On a positive side, the book is an easy read and does have some very good jokes and stories. In fact, much of the book is based around anecdotes from his life as a father. He has 5 kids and lives in the NYC, so there are some very funny stories. I like the stories he tells and points he makes in the book. Certainly, there are times when I laughed out loud (when he talks about feeding kids, he says if you are going to give your 3 year old a taco, you might as well just throw it on the floor and save some time), but for the most, it was alot of stories that were not super funny but were occasionally interesting.
The biggest problem of the book, is that it is really set up as a book that is supposed to be funny and make you laugh. So, normally, a book you read is interesting because of the content and points it might makes (or stories it tells, if fiction). While this book does try to make certain points (i.e. 5 kids is a lot), it's mostly set up to be funny. As I said, though, it really wasn't that funny. I mean, when you see him do stand-up it's like 45 minutes of jokes and there is the whole way it's told, facial expressions, etc. In a 200 page book, the joke stands alone on the page and, if you were to read it out loud, it would probably take hours. My point: there's only so much good material and it's very hard to keep it up through a whole book.
I gave it 2 stars as there were numerous times reading it when I was dreading having to continue. While I did not really dislike it, it wasn't doing much for me. The jokes were few and far between, the anecdotes were short and not all that interesting. Normally, when I read a fiction book, its a great story; this was not. When I read non-fiction, I am usually learning something; I did not much here (again, besides knowing 5 kids is a lot).
So, if you are a huge Jim Gaffigan fan or do enjoy humor about raising kids, this might be up your alley. Or, if you are a reader with a lot of time and just enjoy simple stories, this might be good. But, if you expect a bit more to think about when you reading, do give some of the higher rated books on my blog a try first.
