Saintspeak: The Mormon Dictionary

Rating:
Summary: very funny... but only to mormons
Review: The full title of this slim paperback is SAINTSPEAK: THE MORMON DICTIONARY. It contains an A to Z listing of Mormon vocabulary with some funny and irreverent definitions. Modeled after Ambrose Bierce's DEVIL'S DICTIONARY, it is (as Card puts it) a "satirical but gently affirming" book about Mormons, their faith, and their lifestyle. It was written by a Mormon for a Mormon audience. Frankly, I think I missed a lot of the humor since I'm not part of the in-crowd. Some of it, though, I did relate to since my father was a Presbyterian minister, and I spent a lot of my childhood around people from my church. However, if I had been a non-churchgoer, I don't think I would have had a clue as to what the book was talking about most of the time.

It's worth the money if you are (a) a fanatical Orson Scott Card fan, or (b)a Mormon with a stout sense of humor. Perhaps the book's greatest value is that it inspired Card to create his own publishing company--Hatrack River--and to begin writing religious fiction.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting book, even if I didn't understand it all
Review: The full title of this slim paperback is SAINTSPEAK: THE MORMON DICTIONARY. It contains an A to Z listing of Mormon vocabulary with some funny and irreverent definitions. Modeled after Ambrose Bierce's DEVIL'S DICTIONARY, it is (as Card puts it) a "satirical but gently affirming" book about Mormons, their faith, and their lifestyle. It was written by a Mormon for a Mormon audience. Frankly, I think I missed a lot of the humor since I'm not part of the in-crowd. Some of it, though, I did relate to since my father was a Presbyterian minister, and I spent a lot of my childhood around people from my church. However, if I had been a non-churchgoer, I don't think I would have had a clue as to what the book was talking about most of the time.

It's worth the money if you are (a) a fanatical Orson Scott Card fan, or (b)a Mormon with a stout sense of humor. Perhaps the book's greatest value is that it inspired Card to create his own publishing company--Hatrack River--and to begin writing religious fiction.

Rating:
Summary: very funny... but only to mormons
Review: The other person to rate this was not mormon, and thus admits he did not really understand a lot of the humor. I am suprised that he understood any of it. It is a book about mormons, written for mormons who are willing to laugh at themselves. It is actually very funny. But you probably have to be mormon to get it, and you might have to be non-mormon (or a mormon who isn't unreasonably sensitive) to like it. I imagine a lot of mormons will be offended, but I was not at all. I just enjoyed it