Thursday, August 6, 2009

Another God Story

(can't you tell I'm catching up?)

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff.
When I read I do laugh out loud. Sometimes. Or squeal (at the I-knew-it moments of authors I love). Or flail. And I did laugh at moments of Lamb. But soon after a laugh emerged, it would become bogged down in stupidity. Authors, pay attention here: There is a big difference between humor (think Douglas Adams, Wodehouse, Good Omens, Sedaris) and stupidity (think bad television). And though the line between the two may be thin, one cannot be replaced with another. Perhaps where Lamb went wrong is in this specific area: teenage boy humor is stupidity to all but a select few teenage boys. Got it?

The long and short of it is that if you are one of those select people who are amused by "teenage boy humor," Lamb is wonderful beach reading. To all others, perhaps you should read it and take another stab at it- Lamb was a good start, but I'm sure with a couple of drafts you can do better (much, much better).

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