfield is in Florida somewhere. You'll get your money's worth buying it for the characters' photographs alone, they're true works of art.
Rating:
Summary: Even if you hate reading, buy it for the pictures!
Review: Excellent, dead-on, I'm convinced Wigfield is in Florida somewhere. You'll get your money's worth buying it for the characters' photographs alone, they're true works of art.
Rating:
Summary: sophomoric
Review: Funny people have it bad. When they're actually making you laugh they're fine. When they're failing to make you laugh they come off as desperate, flailing nerds. I was a huge fan of Stranger with Candy whose writing was incisive and brutally funny. Less so with the Book of Liz, and even less so with this book. Sedaris, Colbert & Dinello are funny people but this is an embarassment. It's abundantly clear now that they require a format (ripe for a send-up) to shine. Was there a 2nd draft or was this a cash-in for their agents? Every joke in this nervous-to-please dud is a throwaway. A tiresome type of joke starts on page 1. By page 2 you've detected the formula and by page 3 it's just grating. The plot is the flimsiest possible structure three smart asses can bounce bad puns & jokes off of. It quickly collapses. I could not complete it but I suspect the book ends up being lightweight crap. When you commit to nothing but your own funniness you never get around to questions of merit. This is a desperately nerdy book, just as the posed "funny" pictures suggest. (I've never seen less funny pictures...) Who was the intended audience for this? The dumbest person I know has a more sophisticated funny bone than this.
There's wit and then there's corn. This is a whole crop of the latter. Leave time for your own groaning if you plan to read the whole thing.
Rating: 
Summary: Let-down.
Review: I am a huge fan of Stephen Colbert's work on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as well as "Strangers with Candy". I am also a huge fan of the author David Sedaris, who is the brother of Amy. I really wanted to check out this book and what i found was pure disappointment. the book lacks so many things, i dont know where to start, but a few parts of the book are humorous. I know for a fact that if Stephen Colbert wrote his own book it would be funny. Maybe Amy should leave the writing to her brother though.
Rating:
Summary: Let-down.
Review: I am a huge fan of Stephen Colbert's work on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as well as "Strangers with Candy". I am also a huge fan of the author David Sedaris, who is the brother of Amy. I really wanted to check out this book and what i found was pure disappointment. the book lacks so many things, i dont know where to start, but a few parts of the book are humorous. I know for a fact that if Stephen Colbert wrote his own book it would be funny. Maybe Amy should leave the writing to her brother though.
Rating:
Summary: The wrong medium for a funny idea
Review: I am a huge fan of Stephen Colbert, but I feel that the authors should have turned this into a movie or a miniseries rather than a book. The jokes that are funny are great, but as a novel, it is very repetitive and downright tiring to read. It has very few cohesive moments, and most of the novel is a string of interviews with people whom the reader cares very little about. They are just vessels for more jokes, which are sometimes funny, but usually not. If you're looking for a funny NOVEL, don't read this book. If you are looking for a book that reads like a TV show, this might be the yarn for you.
Rating:
Summary: Wigfield: The Can-Do Town
Review: I don't know what other world these other reviewers are from but I found this book to be a great extention of " Strangers With Candy". The fact that Amy, Steven and Paul all contributed to the writing of Candy is apparent in these characters in the book. I feel I can tell who wrote what just by comparing the dialoge from Candy to the narrative in the book.
This is a fast read (I did it in one laugh filled afternoon), this stuff is witty and never boring.
I'm guessing the other reviewers must be waiting for the Cliff Notes version. This book is fun and a great companion to the Strangers With Candy dvd.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Stuff
Review: I don't see why so many people are down on this book, especially when people bought it because they're Stephen Colbert fans. It's a great book! If you read it too fast, however, you miss the subtle wordplay that makes it so funny. It helps to only read small sections at a time, or else you will start glancing past the humorous things without thinking. The best parts of the book are the extended metaphors, where the main character will compare his experiences to, say, that of a child drowning in a frozen lake; he'll continue the comparison for half a page while the link gets more and more absurd. Sometimes the book seems a bit thin, but the characters are just as shallow morally as they are textually. Check it out.
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