Sunday 16 January 2011

Customer tip No.1 "All My Friends are Superheroes" by Andrew Kaufman



So, thank you Mr R for your fantastic recommendation. I loved it. It made me smile. A lot. More of a novella at just over 100 pages, this is a quirky, funny, bonkers little book - perfect for a (shortish) train ride or a (longish) bath. An off-the-wall, uplifting (but not remotely slushy) tale of love. All of non-superhero Tom's friends are superheros, but not in the way you might think......you have "The Stress Bunny" "The Blue Outcast" "The Shadowless Man" "The Couch Surfer" to name a few, all with hilarious powers linked to their personality traits. He marries "The Perfectionist" but on their wedding night, her ex (Hypno) hypnotizes her into believing that Tom is invisible - to her, he has simply disappeared. Despondent after months of waiting for him to "return", we see The Perfectionist taking a one way flight to Canada to start a new life with an invisible Tom by her side, desperately trying to find a way for her to see him again.

The story jumps back and forth which I felt rather added to the quirky nature of the book. The snapshot descriptions of his superhero friends were, for me, the highlight of the book really. Here's a taster, talking about Mistress Cleanasyougo "..the most powerful superhero of all, the one everyone wishes they were...At the end of the day, she folds her clothes. She never leaves scissors on the table, pens with no ink are thrown in the trash, wet towels are always hung up, dishes are washed directly after dinner and nothing is left unsaid".

So if you want to cheer up a rainy January and you're not afraid to try something a little bit different, treat yourself to this little pick-me-up. And if you like it, share it with someone you know who you'd like to make smile!

I've collated my customer recommendations for my next read (including from Snow Geese, The Long Song, The Handmaid's Tale, And the Land Lay Still, Under Fishbone Clouds, Three Cups of Tea, The File and a few others), and, as suggested by Susanne on my last post, I am going to give our dog Vlashka a choice of biscuits each allocated to a particular book and whichever biscuit she eats first will be my next read. Watch this Bonio!

Mrs B. x

1 comment:

ImageNations said...

Funny book it would be, reading your review. When you first mentioned it I really wanted to hear your thoughts on it. Sometimes people judge us wrongly and recommends books they believe we would love only to despise it the more. I am happy you loved this.