This is a review written specifically for those non-readers out there. You know, the type who say they don't read because "books are boring", because "reading's for nerds" or that "books are dumb. Now pass the joint." Granted, this might not be the type of person who would be likely to read a book review, but there you go.
A young reader who has only encountered chaste, morally grounded fables (often mandated by a staid school curriculum or a humdrum relative) is completely unaware of what's to come once they stumble into the land of the adult section of the bookstore or local library. What this reader doesn't know is that there will come a time in their life when the available book options suddenly open up without warning and become exciting and eye-opening. They have yet to discover that a book can cause a visible blush or an audible gasp. They don't know have a clue what's really over there on the other side of the secret garden wall or down the rabbit hole. They don't know that you can pick up what appears to be a normal looking book, you'll be skimming along as usual and then BAM! Something pornographic or titillating or perverse slams you upside the eyeballs and you realize at that exact moment that you'll never be able to judge a book by its cover ever again. Maybe it's a swear word or a sex scene or a drug-fueled rager or all of the above and you think to yourself, oh boy, things just got really interesting up in here. It's as if you go from fairy tales skipping merrily along towards a syrupy ending to real life adulthood smeared across the page (perhaps also involving syrup), laid bare for everyone to see. If you yourself are a younger curious reader wondering where to find these books, it's simple. All you have to do is grab the most whispered-about book at your school and turn to the most dogeared page. It's the one where the words are smudged into the paper where they've been ground down by countless grubby index fingers. Or place the book on a flat surface and see where the worn, cracked spine naturally opens to. There may even be underlining or highlighting indicating the most salacious passages...and you're off.
Welcome to the place of no return.
If you give up on reading when you're young and still in the chaste, morally grounded fable stage, you have no idea that there might be some really twisted words hiding beneath these innocuous looking book covers. One of these books is Attempting Normal by Marc Maron. A glance at the hardcover version shows a nonplussed uncle type with a cute cat on his shoulder. "Aw," you think, "what a cute cat! I love cats!"
I can just picture some bored teenager being forced to read "something" by "someone" and just heading to the humor section and picking up this book because they think a book written by a comedian might at least give them a couple of laughs. Man, is that kid in for an education. I even learned a few things myself. For instance, pole dancers have to wipe down their own pole and mirrors. Huh. Does this happen at every strip club? I mean, I just assumed someone else would do that. (Though, come to think of it, I've never yet met someone who's answered "pole and mirror custodian" when I've asked what they do for a living). Also: porn. Though some might argue it could offer some teachable moments to the uninitiated, it's apparently not the best inspiration for a seventeen-year-old attempting to lose his virginity. The author uses some very solid reasoning on this one. Perhaps the most random fact I learned is that when walking below bridges, if you look up, you might see the presence of blowup dolls' legs. Now, I've seen a dirty dude reading a pile of porn mags under a bridge before but I never thought to look up. I will now.
Are you intrigued?
The thing is, if you want to know more, you'll actually have to READ THE BOOK! Ha! See what I did there? But I bet I at least piqued a small amount of interest in a non-reader that might compel them to pick up a book of their own free will. They'll be all, "Hold up. Did she just make references to strippers, porn and blowup dolls in a book?" Yes. Yes, I did. There are also road tripping tales about tripping comedians, a couple of not-very-fancy prostitutes and a cat named LaFonda. And you don't have to go into some back room with a fake ID, behind some dark curtain into a place of sleaze and pervs to find this stuff - nope, they're right out in the open on regular ordinary bookshelves in warmly lit, welcoming, family-friendly public spaces.
Think reading is boring now?
And, just for sake of an even debate, this book isn't exclusively a good 200+ pages of salacious smut. The raw scenarios are tempered with keen revelations of insight, honesty and self-reckoning whose presence among all of the shock waves appear just as astonishing. Because this, after all, is what comedians do better than the rest of us. They poke fun at themselves and instead of crying, they fight back with laughter at this crazy, fucked-up, embarrassing thing we call life. I've often wondered if there are any truly happy comedians, a fact that Marc himself touches on in the final chapter when he says to a room full of fellow comics, "I love comedians. I respect anyone who goes all in to do what I consider a noble profession and art form. Despite whatever drives us toward this profession - insecurity, need for attention, megalomania, poor parenting, anger, a mixture of all the above - whatever it is, we comics are out there on the front lines of our sanity."
Well said. If only someone would just write about it all, now that would make a crazy great book... ;)
A young reader who has only encountered chaste, morally grounded fables (often mandated by a staid school curriculum or a humdrum relative) is completely unaware of what's to come once they stumble into the land of the adult section of the bookstore or local library. What this reader doesn't know is that there will come a time in their life when the available book options suddenly open up without warning and become exciting and eye-opening. They have yet to discover that a book can cause a visible blush or an audible gasp. They don't know have a clue what's really over there on the other side of the secret garden wall or down the rabbit hole. They don't know that you can pick up what appears to be a normal looking book, you'll be skimming along as usual and then BAM! Something pornographic or titillating or perverse slams you upside the eyeballs and you realize at that exact moment that you'll never be able to judge a book by its cover ever again. Maybe it's a swear word or a sex scene or a drug-fueled rager or all of the above and you think to yourself, oh boy, things just got really interesting up in here. It's as if you go from fairy tales skipping merrily along towards a syrupy ending to real life adulthood smeared across the page (perhaps also involving syrup), laid bare for everyone to see. If you yourself are a younger curious reader wondering where to find these books, it's simple. All you have to do is grab the most whispered-about book at your school and turn to the most dogeared page. It's the one where the words are smudged into the paper where they've been ground down by countless grubby index fingers. Or place the book on a flat surface and see where the worn, cracked spine naturally opens to. There may even be underlining or highlighting indicating the most salacious passages...and you're off.
Welcome to the place of no return.
If you give up on reading when you're young and still in the chaste, morally grounded fable stage, you have no idea that there might be some really twisted words hiding beneath these innocuous looking book covers. One of these books is Attempting Normal by Marc Maron. A glance at the hardcover version shows a nonplussed uncle type with a cute cat on his shoulder. "Aw," you think, "what a cute cat! I love cats!"
I can just picture some bored teenager being forced to read "something" by "someone" and just heading to the humor section and picking up this book because they think a book written by a comedian might at least give them a couple of laughs. Man, is that kid in for an education. I even learned a few things myself. For instance, pole dancers have to wipe down their own pole and mirrors. Huh. Does this happen at every strip club? I mean, I just assumed someone else would do that. (Though, come to think of it, I've never yet met someone who's answered "pole and mirror custodian" when I've asked what they do for a living). Also: porn. Though some might argue it could offer some teachable moments to the uninitiated, it's apparently not the best inspiration for a seventeen-year-old attempting to lose his virginity. The author uses some very solid reasoning on this one. Perhaps the most random fact I learned is that when walking below bridges, if you look up, you might see the presence of blowup dolls' legs. Now, I've seen a dirty dude reading a pile of porn mags under a bridge before but I never thought to look up. I will now.
Are you intrigued?
The thing is, if you want to know more, you'll actually have to READ THE BOOK! Ha! See what I did there? But I bet I at least piqued a small amount of interest in a non-reader that might compel them to pick up a book of their own free will. They'll be all, "Hold up. Did she just make references to strippers, porn and blowup dolls in a book?" Yes. Yes, I did. There are also road tripping tales about tripping comedians, a couple of not-very-fancy prostitutes and a cat named LaFonda. And you don't have to go into some back room with a fake ID, behind some dark curtain into a place of sleaze and pervs to find this stuff - nope, they're right out in the open on regular ordinary bookshelves in warmly lit, welcoming, family-friendly public spaces.
Think reading is boring now?
And, just for sake of an even debate, this book isn't exclusively a good 200+ pages of salacious smut. The raw scenarios are tempered with keen revelations of insight, honesty and self-reckoning whose presence among all of the shock waves appear just as astonishing. Because this, after all, is what comedians do better than the rest of us. They poke fun at themselves and instead of crying, they fight back with laughter at this crazy, fucked-up, embarrassing thing we call life. I've often wondered if there are any truly happy comedians, a fact that Marc himself touches on in the final chapter when he says to a room full of fellow comics, "I love comedians. I respect anyone who goes all in to do what I consider a noble profession and art form. Despite whatever drives us toward this profession - insecurity, need for attention, megalomania, poor parenting, anger, a mixture of all the above - whatever it is, we comics are out there on the front lines of our sanity."
Well said. If only someone would just write about it all, now that would make a crazy great book... ;)
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