Pros: Usual level of writing excellence by Dave Barry: some columns are especially hilarious.
Cons: Like most books of the same format, it is rather episodical.
The Bottom Line: Dave Barry Is Not Taking this Sitting Down! is not More of Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, but there can be no doubt that it's an extremely funny and entertaining read.
arada392's Full Review: Dave Barry - Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting...
I think the reason why the Mona Lisa is so famous is that she's just about the only artistic subject in the Louvre who's wearing clothes. On any given day, every tourist in Europe who is not on top of the Eiffel Tower is gathered in front of the Mona Lisa, who gazes out at the crowd with the enigmatic expression of a person who is pondering the timeless question: "How come they keep taking flash photographs, even though the signs specifically prohibit this?"
–from "An Aesthetically Challenged American in Paris (Part II)" in Dave Barry Is Not Taking this Sitting Down!
I never read what is written on the jackets of books anymore, especially if the book in question is by Dave Barry. The reason for this is that I already know what to expect from his work: excellent writing on a diverse range of subjects always providing a barrel of laughs. Nevertheless, on one particular instance recently I succumbed to boredom and read the jacket on Dave Barry Is Not Taking this Sitting Down! Imagine my surprise when I found out that the same writer responsible for the book-jacket seems to share the same viewpoint on the Pulitzer-prize winning columnist as me– but not enough respect so as to actually read his work.
This is painfully obvious when one sees how badly researched the book-jacket is. I know that it is not supposed to be this monumental, thought-provoking short essay on the most visible theories in the book, but I thought it was supposed to at least suggest what the book contains. No such luck with Dave Barry’s latest oeuvre; in fact, it does not look like the writer even spent five minutes doing it. He/She probably just took a glance at the table of contents, wrote a bit on what he/she thought the articles were about, copied a few paragraphs from the introduction to put on the back, and –wham, bam, thank you ma’am– job done.
I admit I cannot really blame him/her. Blurb writers must do this for about a hundred books a week on average –most of which are not so neatly structured as this book– so I expect he/she cannot afford a lot of time to slaver over just one. It is a shame, really, because by just skimming over Dave Barry Is Not Taking this Sitting Down! he or she missed an excellent book.
Dave Barry Is Not Taking this Sitting Down! is the regular "best of" collection of Dave Barry’s columns printed in the Miami Herald (or their website, for that matter) from the past year and a half. As always, Barry writes at his usual level of great writing, and focuses on a vast amount of topics, ranging from his summer trip to Paris to his dangerous exploits as a soccer team mascot. What is most impressive about this is that he still keeps his essays packed with an immense amount of humor: every single one of his columns does not fail in raising a chuckle, if not a huge, tear-inducing roar of laughter. My ribs are still aching from laughing so hard at his hilarious series of essays exploring the plight of owning 1.6-gallon toilets.
In fact, Dave Barry Is Not Taking this Sitting Down! might be Dave Barry’s funniest book in recent memory. To be honest, I felt a slight twinge of melancholy in Dave Barry Is from Mars and Venus and Dave Barry Turns 50; and his novel, Big Trouble, was not meant to be a laugh-out-loud kind of book. Of course, ever since Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits, Dave Barry has always dabbled in writing "seriously," many times taking on rather sad subjects, such as the death of his father or a visit to Hiroshima. However, these moments have never pervaded his main, humorous, part of his work. This is not to say that with these pieces his quality of writing has decreased, but it does signal a change in his style of prose: he might be loath to admit it, but his style has matured. Now he seems to be more self-aware of his role as a humor writer. Whereas in his younger days he might have joked relentlessly when writing about such matters as golf or physics, now he seems to take subjects more seriously –a fact readily observed when he writes about his family.
Dave Barry Is Not Taking this Sitting Down! contains many examples of this latter course that his work has taken, with columns like "A Blatant Case of Slanted Journalism," or "A Critic, a Crocodile, and a Kubrick –Voila!" but it does not contain any heavyhearted moments like the ones mentioned above. However, to loyal Dave Barry readers there is some sense of nostalgia in it. Crown finally decided to publish the cartoons by Jeff MacNelly that come along with every second or third regular column –something that has not been done since Dave Barry Talks Back– and there are certain columns that remind you of Dave Barry’s previous works. You can smell a feeble fragrance from Dave Barry Does Japan in "Banzai Chef," discover a sly tip from Dave Barry’s Guide to Guys in "Survival of Mankind," or even get a vague feeling of déjà vu when reading any of his columns on the IRS. It is clear from these staples in his writing to see how polished his writing style has become through the years.
However, such insights into his prose aside, there is a slight flaw with the book –one that usually afflicts books of this type: it is rather episodical. As a collection of short essays, Dave Barry has to introduce, explain, and conclude all of his topics in a very short amount of space. As such, after long periods of reading, you do get an "oversaturation" of humor and it starts to get a bit tiring. While this is more of a problem with this type of format, few books can get away with it and form a true rounded volume of their own; a good example would be Barry’s classic Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits. To his/her credit, the editor has tried very hard to get the columns to read in a logical and flowing manner by manipulating the placing of each column and grouping those with similar themes together. Nevertheless, you might be better off reading the book in short, contained bursts.
However, like all Dave Barry books, Dave Barry Is Not Taking this Sitting Down! is still an excellent book. Whether you are reading about "helpful" tips on online stocks, Canadian combat brassieres, or dangerous poinsettias, you can be assured that you are reading an outstanding example of supreme contemporary writing.
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