The Completely and Totally True Book of Urban Legends

Rating:
Summary: Did You Hear the One About . . . .?
Review: Caution: This book contains some crude language that is not necessary to convey the themes in The Completely and Totally True Book of Urban Legends.

The author has taken an interesting and unusual direction in this book, developing stories around the concept that "urban legends are our fairy tales . . . ." You've heard all of the stories, no doubt, about what has been served at various restaurant chains. Those are urban legends. The stories are probably not literally true (or at least no one can prove them), but they do express concepts of what we need to be cautious about in life. For example, Little Red Riding Hood was not literally true (unless wolves are a lot different from the ones I have seen) but it conveyed warnings about being careful about assuming too much (the wolf was not grandma) and following advice that seems against your best interest (let me show you my big teeth).

In that same spirit, Ms. Fiery has created "a treasury of our best urban legends . . . most exciting, beloved, and morally laden tales. . . ." But they need to be rewritten, because they are "the uncut gems of our literary heritage." In the book, the urban legends are dressed up to be more like written short stories, and to be more plausible.

The concept is an interesting one, and I enjoyed reading the book. I must admit that I had only heard of one of these urban legends before reading this book. Perhaps I have been out in the suburbs too long!

I found that some of the stories worked much better than others. In some, the detail built the story. In others, the detail either directed you away from the story or was irrelevant. The illustrations are attractive, but sometimes they telegraphed where the story was going too soon. If you already knew the urban legend, you would already know where the story was going. I would have preferred to have been surprised.

I thought the best two stories were "Old Dog, New Tricks" about a man, his dog, and a lady in an elevator, and "Babysitter's Club" about a haunted house that scares all of the babysitters.

I also enjoyed "Warm as Toast" (a woman helps her dog dry off), "Such Clean Floors" (life support equipment keeps failing in a hospital), "The Flying Gypsy Trick" (traveling in Greece), "Fiat Lux" (about a driving lesson), "LigHt Beer" (new properties of the latest ale), and "Hot Potato" (a doctor having trouble diagnosing his patient's problem).

On the other hand, more than half of the stories didn't work very well for me. They seemed either implausible, uninteresting, or gross . . . rather than seeming like modern fairy tales. I graded the book down accordingly.

What jokes do you know that provide good lessons that we all should follow? What stories that are too good to be true actually capture essential truths, nonetheless?

Get the point!

Rating:
Summary: Did You Hear the One About . . . .?
Review: Caution: This book contains some crude language that is not necessary to convey the themes in The Completely and Totally True Book of Urban Legends.

The author has taken an interesting and unusual direction in this book, developing stories around the concept that "urban legends are our fairy tales . . . ." You've heard all of the stories, no doubt, about what has been served at various restaurant chains. Those are urban legends. The stories are probably not literally true (or at least no one can prove them), but they do express concepts of what we need to be cautious about in life. For example, Little Red Riding Hood was not literally true (unless wolves are a lot different from the ones I have seen) but it conveyed warnings about being careful about assuming too much (the wolf was not grandma) and following advice that seems against your best interest (let me show you my big teeth).

In that same spirit, Ms. Fiery has created "a treasury of our best urban legends . . . most exciting, beloved, and morally laden tales. . . ." But they need to be rewritten, because they are "the uncut gems of our literary heritage." In the book, the urban legends are dressed up to be more like written short stories, and to be more plausible.

The concept is an interesting one, and I enjoyed reading the book. I must admit that I had only heard of one of these urban legends before reading this book. Perhaps I have been out in the suburbs too long!

I found that some of the stories worked much better than others. In some, the detail built the story. In others, the detail either directed you away from the story or was irrelevant. The illustrations are attractive, but sometimes they telegraphed where the story was going too soon. If you already knew the urban legend, you would already know where the story was going. I would have preferred to have been surprised.

I thought the best two stories were "Old Dog, New Tricks" about a man, his dog, and a lady in an elevator, and "Babysitter's Club" about a haunted house that scares all of the babysitters.

I also enjoyed "Warm as Toast" (a woman helps her dog dry off), "Such Clean Floors" (life support equipment keeps failing in a hospital), "The Flying Gypsy Trick" (traveling in Greece), "Fiat Lux" (about a driving lesson), "LigHt Beer" (new properties of the latest ale), and "Hot Potato" (a doctor having trouble diagnosing his patient's problem).

On the other hand, more than half of the stories didn't work very well for me. They seemed either implausible, uninteresting, or gross . . . rather than seeming like modern fairy tales. I graded the book down accordingly.

What jokes do you know that provide good lessons that we all should follow? What stories that are too good to be true actually capture essential truths, nonetheless?

Get the point!