DECEMBER 2012 - AudioFile
Lebowitz’s humorous pieces from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s are still funny, despite some dated references, and can even seem contemporary. Her voice is clear and incisive, her reading quick but not too quick, though she rushes the endings of a few sentences and swallows some words. But she seems an unpracticed reader, at times giving her own lines awkward or incorrect emphasis, and her comic timing is sometimes off. Her tone has the clipped, emphatic, mannered precision associated with nerds, such as the Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy, and her “r’s” are hard enough to crack walnuts (“literachurrrrr”). But there can be no substitute for the author’s own wry, acerbic tone in reading her own sardonic and misanthropic prose. W.M. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
“A great read.” –Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC’s Tonight Show
On METROPOLITAN LIFE
"Hilarious...an unlikely and perhaps alarming combination of Mary Hartman and Mary McCarthy.... To a dose of Huck Finn add some Lenny Bruce, Oscar Wilde and Alexis de Tocqueville, a dash of cabdriver, an assortment of puns, minced jargon, and top it off with smarty pants." —The New York Times
"Her humor made me laugh aloud and call friends to read passages to them." —Newsweek
On SOCIAL STUDIES
"Right on the mark.... Among the things she hates this time...baggage-claim areas, high tech, after-shave lotion, adults who roller skate, children who speak French, or anyone who is unduly tan." —Newsweek
"Unique.... Lebowitz offers vocational guides for aspiring heiresses, popes, empresses; manuals for landlords; guidance to the rich who wish to meet the poor." —Vogue
DECEMBER 2012 - AudioFile
Lebowitz’s humorous pieces from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s are still funny, despite some dated references, and can even seem contemporary. Her voice is clear and incisive, her reading quick but not too quick, though she rushes the endings of a few sentences and swallows some words. But she seems an unpracticed reader, at times giving her own lines awkward or incorrect emphasis, and her comic timing is sometimes off. Her tone has the clipped, emphatic, mannered precision associated with nerds, such as the Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy, and her “r’s” are hard enough to crack walnuts (“literachurrrrr”). But there can be no substitute for the author’s own wry, acerbic tone in reading her own sardonic and misanthropic prose. W.M. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
