| BOOK REVIEW (This review has also been published at www.701.com) |
| Maybe it's the generation gap or something, but my particular funnybone wasn't even slightly tickled by this collection of insipid, middle-class suburbanite wisecracks. With the usual targets being Canadian politicians and assorted and sundry domestic and international celebrities, the humour comes across as a blend of Jack Benny and Archie Bunker - sexist, juvenile and totally predictable. It's a good thing Mr. Foster goes to great lengths to depreciate the value of his own writing (albeit through the use of sarcastic self-aggrandizement), because he's really not far off the mark, in my opinion, e.g. "I pride myself in the ability to say the dumbest thing at the worst possible time." Even if the frequently recurring jibes concerning the attitudes and behaviour of women were meant to be tongue-in-cheek, this kind of cheesy slapstick humour died a timely death several decades ago. It might have been a bit funnier if he had instead skewered certain aspects of the modern-day, "liberated" woman. In fact, though, he covers up one particular incidence of sexism with the comment "I believe that women will soon tire of the stress of the academic and business world and will go back to the kitchen to bake cookies or darn socks." (That's actually too appealing to be considered either outrageously offensive or funny, whichever way you choose to read it!) Either his faithful following of readers from the Orillia Packet and other sleepy suburban communities are caught in a time warp or they are simply easily amused. But then again, maybe I'm just jaded. Mr. Foster has definitely succeeded in impressing a portion of the Ontario demographic, as he has won the Western Ontario Newspapers and the CP Ontario News Awards for Humour. His first book, I Hate to Complain, which statement seems to be contradicted by this sequel, was in fact a regional bestseller. If you care to challenge my assessment of this book, you might find it totally hilarious if you're over the age of 70, or just someone who has lived for a great length of time outside of a cosmopolitan environment. It's sometimes just a matter of matching your talents with the appropriate reader/audience. It would be like asking Mr. Foster to write a book on the history of rock music in Canada or asking the Toronto Blues Society to review the CD of an artist who simply refuses to follow the rules in composing a "blues" song. The objective appreciation just won't be there. |
| STILL COMPLAINING (MORE HUMOUROUS SOMETHING-OR-OTHERS) - JIM FOSTER Book Review by Diane Wells |
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