Hits and Misses
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WINNER OF THE 2019 THURBER PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR
'Genius ... Who could ask for more? You can give his books to people and just watch them laugh. Only after you've snorted through them yourself, though' Evening Standard
From a bitter tell-all by a horse who made a man famous and then got left behind to a gushing magazine profile of one of your favorite World War II dictators, these stories trawl through history to skewer our obsession with fame and fortune - all the way from ancient Babylon to Hollywood. What father-to-be wouldn't feel a little jealous when his baby outstrips his success from the womb? And what happens when a film critic is forced to live in the movies he so cruelly damned?
Loved in the UK by celebs, writers and readers alike, from Lauren Laverne to Matt Haig and Caitlin Moran, Simon Rich is back with his funniest and most personal collection of stories to date.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The latest collection from Rich (Spoiled Brats) lives up to its name, gathering 18 tales of varying quality that too often fail to linger beyond their brief page counts. A David vs. Goliath theme appears in several plot lines: in "The Baby," a struggling writer and father-to-be is in a race against time to complete his historical novel when he discovers his unborn son is hard at work on a similar book of his own; "Riding Solo: The Oatsy Story" tells the story of Paul Revere's famous ride from the perspective of his horse, who is left behind after Revere gains celebrity; and "Upward Mobility" pits a personal assistant against his cruel boss for the last available ticket into Heaven. "Adolf Hitler: The GQ Profile" is a smart and darkly humorous skewering of celebrity worship. "Hands," one of the longest and best stories of the bunch, pokes fun at religion to chronicle a competitive monk who decides to elevate his martyrdom over his brethren by cutting off his hands. When Rich slows down, his stories can hold emotional resonance, but one-joke, pithy entries such as "Tom Hanks Stories" and "Physician's Lounge, April 1st" are forgettable. The collection has a punchline-over-prose feeling that's hard to shake.
