I got a package Wednesday in my drop box, and since I hadn’t ordered anything I was sorta surprised. Upon opening I found I had gotten a book and a 2 sheet write up about the book from Soap Net, The Soap Opera network. Now I love to read, and I’m not to particular on what I read at times, but I was still surprised to get a book out of the blue. And the book at first glance had me wondering if they where aiming for my wife with a picture of a woman doing her lipstick, and a title of “You know your life is a soap opera if…”
From the write up, it looks like the book was directed to either someone who runs a book store, or a reviewer for a newspaper. It has no catchy reviews from a major newspaper on it. And the write up going on about how a paperback version was coming out April 10th (4-5 days ago) didn’t sync up with the fact I had been given the hardback copy. Glancing through the book I was taken back by how small, and short it seemed, especially for $16.95. But the highlights listed on the info sheets caught my attention and I quote, “This gift book celebrates the convoluted storylines and soap truisms that we (not I) have come to love:”
- No former spouse really dies
- When caught in a blizzard the most important thing to do is to break into a cabin, make a fire, and make love. (Ok I like that idea)
- A one night stand with your husband’s black-sheep brother will significantly increase your odds of conception. (Sure… I see this happening)
- A coma is no excuse for bad hair and makeup.
- Lobotomies and other such illegal operations can be performed, but only after midnight and only in the abandoned sections of the hospital. (and where are these not busy or full hospitals)
- Everyone has a double, and more often then not, they are looking to take over your life.
- A character’s death is not guaranteed unless there’s an on-camera corpse. (No this one was broken by some lame soap opera years ago… I remember hearing my mom bitch about it)
OK… so I think I enjoyed laughing at the ideas more, but I was at least curious about the book.
I will admit to not studying the book, instead I just quickly read it while eating lunch today.
Ok the book is funny. I actually like it, in a sit on the pot and read a small bit kind of way. Too much Soap Opera for my liking, but it makes fun of it by pointing out the things that “always” happens. It takes the stereotypes that makes it easy to point out the Evening Soaps among normal programming, and always easier to make fun of, just making sure the wife isn’t around. And I can see passing the book (or buying a copy if its affordable enough) on to someone else. It is entertaining.
Now the bad. The editing makes me want to take the person who edited this and run them through a publishing course. The sections hop back and forth and seemingly hit the same subject 2 or 3 times. The reason I mentioned on the top that this would be a good bathroom book, is that you can’t read this fully through. It would drive you crazy, or at least it did me. So though they did a wonderful job collecting a ton of little tidbits that made me shake my head yes, at the same time it jumped back and forth between subject matters, and then went back to them without rhyme or reason.
You can buy this “wonderful” book via Hyperion Books or Soap Net.
Tags: Book Review, Books, Interesting, Irony, Reading, Review
