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This book is on the bookshelf in our living room with 100 other books, lots of great novels and coffee table books, but enevitably this is the book that almost EVERYONE grabs. At minimum gets a big smile, usually gets a good laugh.
Highly recommended.
Any Seinfed fan (or student or lover of comedy) MUST own this book. My only regret is that it only gives you scripts for the first and second seasons (which, actually, many consider among the best). It shows you the solid comedic, consistently witty, and highly ironic foundations behind the cast's classic performances.
The good news: this book READS funny. Unless you just don't like reading drama/comedy in script form, you'll howl almost as much (since you are missing actual facial expressions, timing and body language) as you read these. Quite a few of these episodes were written by Seinfeld and collaborator (who how has a critically acclaimed HBO comedy series) Larry David. The many episodes include "The Jacket," "The Pony Remark," "The Deal," "The Chinese Restaurant," (one of my favorites) and "The Revenge."
According to published accounts, Seinfeld and David were absolutely adamant that there would be "no hugging" on THEIR show and that they would do the show their way or not do the show at all. They stuck to their guns. This book contains highly original sitcom comedy which holds up exceedingly well in script form. Keep the importance of solid writing in mind as you see former cast members from his show (or even Jerry himself or former cast members of other big hits) try to clone their earlier success: without a solid comedic foundation -- which is funny on paper -- all the talent in the world won't create a hit sitcom.
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After watching the show and listening to his standup act, reading SeinLanguage was a bit redundant. The reader will not find very much new material in this book. Most of the jokes come from his standup act, which inspired scenarios in the TV show.
The jokes are funny and I always laugh, but I picked up this book hoping for an insight into Jerry Seinfeld's life. All I found was a series of jokes about different topics, most of which I had already heard.
I think you can probably pass this one up.
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God, it is funny! Great "guy" gift book.
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I would have to agree with some of the other reviewers that this isn't a book for children. Not because there is anything wrong with the language or themes, but because it too accurately portrays a child's point of view. A kid would read this and think, "Yeah, so?" because Seinfeld so perfectly represents their experience that they wouldn't appreciate the irony. As an adult, however, I have been revisiting my own Halloween conquests and catastrophes all day thanks to this wonderful book.
Enjoy!
The book itself may be geared for children, at least it appears so, but I think that an older audience would benefit more from reading this. As i mentioned, I love his standup bit on halloween and seeing illustrations to go along with the words was something I felt was really unique and interesting. The pictures themselves were very playful and properly done, nothing too fancy but they fit the mood.
I think this book would make a unique addition to a childs library. For a young person, it would be a bit of an educational experience as well being humorous. I don't know how to support the educational statement exactly, I just think that in order for youngsters to get the most out of this book, they have to think differently about it than other books they are used to.
I think the general idea for Halloween by Jerry Seinfeld was for everyone to just enjoy the hell out of it. I guarantee that no matter what age you are, you can pick this book up, relate to it, smile a lot and just be happy you took my advice. No trick....this ones a real treat.
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This Mr. Oppenheimer, on the other hand, seems to think that the shock value of throwing in one disgusting word after another is worth the price of degrading his own name as an author.
I'm glad I didn't buy this book. The library shouldn't have either.
Jerry Seinfeld once sold lightbulbs over the phone. I wanted to know what this was all about. I knew he apologized for it years later. The book tells all. Jerry and his friend came up with a crazy con posing as injured war veterans. It was disgusting and offensive. According to the book, they would drop lightbulbs on the floor when on the phone and then cry about how hard it was getting used to their hooks. You see, they lost their hands in combat. See? I told you it was offensive.
This book is a little offensive. I'm not sure whether the author likes Seinfeld or not. He sure goes out of his way to serve us the dirt.
But I liked the book. Not a whole lot, but enough to reccomend it. Put it this way- I liked it more than I didn't like it.
Seinfeld is an immensely private man, which makes him a prime target for books like this. But this is more than tabloid fodder. It is focused. It told me things I din't know before and it's pretty well researched. That Jerry didn't cooperate, and asked others to do likewise, shows. But for what the author had to work with, he did a fair job.
The only reason this book really gets a passing grade from me is that it's about Seinfeld's life...Seinfeld is a really interesting and quirky guy, so unless you try pretty hard to mess up whatever your writing about him, you'll end up with something interesting.
I don't really like Oppenheimer's style--was this book rushed into stores, or what? I counted about 15 typos, and some paragraphs were pointless and fluffy, while others condensed too much into such a small space.