The F Word: How to Survive Your Family

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Summary: The F Word: How to Survive Your Family
Review: "The F Word" is a hilarious look at family life. A great follow up to "Dear Dad." Louie's insights and humor are as sharp and entertaining as ever.

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Summary: One Great Book!
Review: I found this book to be a very good positive approach to handling family problems. Louie emphasizes being tolerant of family members and not being mean. I've used this technique quite often and found it to be more successful than being rude and mean. I've always had the ability to see humor in the worst situation, infact I laugh quite a bit at my family dilemma, even though it's really not that funny. I remember times when others have said, "you think everything is funny," I responded, "no not really, but it's better than the negative alternative, which is right out anger and hostility. Anything is better than taking the mean hostile route, the road to disaster. I'd rather laugh it out or simply leave before my coping ability expires. Louie suggests using this technique also, if you only have an hours worth of coping ability, don't try to stay the whole three hours of an affair and end up fighting. I appreciated the humor in Louie's book as well as his advice. Everyone should read this book whether they have family problems or not.

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Summary: A great study of pain, told through humor
Review: I really applaud and admire the work that Anderson has given us within this book

The material that Anderson shares with us includes so much of his personal guilt, regret, and sadness

However, he manages to share it in a way that is constructive, humorous, and easy to digest ---- he makes it easy to see the screw-ups we've made in our own lives, and helps to suggest ways of alievation, through his own narration

Reading this book is almost an exercise in forgivness yourself ---- forgiving those around you and forgiving YOURSELF

And best of all - it is all told in Anderson's classic humor - making this all very easy to digest

Although the book is good, I truly recommend the audio version --- Anderson's narration is a perfect complement to a well done book

thank you for reading!

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Summary: Not His Best Book, But Still a Treat
Review: I've been a long time Louie Anderson fan and regard his first two books, "Dear Dad: Letters From an Adult child" and "Goodbye Jumbo...Hello Cruel World," two of the best books I've ever read. So I was naturally excited to hear he was writing a third book. In "The F Word," Louie tackles his relationship with his dysfunctional family, which has been strained by his fame and wealth (they resent him and/or expect him to help support them). He uses examples from his own family interactions to offer tips to others on how to deal with their dysfunctional family relationships. His advice is often too personal or oversimplified to be of good therapeutic use. However, Louie has an amazing ability to draw the reader into his life. Reading his books, I no longer feel like a fan. I feel like a friend. He does an amazing job of describing the unique personality traits of each of his 10 siblings and the problems they battle. Collectively, they have all been impacted in some way by their (deceased) alcoholic, abusive father. This book does offer some good down to earth advice and proves that everybody has problems that they struggle with and demons they battle, even celebrities. Overall, I found it to be a rewarding book, just somewhat less so than his previous books.

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Summary: A gift.
Review: Louie Anderson, the king of family comedy, has done it again. He has brought us into his family by sharing his deepest secrets on how to survive the burden of having "family time". Louie has the ability to draw the reader into his world and make us all feel like part of his family. His survival tips are stellar and writing unsurpassed. He truly knows the way to our heart by an honest look at the strange people we all have in our families. Our hats off to you, Louie, and writing partner Carl Kurlander for a brilliant look into the science of family relations.

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Summary: The king of comedy does it again!
Review: Louie Anderson, the king of family comedy, has done it again. He has brought us into his family by sharing his deepest secrets on how to survive the burden of having "family time". Louie has the ability to draw the reader into his world and make us all feel like part of his family. His survival tips are stellar and writing unsurpassed. He truly knows the way to our heart by an honest look at the strange people we all have in our families. Our hats off to you, Louie, and writing partner Carl Kurlander for a brilliant look into the science of family relations.

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Summary: Hilarious and Honest Look at Family
Review: Louie has done it again! One of America's most-loved comedians has produced an amazing follow-up to his previous best-sellers "Dear Dad" and "Goodbye, Jumbo" in "The F Word." Like no other author today, Louie gets to the heart of why it is we all feel so much anxiety in dealing with our family. Louie's advice: Lower your expectations! Starting with a shocking revelation at the beginning, the book draws you in and will make you cry as much as laugh. Laugh with Louie, cry with him, or just commisserate with him, everybody love's Louie and his brand of All-American family humor.

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Summary: A gift.
Review: My wife fell in love with Louie while watching him host Family Feud, so I got her this for Christmas. Combining humor with unflinching honesty, Anderson uses his own troubles and family history to try and understand how best to let go and let wounds heal. Easier said than done, but entertaining reading nonetheless.

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Summary: Puts the "fun" back in dysfunctional
Review: This is one of the most readable books I've enjoyed in a long time. If you were raised in a dysfunctional family or know a dysfunctional family or even live near a dysfunctional family, then this book is for you!

Mr. Anderson writes in a very easy-to-read conversational manner. It feels as if you're sitting in a room with him exchanging family "war" stories. The book is filled with both serious and funny anecdotes about his own family and those families he has come across as a stand-up comedian. He is refreshingly honest about the problems faced by he and his brothers and sisters both now and in the past as a result of their upbringing. The basic message of the book is to try to accept your family members for who they are and to accept yourself as well, with as much grace as possible. As Mr. Anderson so aptly puts it, "we are all crazy people raised by crazy people who were raised by crazy people." And that's okay!

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Summary: This book reads like it was written in two weeks
Review: Upon hearing the announcement that Louie Anderson was to be responsible for another book, the only emotion I can describe that hit me was pure elation. I opened the book with the same anticipation that a child holds for the big box under the Christmas tree, as anyone with taste will recognize that Louie is one of the true comic geniuses of our time. Upon completion of the book however, I was struck with a sense of emptiness and disappointment when compared to Louie's previous work, "Dear Dad." I could not shake the feeling that this book was phoning it in. There was a real lack of creative energy in this book, which makes me ponder how somebody as funny and naturally charming as Louie could be responsible for such an abortion.
I thought at first that Louie may have lost touch with his loyal fans, then I remembered that there was a co-writer on the book, Carl Kurlander, and figured I'd do a brief search on him. The results disturbed me, as I found that he is credited for the vapid teenage series, "Saved by the Bell." Additionally, I saw that he co-wrote the nauseating 1980s' "St. Elmo's Fire." Upon its release in 1985, I eagerly forward to Judd Nelson's follow-up performance to John Hughes' brilliant film, "The Breakfast Club." I eagerly anticipated "St. Elmo's," but found that it was nowhere near the quality of Hughes' magnum opus. I watched this so-called "movie" and did all I could not to walk out in utter disgust from the lack of craft exhibited by the film makers. No doubt with these credits, Kurlander is at fault for the failure of my beloved Louie's latest book.
When buying a book with the face of a comedian on the front, you would think that the hard earned money you put down would buy you a laugh from the comedian; not the comedian laughing at you for buying the book. "The F-Word" should not be a book chronicling how to live with family; it should be a case study for a writer to see how to use a beloved comedic genius' cherubic face to make a fat paycheck for seemingly two weeks worth of actual work.