Salient

Is it Me or is Everything Just Shit?

By James Robinson | 25 Sep, 2006

Are you the type of person that has had a lifelong struggle with the fact that things that other people enjoy so much just seem a little bit bloody ridiculous to you? Are you a media student, trained to think that everything is a bit crap? Or just generically cynical?

For those people put off by the yawning seriousness of ‘serious’ literature, or the ‘oh my god how shit’ failings of the mainstream ‘must-reads’, this book is for you. It’s humour for the ADD generation.

Is it me…? is laid out like a dictionary, with entries ranging from a couple of hundred words to a full page. It is a side splittingly funny tome, that leaves no stone unturned (there are entries for Republicans and Democrats, books on tape and in print). The writers are having a ball (“Pete Doherty must have been on crack to think that Kate Moss would sound good on his album… Oh, wait…”), and you will enjoy picking it up, and reading in spurts, if not in one go. The slightly same-y format restricts it from being as digestable as it could be. Which is probably the only criticism I could throw at the book. That with writing this good, and wit this sharp, it’s a pity they couldn’t pare it to a more intelligent format.

And you could call it a slightly pointless exercise really, as you scroll through rants on airport parking, pop idol shows, and over priced cafes you may find yourself questioning why exactly we need to run through and decimate these things with such glee. But I would offer that having a moral at the end of this all would only make it preachy, and would probably be worthy of an entry into the book itself. (That would be pretty po-mo though. Po-mo is hot.) Come to think of it, I’ve already crossed the writers, who have an entry in the book for ‘rave reviews’. Oh.

Buy this book, and keep it around the house for fits of reading. You won’t be disappointed. Is it me…? is the perfect antidote for just how purely and utterly ridiculous everything so often is. For when things get too much, this book is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Next time you can’t help but think what an inane and pointless race of people we are, Is it me…? is a timely reminder that you are not alone.

STEPHEN LOWE AND ALAN MACARTHUR
Random House, RRP. $29.95