A few days ago I was browsing the "new acquisitions" shelves in our local library. My eye was taken by, then assaulted by, this attractively artistic cover with its insultingly rude title. I picked it up and leafed through it. I ascertained rather quickly (darned little reading material inside, and much of it not really fit to print) that I would be ashamed to have the thing inside my home. And none of the letters in the nasty little words are x-ed out. Other than the artwork, which I indicated is attractive, the book lacks creativity in swearing, cussing, or scatology, for the same tired old words that we have all known and have avoided using throughout our entire lives make up much of the text.
I pointed out to the librarian that the booklet was sorely lacking in creativity with regard to language; and that it was obviously the product of a feeble, if warped, mind.
It is only after I leave the library that I discover the truly awful truth about this trash. It is a bestseller*. It is being reviewed seriously by the "intellectual elite". It is being represented as "literature" with deep sociological and psychological implications.
In truth, it is probably representative of the depths to which we have sunk as a society.
*Update: The most recent release shows this title to be number four on the hard-cover non-fiction best sellers list. Reflect on that. Non-fiction. Exactly. This sad little man is capitalizing on the basest of human behaviors.
5 comments:
Hi Vanilla,
I'd never heard of this book before. I'm reading a collection of sci/fi, short stories, a collection of Tolstoy's short stories, and a collection of murder mysteries. I'm missing so much by not reading the book you review here.
Dad used to tell us that people use foul language because they are incapable of developing an extensive enough vocabulary to express their feelings.
Yes, I've seen quite a lot about it. It may be how we all felt occasionally on those tired nights, but the whole point of being a grown-up used to be to overcome those feelings and do the right thing anyway.
While I know that there are many books out there that I don't necessarily agree with, I can't imagine that at my public library. I understand the frustration of not getting a little one to sleep and I certainly see how this is meant to be funny--but the best seller list??? It is a sad statement, isn't it? Sigh.
John, better just stick with Tolstoy and the scifi.
Vee, and thus I view it to this day as a sign of weakness.
Shark, exactly. The point of being a grownup is to do the right thing in the face of frustration. I like your observation.
Lin, there was a time that a comment to the librarian here was sufficient to cause the offending volume to "disappear." But we have bought into the "freedom is license" thing. Well, we still have the choice not to use the stuff. Yes, I suppose it is an attempt at humor in the face of frustration.
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