Book Review # 2

I just finished reading How I Became Stupid by Martin Page . It had some great lines and descriptions that made me laugh out loud, but the story was a bit weak altogether. Like The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, strong on comedy and weak on story. Here are some of the high points.

1. Becoming stupid meant being a wealthy greedy stockbroker. He put value on superficial and material things. There's a touching description of his TV remote and how it became his pet.
2. Stupid people were described as "people with opinions". Always arguing, never listening. That's a strange parallel with another book I'm reading, Jim and Casper Go To Church. There's a lot in there about listening and the lack thereof. Spooky.
3. The protagonist, Antoine, becomes a stockbroker and learns how interesting that really is. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the description of his friends makes them out to be a colorful, sympathetic group of characters. They hate Antoine's decision to become stupid only because they care about him. Snobbery has nothing to do with it.
The stockbrokers, however, are flatter than pancakes run over by a truck then a steamroller five times. This was strategic and a nice touch.
4. The Simpsons is listed among geniuses. Dang Skippy.
5. "I have every right to complain."
"Okay... but... it can get exhausting. Don't you think there could be better things to do?"
6. He was poor when he was intelligent. His various interests resulted in multiple degrees that were not marketable in any way. (This relates to the video I posted a couple blogs back. Spoooky!)

I mentioned what I didn't like, and most of that is due to uneven voice. The author interjects his opinion even though the story is third person. Usually, I don't mind that but in this case it was distracting. He borrows tone from the Simpsons (that's fine since they're geniuses), Nick Hornby (not as fine since he doesn't do satire) , and probably others I'm unaware of.
The end was annoying and clunky. It read like Martin Page was watching two TVs at the same time, one showing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the other showing reruns of "Friends." Both good on their own, but together, ugh.

I'm not blasting the book, though. It was funny, and I'm sure it's a cliche' by now, but I like the "be content with what you have" message. I could complain about the low points, but I'm sure there are better things to do.