Sh*t My Dad Says

Sh*t My Dad Says

Author: Justin Helpern

Publisher: HarperCollins (2010)

ISBN: 0061992704

pages: 159

genre: humor

4.5 (out of 5) STARS

Annotation: Tuesdays with Morrie meets F My Life in this hilarious coming-of-age book about a son's relationship with his foul-mouthed father by the 29-year-old comedy writer who created the massively popular Twitter feed of the same name.

Summary: After being dumped by his longtime girlfriend, twenty-eight-year-old Justin Halpern found himself living at home with his seventy-three-year-old dad. Sam Halpern, who is "like Socrates, but angrier, and with worse hair," has never minced words, and when Justin moved back home, he began to record all the ridiculous things his dad said to him:

"That woman was sexy. . . . Out of your league? Son, let women figure out why they won't screw you. Don't do it for them."

"Do people your age know how to comb their hair? It looks like two squirrels crawled on their heads and started fucking."

"The worst thing you can be is a liar. . . . Okay, fine, yes, the worst thing you can be is a Nazi, but then number two is liar. Nazi one, liar two."

More than a million people now follow Mr. Halpern's philosophical musings on Twitter, and in this book, his son weaves a brilliantly funny, touching coming-of-age memoir around the best of his quotes. An all-American story that unfolds on the Little League field, in Denny's, during excruciating family road trips, and, most frequently, in the Halperns' kitchen over bowls of Grape-Nuts, Sh*t My Dad Says is a chaotic, hilarious, true portrait of a father-son relationship from a major new comic voice. (www.goodreads.com)

Evaluation: This book was an absolute hilarious read! I laughed out loud many times while reading it even while in the waiting room at the doctor's office.

I could visualize both Justin and his father having these conversations. The written dialogue only showed what Sam Halpern was saying and the text used ... to indicate what Justin was saying and I believe this technique made the reading even funnier. I thought it was interesting that Sam Halpern was so well educated and yet used so many swear words in nearly every sentence out of his mouth. There was a lot of swearing but really that is part of what made the book so funny.

Read-a-likes:

Awkward Family Photos by Mike Bender

Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son by Michael Chabon

F My Life by Maxime Vallette

Passive Aggressive Notes: Painfully Polite and Hilariously Hostile Writings by Kerry Miller