Synopses & Reviews
A dark comic masterpiece—the first solo adult novel in more than a decade from the Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times–bestselling author. Seth Weinstein knew Tina was way out of his league in pretty much any way you could imagine, which is why it continued to astonish him that he was on the plane now for their destination wedding in Florida. The Groom Posse had already sprung an airport prank on him, and he’d survived it, and if that was the worst of it, everything should be okay. Smooth sailing from now on.
Seth has absolutely no idea what he’s about to get into. In the next several hours, he and his friends will become embroiled with rioters, Russian gangsters, angry strippers, a pimp as big as the Death Star, a very desperate Haitian refugee on the run with her two children from some very bad men, and an eleven-foot albino Burmese python named Blossom. And there’re still two days to go before the wedding.
As it turns out, it’s not smooth sailing, it’s more like a trip on the Titanic. And the water below him is getting deeper every minute. By the end, amid gunfire, high-speed chases, and
mayhem of the most unimaginable sort, violent men will fall, heroes will rise, and many lives will change.
Seth’s, not least of all.
Review
Praise for Dave Barry: “Dave Barry remains one of the funniest writers alive.”—Carl Hiaasen
“While reading Dave Barry’s Big Trouble, I laughed so loud I fell out of a chair. Luckily, there’s a rug, so I didn’t hurt myself.” —Stephen King
Review
Praise for INSANE CITY
“Picture The Hangover with a splash of Miami Vice, and you get Dave Barry's Insane City. . . This is a quick, fun (and laugh-out-loud funny) read, and the action never slows.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"[A] very funny new novel . . . [Barry's] sly observations, well-delineated characters, and intricate plotting mesh perfectly."—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Dave Barry
“Dave Barry remains one of the funniest writers alive.”—Carl Hiaasen
“While reading Dave Barrys Big Trouble, I laughed so loud I fell out of a chair. Luckily, theres a rug, so I didnt hurt myself.” —Stephen King
Review
Praise for INSANE CITY
“Picture The Hangover with a splash of Miami Vice, and you get Dave Barry's Insane City. . . This is a quick, fun (and laugh-out-loud funny) read, and the action never slows.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"[A] very funny new novel . . . [Barry's] sly observations, well-delineated characters, and intricate plotting mesh perfectly."—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Dave Barry
“Dave Barry remains one of the funniest writers alive.”—Carl Hiaasen
“While reading Dave Barrys Big Trouble, I laughed so loud I fell out of a chair. Luckily, theres a rug, so I didnt hurt myself.” —Stephen King
Review
Praise for Dave Barry
“Despite years of medication, Dave Barry is still the funniest damn writer in the whole country. Lets hope he never grows up.” —Carl Hiaasen
“Dave Barry is truly the funniest man living in the three-mile ‘safe zone off the shores of America.” —Steve Martin
“This isnt a book to take on vacation, it is a vacation.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times, on Ill Mature When Im Dead
Review
“Adam Resnick doesn't merely summon the jaundice and surprise of early David Sedaris, his mini memoirs are unpretentious reminders of John Updike's everyman absurdities and Richard Ford's bewildered strivers. A biting, darkly hilarious collection of personal essays that begs to be read aloud.”
—Chicago Tribune (A Best Book of the Year, 2014)
“[A] gruff, wry paean to lifes indignities...essays here arent just stand-up skits but have actual plots—in which things go horrifically, uproariously wrong…Anyone who watches Larry David will be familiar with Resnicks hearty style of tell-it-like-it-is meanness.
—Lisa Zeidner, The Washington Post
"An anti-social work of art."
—RollingStone.com
“[A] dark, hilarious first book….Resnick is a guy thoroughly uncomfortable in his own skin, and he knows how to wring laughs and pathos out of that fact...[he] delivers his sad little histories with wit, insight and hilarious detail. [Like] kindred spirits Louis C.K. and Larry David, he just wants the rest of the world to see how stupid it all is.”
—Josh Modell, AV Club (A Favorite Book of the Year, 2014)
“A streak of self-loathing runs through these stories with the anti-social Resnick repeatedly finding himself struggling through a humiliating or deeply irritating experience. However, that trenchant quality is occasionally undercut by an almost subliminal level of sweetness….Resnicks cynical sensibilities are surprisingly raw and consistently hilarious….Will Not Attend could very well be one of the funniest books released this year.”
—Splitsider
“The essays reveal the potty-mouthed, definitely not politically correct, and totally opinionated author at the top of his game. He takes on Disneyland and the Disney philosophy with gusto while on the side using a family trip to destroy the relationship with his sister-in-law. His take on junk food is priceless (“Only a narcissistic asshole would consider his body a temple”). Readers will relish this book. Buy plenty.”
—Booklist
“The writing is sharp and sharp-tongued … the book is not for readers who are easily offended. The authors aversion to just about everything paints him as nihilistic and cynical, but the subtle moments of genuine vulnerability remain the heart of every story. These moments prove redemptive for a character who sometimes feels beyond saving and shed light on how he developed such comically twisted viewpoints. A neurotic, unapologetic, hilarious collection.”
—Kirkus
“Writing a collection of short stories is a very difficult thing to do. These Adam Resnick stories are great. You read one and think, that was so well done maybe Ill read another. You think, the next one cant be as good, and its even better. I hope you read this book. Its funny, smart and thoughtful; and its funny, smart and thoughtful. I loved it. I think you will as well. Did I mention I loved it? Happy reading.”
—Dave Letterman
“Having worked with Adam Resnick many years ago, I can easily recall he was a little nuts, but I completely forgot he was this talented and funny. Damn, this book is good.”
—Jon Stewart
“Adam Resnick is one of the funniest writers I've ever known, and he proves it big-time in this acid-swaddled memoir. You will laugh reading this book, I swear to Christ Almighty. Adam comes by his misanthropy honestly and bravely—and his continued existence is a tribute to the soul-nourishing qualities of an unrelenting, unforgiving, and hilarious outlook. I will be reading this again and again for the rest of my life like it's
the goddamn bible.”
—Bob Odenkirk
“In the ideal film adaptation of Will Not Attend, second-grader Adam Resnick would be played by a four-foot-tall, fully adult homunculus Resnick, animated by a precocious despair, disdainful of cultural idiocy, and wearing the ever-present scowl of the perpetually put-upon. Undoubtedly, the child Resnick is father of the man Resnick. This is a very funny book, and I would pay decent money to see the movie version, or even to play it in the form of an extremely sad video game.”
—Charlie Kaufman
“Adam Resnick is like an artist keenly observing the subtleties of light and shadow in the world around us—painting hilariously bleak portraits of the neighbors, friends, and family that we all know and love so dearly. Hes basically our generations Norman Rockwell, if Norman Rockwell had ever painted a woman sucking off a horse.”
—Chris Elliott
Review
Praise for Dave Barry and his books “The funniest damn writer in the whole country.”—Carl Hiaasen
“[Barry] is truly the funniest man living in the three mile ‘safe zone off the shores of America.”—Steve Martin
“Big, goofy comedy in the vein of Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey…Barry keeps the humor good-naturedly bawdy while simultaneously throwing in everything but the kitchen sink.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Barrys dialogue is smart, fast and funny.”—Denver Post
“Fans know what to expect from Dave Barry: joke-packed prose and one-liners.”—The Associated Press
Synopsis
The New York Times bestse;;er from "the funniest man in America" (New York Times). Not everyone has to be dragged kicking and screaming through adulthood. Let Pulitzer Prizewinning humorist and nationally unrecognized voice of maturity Dave Barry make the journey a little easier-and a lot funnier-with his hilarious takes on parenting, changing self-image, the battle of the sexes, technology, health care, celebrityhood-and even vampires!
Synopsis
I'll Mature When I'm Dead is the
New York Times bestseller from the funniest man in America (
New York Times). Let Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist and nationally
unrecognized voice of maturity Dave Barry make the journey to adulthood a little easier
--and a lot funnier.
Not everyone has to be dragged kicking and screaming through adulthood. Dave Barry will help through this process--with his hilarious takes on parenting, changing self-image, the battle of the sexes, technology, health care, celebrityhood, and even vampires
Synopsis
A dark comic masterpiece—the first solo adult novel in more than a decade from the Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times–bestselling author. Seth Weinstein knew Tina was way out of his league in pretty much any way you could imagine, which is why it continued to astonish him that he was on the plane now for their destination wedding in Florida. The Groom Posse had already sprung an airport prank on him, and he’d survived it, and if that was the worst of it, everything should be okay. Smooth sailing from now on.
Seth has absolutely no idea what he’s about to get into. In the next several hours, he and his friends will become embroiled with rioters, Russian gangsters, angry strippers, a pimp as big as the Death Star, a very desperate Haitian refugee on the run with her two children from some very bad men, and an eleven-foot albino Burmese python named Blossom. And there’re still two days to go before the wedding.
As it turns out, it’s not smooth sailing, it’s more like a trip on the Titanic. And the water below him is getting deeper every minute. By the end, amid gunfire, high-speed chases, and
mayhem of the most unimaginable sort, violent men will fall, heroes will rise, and many lives will change.
Seth’s, not least of all.
Synopsis
A brilliantly funny exploration of the twin mysteries of parenthood and families from the Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Timesbestselling author of Insane City.
In his New York Timesbestselling Ill Mature When Im Dead, Dave Barry embarked on the treacherous seas of adulthood, to hilarious results. What comes next? Parenthood, of course, and families.
In uproarious, brand-new pieces, Barry tackles everything from family trips, bat mitzvah parties and dating (hes serious about that title: When my daughter can legally commence datingFebruary 24, 2040I intend to monitor her closely, even if I am deceased”) to funeral instructions (I would like my eulogy to be given by William Shatner”), the differences between male and female friendships, the deeper meaning of Fifty Shades of Grey, and a fathers ultimate sacrifice: accompanying his daughter to a Justin Bieber concert (It turns out that the noise teenaged girls make to express happiness is the same noise they would make if their feet were being gnawed off by badgers”).
Lets face it: families not only enrich our lives every day, they drive us completely around the bend. Thank goodness we have Dave Barry as our guide!
Synopsis
Adam Resnick, an Emmy Award-winning writer for NBCs
Late Night with David Letterman, has spent his entire life trying to avoid interaction with people. While courageously admitting to being euphorically antisocial” and sick in the head,” he allows us to plunge even deeper into his troubled psyche in this unabashedly uproarious memoir-in-essays where we observe Resnicks committed indifference to family, friends, strangers, and the world at large. His mind shaped by such touchstone events as a traumatic Easter egg hunt when he was six (which solidified his hatred of parties) and overwrought by obsessions, including one with a plastic shopping bag (which solidified his hatred for change), he refuses to be burdened by chores like basic social obligation and personal growth, living instead by his own steadfast rule: I refuse to do anything I dont want to do.”
Cut from a similar (if somewhat stranger) cloth as Albert Brooks or Louis C.K., Resnick is the crazy, miserable bastard you cant help rooting for, and the brilliant Will Not Attend showcases this seasoned comedy writer at his brazenly hilarious best.
Synopsis
If theres one thing that
New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Dave Barry is an expert on, its raising a daughter.
which means hes not an expert on much considering the breadth of his knowledge on that subject fills only a single chapter of a book. However, what Dave Barry is good at is giving unsolicited advice on topics hes definitively not an expert on. In fact, he now has an entire book filled with guidance on things he knows nothing about, including: surviving in the wild, wooing women, cremation, maintaining a scintillating conversation, Justin Bieber, the U.S. Postal Service, enduring the TSA, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and, most obviously, being a professional author.
With trademark wit and unmatched insight into the insanity of everyday life, Dave Barry presents a series of hilarious, never-before-published essays on the trials and tribulations of living and laughing in the modern age.
About the Author
Dave Barry is a humor columnist. For 25 years he was a syndicated columnist whose work appeared in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and abroad. In 1988 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Many people are still trying to figure out how this happened.
Dave has also written a total of 25 books, although virtually none of them contain useful information. Two of his books were used as the basis for the CBS TV sitcom "Dave's World," in which Harry Anderson played a much taller version of Dave.
Dave plays lead guitar in a literary rock band called the Rock Bottom Remainders, whose other members include Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson and Mitch Albom. They are not musically skilled, but they are extremely loud. Dave has also made many TV appearances, including one on the David Letterman show where he proved that it is possible to set fire to a pair of men's underpants with a Barbie doll.
In his spare time, Dave is a candidate for president of the United States. If elected, his highest priority will be to seek the death penalty for whoever is responsible for making Americans install low-flow toilets.
Dave lives in Miami, Florida, with his wife, Michelle, a sportswriter. He has a son, Rob, and a daughter, Sophie, neither of whom thinks he's funny.