Rating: 
Summary: Some Great Comments on Junk Culture, But Goes Over the Top!
Review: Parts of this are really hilarious, and right on, but the... jokes, and pre-adolescent language can wear very thin..No doubt the current pop music culture is even worse than Joe describes, though thankfully the "Stones" aren't mentioned, even more thankfully they're not American, though he gives the Beatles some modest respect. It's true that much of the popular US culture nearly sinks to cesspool level, and Joe minces no words.His thoughts on the Noise Pollution (disguised as "pop music") are right on. After all, it is virtually impossible nowadays to go into any retail business (including banks) without being bombarded with the racket. But..some comments are simply not funny, and even more tasteless than the "artists" derided in the book. Turn to page 55 where the cast from "St Elmo's Fire is compared, after much thought, to the Big Shots at a 1934 Nuremburg Party Rally...Similar cheap shots infect a book that should have been a borderline classic..Unfortunately, Joe's smug, unfunny side is enough to nearly make one ready to toss this book exactly where he would like to toss so many of objects of his own derision.
Rating: 
Summary: Decidedly One of the Funniest Books I've Read
Review: This book, in fact, caused me to laugh aloud on numerous occasions. Queenan in an unmerciful critic who is usually right on point and doesn't ease up. One of his best tools is the ability to juxtapose several categories of "bad" into unusual combinations and then compare the result favorably to one known quantity. One line I recall above all was something to the effect of anticipating some upcoming event with as much enthusiasm as Queenan would have for seeing a performance of MacBeth with the lead role played by Don Knotts. That one had me recommending the book to coworkers and loaning my copy out. No borrower was any less enthusiastic about it than I was.Queenan's focus of attack is popular culture and there probably hasn't been such a pointed critique in the area since Ortega y Gasset in Revolt of the Masses. Queenan, of course, is not writing philosophy or historical critique but he does the same things with humor and sarcasm and maybe is more effective for it. He has written a number of other worthy books on generally similar themes, but Red Lobster is considerably the best of the lot as it doesn't run out of steam at the end (which, if anything, is Queenan's shortcoming as an author). He takes on the role of the little boy who shouts that the Emporer has no clothes, but does so with a detailed description of what is actually there, warts and all, with a cleverness of prose that just isn't seen often enough today in a world of political correctness. The last equivalent but isolated example I can think of was Truman Capote's description of a popular Hollywood novelist's work as "not writing but just typing." For real distilled wit, this is one not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Starts off strong, meanders away from his strengths
Review: There are at least a dozen audible laughs in this book. That's not a bad average for 188 pages with generous margins. But most of them are in the first 75 of those pages. And I nearly choked every time I read where he used Elvis Costello as an example of the best in our culture. That's right, Costello. Not Presley. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Rating: 
Summary: indictment of bad taste
Review: Firstly, I am not American. Secondly, I enjoyed this book. Thirdly, the reason I enjoyed this book is NOT because I am not American, or that I hate everything America stands for, or that I think the entire American culture can be summed up in one single Stephen King novel. I just found this a well-written, funny book which does not have to be taken too seriously (unless the reader insists on doing so, at his own peril), but isn't all hot air either. There are good laughs galore, both in the writing style and the excerpts from lyrics and songs (some of which, heaven forbid, are hilarious), but sometimes you get the feeling that the author is determined to be as offensive as he can, if only for dramatic effect. In the final analysis, though, he is not waxing lyrical about total non-points, and there really is such a thing as bad taste. It's useless to deny that the lowest, commonest, kitschest things appeal to the largest number of people - for by now we know this is practically a law cast in stone, it's part of the human condition. I don't think the "elitist" accusation holds water - it only means one is not supposed to say Beethoven is great and Sarah Brightman is yucky because oh dear that would be so stuck-up and not at all nice to the less privileged members of our society. I would recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: a classic
Review: There are few books which actually earn the praise "laugh out loud funny but this is one" -- so many passages had me laughing so hard I was practically crying. Kenny G and the entire movie section are not to be missed, but you can pretty much describe every chapter that way.
Rating:
Summary: So what - it made me laugh!
Review: Lighten up folks, we're not talking about anything particularly profound here! Queenan is a snide, obnoxious elitist. So what? He's pretty funny! I read it on a plane, and the other passengers were looking at me like I was some kind of kook 'cuz I laughed so hard I started crying! Just the description of the John Tesh concert alone is worth the cover price. I took one star off because of the occasional comparisons of people he lampoons to Hitler and Goebbels, which I feel is tasteless and improper. Except in the case of Billy Joel.
Rating: 
Summary: Red Lobster, White Trash, Blue Lagoon
Review: This is a smug, elitist book filled with hateful comments about others. What is the point? What good does it do the world to spread such cynical views? Unlike Sedaris and Bryson who also take jabs at popular culture, Queenan is pompous and without humor. It would be better if the author kept such mean-spirited diatribes to himself. Or better yet, perhaps he should read some Charles Karault and try to appreciate those are not as "cultured" as he is.
Rating:
Summary: Wickedly Funny
Review: Wickedly funny account of satirist Joe Queenan's year-long sampling of of the dregs of American culture. Red Lobster, John Tesch, Planet Hollywood, "Cats," and almost everything on television, are savaged. At times, however, Queenan comes off as the bitter kid who always got picked last for gym class, venturing into Eric Bogosian, (anyone who doesn't live in the village and wear black is worthless) territory. Some folks, Joe, just do not have a lot of money or education, and have never been exposed to the finer things of life. Maybe a night at the Sizzler is the best they can do.
Rating:
Summary: Vacuous, petty and elitist
Review: Let me start by saying that I agree with many of Joe Queenan's observations and, even when I don't agree, I understand where he's coming from. I enjoy listening to Billy Joel and Elton John, but I also understand that their music is just that ... something light and easy to listen to. That doesn't make it bad, just inconsequential. Unfortunately, Queenan equates inconsequential with bad as only an elitist can. Elitism is not, however, the reason I gave up on this book less than halfway through. I gave up because Queenan never stops to explain what he dislikes about that which he pillories. It's just one long rant. Movies are deemed bad solely because of who's in them. Albums are deemed bad solely because of who made them. There is no insight here; no analysis of how on earth Kenny G. could have enjoyed the fleeting fame he did or what possesses people to watch Adam Sandler movies; just a petty tirade against all that is inconsequential.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, smart, and discriminating
Review: This is a laugh-out-loud funny look at the worst of American culture. It's easy to say that "Cats" sucks. It's a lot harder to explain exactly why with such precise and hilarious derision. Queenan's trip to Branson is like Dante's "Inferno" filtered through Brokaw's "Greatest Generation." Speaking of which, check out Queenan's Brokaw review in "Balsamic Dreams."
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