Rating: 
Summary: Not my thing really, but still interesting
Review: I sort of enjoyed this book. It is really a disjointed series of vignettes, basically a kind of post-modern stream of consciousness style of writing. The book has it's funny parts, the main one being the vial of Lincoln's morning breath, which is probably the funniest section in the book. Another reviewer here said that Leyner is funnier than Chris Moore. Well, there is no way Leyner is funnier, but he is certainly stranger than Moore, and that is saying something. I would go so far as to say he is even unique in his own way, and I give him points for being able to come up with such a sustained montage of weird topics to write about. I would probably think more of Leyner as a writer if it weren't for the fact that I could do a pretty good facsimile of this sort of writing myself, except that this was 30 years ago before anyone had heard of Leyner. Anyway, this book does have its moments. Entertaining in it own wacked out sort of way.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the defining moments of my life.
Review: I was fourteen. I went to the library to do research for a biology paper. I noticed an discarded copy of this book on sale for 25 cents. Since I liked the cover, I bought it. Well, I ended up with an F on the paper, but the book ended up being quite influential. Thanks to Mark Leyner I slowly lost my mind and had to find it, bit by bit, and reassemble it like some patchwork quilt. Everyone's teenage years should be so fruitful...
Rating: 
Summary: Beware
Review: If the Drew Carey show is your type of sitcom, don't get this book. If the Capitol Steps is your type of humor, don't get this book. If you don't consider yourself to be a creative or adaptible person, don't get this book. If you wear sensible shoes and most of your wardrobe comes from JC Penny, then don't buy this book. Generally, if you are a socially conservative person with no sense of humor, this is not your book. Stick with a Garfield collection. However, if you ever hung a poster of Che Guevera upside down outside the cafeteria in college, if you watch any show on TV that has Awesome and Attack in the title, if you listen to Jimi Hendrix and Radiohead at the same time, if you've ever insulted sour cream, if your computer wallpaper is Elvis on a cross, in short, if you've ever been prescribed any medicine described as anti-psychotic or mood-stabilizing, you should definitely by this book.
Rating:
Summary: Dangerously strange, babe
Review: Is Mark Leyner a genius or an egotist? In Et Tu, Babe, some might say he is making blood sacrifices at the Hunter S. Thompson Shrine of Self-Involvement. The Mark Leyner of Et Tu, Babe would then simply clock them in the chops with a pool cue and satirize them into submission. Leyner manages to capture the fever dreams of Burroughs, the sci-fi sarcasm of Vonnegut, and yes, the megalomania of Thompson in one novel. It all works startlingly well. Enter with gusto and submit to the exquisiteness of this shockingly funny book, babe.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: It's a Mark Leyner book. That's about as much of a compliment as I can think of. Really a uniquely disturbing individual. But a brilliant, innovative writer.
Rating:
Summary: Mind blowing and imaginative
Review: It's an acquired taste but Mr. Leyner got well into the depths of my sense of humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: Leyner is comparable to only one other author: Vonnegut. The near-goofy speed, the social commentary, and the absolute silliness with teeth is a dangerous tool, and I can think of no other author who could have pulled this book off. Hilarious and marvelously pointless, this is a book that simply cannot be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Leyner is comparable to only one other author: Vonnegut. The near-goofy speed, the social commentary, and the absolute silliness with teeth is a dangerous tool, and I can think of no other author who could have pulled this book off. Hilarious and marvelously pointless, this is a book that simply cannot be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Worst book I've read in 20 years
Review: Leyner makes David Sedaris look deep, Fox prime-time sitcoms seem funny, and Hunter Thompson appear grounded in reality. I kept reading on, thinking surely Vintage didn't publish such nonsense without a purpose - surely there must be something towards the end that makes this horrifically cliched book worth reading. Nope. Maybe this book is funny stoned or drunk, but absent that its a tremendous waste of time. If books came with a money-back satisfaction guarantee I don't think Vintage would publish much more of Leyner's work. It'd be too expensive for them. Don't believe the jacket blurbs - this is literary potpourri at best, a crime against trees more likely. Stick to newsletters like alt.crafts.needlepoint - there's better stuff to read there.
Rating:
Summary: Worst book I've read in 20 years
Review: Leyner makes David Sedaris look deep, Fox prime-time sitcoms seem funny, and Hunter Thompson appear grounded in reality. I kept reading on, thinking surely Vintage didn't publish such nonsense without a purpose - surely there must be something towards the end that makes this horrifically cliched book worth reading. Nope. Maybe this book is funny stoned or drunk, but absent that its a tremendous waste of time. If books came with a money-back satisfaction guarantee I don't think Vintage would publish much more of Leyner's work. It'd be too expensive for them. Don't believe the jacket blurbs - this is literary potpourri at best, a crime against trees more likely. Stick to newsletters like alt.crafts.needlepoint - there's better stuff to read there.
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