Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1251750 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 227 pages

Rick Mohr - Midwest Book Review, July, 2003
"…feels like tales told by an old friend you haven't seen in awhile… perfectly crafted… told with heart and humor."

Customer Reviews

Not for everyone... BUT I LOVED IT!
It's unfortunate that people most likely to enjoy this book will probably never read it. (I only read it at the insistence of a friend.) If you consider yourself an intellectual, take a pass; you won't "get" the humor. But for those who enjoy beer, cigars, dirty jokes and self-deprecating humor, I recommend this book.
First of all let me warn you, this isn't a novel. It's a fictionalized account, using essays/short stories, of a young New Yorker (Lenny) who wants to be a
TV writer. And while awaiting his break, he becomes a substitute teacher in L.A. What separates this from other stories about teachers (besides some risque content) is that the author seems to have true disdain for the public education system, understanding all too well that people like himself are part of the problem.
One of my favorite parts is the opening of a chapter where he states, "They say that God watches out for children, drunks and fools. Simply put, this means I stand a two-thirds better chance for divine intervention in my life than most other people." Another is a conversation with a literary agent who's displeased with all the jokes Lenny has written in a sitcom script (says it's "too jokey"). Lenny is baffled by this. The annoyed agent asks, "You know what happens to scripts that have TOO many jokes?" A confused Lenny responds, "They win Emmys?" But my favorite could be the part where he's describing how some kids want to act tough but just can't seem to fill the role. "Sort of like Michael Keaton playing Batman or Tony Danza playing any character other than an Italian guy from New York named Tony."
I like this type of humor so the book was easy for me to enjoy. If you don't find the above snippets funny, then this probably isn't for you.

A latter-day Up The Down Staircase
This diamond in the rough might be derivative in form, but is refreshingly original in content. In the clutches of a typically familiar post-collegiate funk, a naive New Yorker (not an oxymoron) gives himself five years to make it as a writer in Hollywood. In the meantime, he grudgingly acquiesces to take a job as a substitute teacher in Narrow Valley.After all, he has to pay the bills, and he'll have some time in class to work on his scripts. One might think that higher education equates with common sense,compassion, and intelligence, but one would be wrong. Alas,there are as many phonies in school biz as in show biz. What results is a scathing expose of the incredible hypocrisy, pettiness, vindictiveness, and waste that permeate the hierarchies of public school districts everywhere. The author's not always tongue in cheek depiction of teachers as incompetent, libidinous, hedonistic, ne'er-do-wells, and of administrators as teachers who are promoted not because of their superior management skills, but as a means of maintaining damage control at the classroom level will prompt nods and grins of recognition that cut across all professions. Deftly mocks those who would absolve themselves from their shares of the blame for a system that grows alarmingly more dysfunctional every year. In the end, the derision and ridicule are fairly evenly distributed, but what makes this more than just a finger pointing rant is the author's reserving the sharpest barbs in his quiver for himself.