Lamentations of the Father: Essays

Lamentations of the Father is a hysterical collection of humor pieces. Frazier takes common experiences and deftly turns them into laugh riots. More literary in many ways than someone like Dave Barry, Frazier applies his smarts to subjects that you wouldn't think could be turned into humor, like how to operate a shower curtain. His parody of rap verses by substituting rappers with classic poets is incredibly funny, as are virtually all the pieces. My only criticisms: one piece on cursing mommy was sufficient; the murderer piece I actually fouind a bit disturbing. Nevertheless, if you want to laugh a lot, if you are married and have children, if you want to see a clever mind at play, read this book.

How does a man become a murderer? Not the kind of question you and I ask ourselves, but Ian Frazier has thought deeply. Done the homework. And, in "He, The Murderer", he reports back: On an aptitude test, "Murderer" was the category he scored highest in. By then, he'd already murdered a couple of guys, just fooling around. He kind of liked it. One thing led to another. It's not all roses, this business of killing people. For one thing: Now he wishes he'd murdered more people when he was younger. You reach the age of forty, forty-five, and you can't react like you used to when you were twenty. For another: Everybody's got his hand out these days, wanting a favor. "Hey, Ronnie, can you murder my nephew?" "Ronnie, my man, if you got a second, could you murder the head of the Plumbers and Contractors Union?" "Yo, Uncle Ronnie, how about doing a little murdering for us, pro bono?" Like always, friends and family take advantage. To no one's surprise, he wants better for the next generation: He is determined that his son will not have to murder people when he gets big, and will be able to make a good living simply by injuring them. And then....but you see what happens. You start reading an Ian Frazier piece, and the next thing you know you're quoting him to anyone in your zip code, and pretty soon you're reading the whole piece aloud. And this happens time after time, because on a good day there is no one better at smart-funny than Ian Frazier. "Kisses All Around", for example, is letters of premature acknowledgment. The Pope's representative thanks Martin Luther for the 95 theses: "It's on the table next to his bed, and he will certainly get to it soon." Khomeini tells Salman Rushdie how much he's looking forward to reading "The Satanic Verses" --- "Death to Bush or whoever, and kisses all around." "Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father" starts with important rules for the consumption of refreshment outside the kitchen. ("If you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room.") Of course the Father moves on to complaints: "Hear me, O my children, for the bills they kill me. I pay and pay again, even to the twelfth time in a year, and yet again they mount higher than before..." "The Cursing Mommy Cookbook" is everything that went on in your head when you went to make chili and someone had used the last of the chili powder. Later, there's "A Cursing Mommy Christmas." Because, you know, it's always at her house.... "Researchers Say"parodies academic writing by exploring the emerging proof that life is too hard. Thus: "Nine out of ten of the respondents, identified by just their first initials for the purpose of the survey, stated that they would give up completely if they knew how." "Warmer, Warmer" is a meditation on George Bush's call for a decade of additional research on global warming. But which one? "'We don't want to pick just any old decade,' th

As serious as he is funny, Frazier can deconstruct the historical accuracy of Daffy Duck with the same straight-faced relish he uses to savage corporate crooks and the "innovative thinking" of the Bush administration. While his politics are definitely left leaning, he skewers pomposity, dogmatism and the babble of popular culture wherever it strikes his fancy - which is just about anywhere, from techno-thriller movies to the mythic figures of our time (like Russell Crowe), from the sound bite to guide book drivel, from the latest in scientific research to the ordinary family. Especially the family. The book's funniest piece - in the sense of laugh-out-loud humor rather than fiendishly clever satire - is the title piece, "Lamentations of the Father." Published in 1997 when his children were small, it begins: "Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room." And, from "What I Am," inspired by an accident of dishwasher loading in which his wife calls him an "idiot" and he objects, not to the characterization so much as the terminology: "Quite simply, `idiot' is not a nice word to call somebody, and I find myself asking, as Mr. Welch did of Senator Joseph McCarthy, `Have you no sense of decency, sir?' " "The Cursing Mommy Cookbook" and "The Cursing Mommy Christmas" start out with Martha Stewart decorum and quickly, hysterically, devolve into familiar domestic chaos. Others take a more quirky view - the tribulations of the absent expectant (maybe) father; the earnest murderer's family aspirations; coming of age among the right-wing militia. Frazier started out as a staff writer for "The New Yorker" in the 70s and it shows. All his work has a strong voice and an eye for detail. From books like 1989's "Great Plains," and 2000's "On the Rez," personal, in-depth explorations of the past and present West and its people, to his collections of humor, like this one and the earlier "Dating Your Mom" and "Coyote V. Acme," Frazier brings a thoughtful reflection to the world around him. His wordsmithing engages the reader's imagination. In humor, this often means sinking his imaginary teeth into a cultural tidbit and running with it: "According to a study just released by scientists at Duke University, life is too hard. Although their findings mainly concern life as experienced by human beings, the study also applies to other animate forms, the scientists claim. Years of tests, experiments and complex computer simulations now provide solid statistical evidence in support of old folk sayings that described life as `a vale of sorrows,' `a woeful trial,' `a kick in the teeth,' `not worth living,' and so on." Or taking an ideological stance to its furthest conclusion; the doctrine of pre-emption, for instance, as applied to Iceland and Scandinavia. Then there's the Bin Laden piece, which appeared a month before September 11, in which Frazier notices Bin Lad

This is a wonderful book for anyone who has children, and is familiar with the King James version of the Bible. I have never laughed so hard!

Not for everyone, but for parents who can translate Torah, this is about the funniest piece ever written. It's a small book--just that one piece from Atlantic with illustrations, but if you're wrestling with Biblical Hebrew and sippy cups, it's probably about as much diversion as you have time for. I think this would make an excellent gift for a bright stay-at-home (Jewish) parent of a toddler.