Dave Barry Turns 50

Rating:
Summary: Smiles, not laughs
Review: This book consisted of three different parts, stapled together. First we have Dave's reflections on turning 50, which are, frankly, a little morbid and not that funny. (Some of these appear at the beginning and some at the end of the book). Then we have the "year-by-year" review of his life and the world around him starting from his birth (1947) to 1974 when he more or less lost interest. Problem here is that some fairly awful things happened in those years and he knows he can't make jokes about them, so he mixes his humor with moral righteousness so that you know the HE was against the war (although he doesn't seem to have done much about it except get CO status for which it's fairly clear he didn't really qualify). The juxtaposition of jokes with the tone of moral outrage doesn't go that well. And finally he has a few very funny, typically Barry, obviously stand-alone type pieces on things like how to get your kid into college. But here's what I really want to know --- I only have a few Barry books but they all mention his wife, Beth. Now his wife, as per the dedication, appears to be "Michelle" and seems to be a lot younger than he is. Did Dave make a mid-life switch? And how can he poke fun at all the other late-middle-aged peccadillos and not mention this most-stereotyped one of his own?

Rating:
Summary: Not Dave's funniest book,
Review: This is not Dave's funniest book, nor even his best-written. But it's still very funny, and still worth reading. It has a section that involves reminiscences of the "formative" boomer years from 1947-1974, plus various ruminations on getting older, and is well worth reading when you want a few chuckles.