Ten Dead Comedians

Good morning readers!! Sorry for the missed week last week. March Break was a busy time - we were away visiting family - AND I forgot to bring the books I needed to blog about at home. Oops. I suppose it does sort of work out. I have been SO busy with the kiddos this past week that I would have NOTHING to write about this week anyway (although I am only about 50 pages away from finishing my current read).

Alright! First up is Ten Dead Comedians. My best friend had had this one recommended to her, so.. she passed it along to me (after sending me pictures of some of the sillier quotes from the book). Not gonna lie; while it was entertaining enough to keep my interest? This book was my least favorite read of the year so far. Don't get me wrong. It was different, and had some truly amusing parts. The premise is that a group of 9 comedians are lured to a private tropical island by a comic (who had inspired or touched their careers in some way) under the guise of creating an epic show. Once they arrive at the island, however; things start to take a terrible turn as they discover they were brought there under false pretenses. I'm sure the title alone kind of gives away the types of turns it takes.

I must admit; as someone who once wrote a lot of darker pieces, (which included some fairly creative deaths) that even I was (vaguely) impressed by the imagination required for some of the comics' deaths. I won't give any of them away - although I can't imagine anyone reading this will be enticed to add this to their TBR list. Don't get me wrong. It was quick, and it kept my attention. I suppose for me, it lost some points for vulgarity (I'm not a prude, I just don't need foul language to be a constant in my life or what I read) - and BIG points lost in the first few pages. (Where I almost abandoned the book, tbh.) 

I'm sure you're wondering why. The first comic mentioned is doing improv and calling on the audience for prompts. I'm going to include what I thought was in incredibly poor taste below.

"So, we'll make up a comedy scene right here in front of you. Now somebody give me a place. Doesn't matter where. No wrong answers here. The only word you can't use in improv is 'no'."

"Auschwitz!" blurted out a middle-aged CPA in the back row. [RIGHT HERE!]

Steve blinked.

"Oooo... okay? Auschwitz. Sure! Now can somebody give me a profession?"

"Rodeo clown!" yelled the Executive Senior Vice President of Something in the front.

This is not funny whatsoever. No one should think that is funny. Now - to the credit of the author, (I say somewhat sarcastically) the comic in the scene did refuse to do this. (If he had gone ahead, you can bet every dollar you have I would have put this book aside.) 

Now I'm getting worked up again. (If I recall correctly, there were some other portions of this novel that had anti-Semitic jabs or comments as well.) BIG part of my low, low rating. (Not that it was written all that well either.) I likely still would have bailed, except it was recommended by a friend of mine.

Before I get going on a huge tangent; I'm going to leave it at that. I will not be reading anything else by this author. Get out and enjoy some of that fresh air and sunshine, readers. It's a beautiful day.