Review: Comedy gems collected together. Well worth reading.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2013
This box-set represents great value for money, collecting Pete Sortwells' trio of Reviews stories.The Complete Idiot Reviews (A Laugh Out Loud Comedy Box Set)***The Village Idiot Reviews***A Laugh Out Loud book.,This is a review of The Village Idiot Reviews (A laugh out loud comedy e-book)This book takes the form of reviews of products available on Amazon.Although the reviews are meant to be tongue-in-cheek, they all have a link to the relevant Amazon product page, and the review appears there. Naturally, the author makes a point of saying the review itself is fictitious and uses the opportunity to plug his book (and why not?).The reviews themselves are hilarious, and form a narrative that runs through the whole book. Laugh Out Loud? YES!A very original concept. The reviews are not repetitive, as Pete Sortwell creates a number of characters to assess each item. These characters themselves are the real stars: Bishop Desmond, Denny, Father Frederick and Ethel to name a few amongst a host of others, all bring their unique 'insight' into everyday products.I found this a light read, with lots of 'Oh My God!' moments - and, yes, I couldn't resist clicking the link to a number of these products to see if the review was *really* there. They always were.***The Office Idiot Reviews***An Hilarious Read by Pete Sortwell.This is a review of The Office Idiot Reviews (A laugh out loud comedy book)This book tells the story of Office-based relationships prefaced by reviews of products available on Amazon.This is the second book by Pete Sortwell, following on from The Village Idiot Reviews, which has a similar original concept, though the books are different in a number of respects.The characters in this book are all employed by Norman Hogsbottom, owner of a bath-plug manufacturing company, and each chapter starts with a link to a product genuinely available on Amazon, and then goes on to tell the story of a number of office relationships, and the relevance of the product to that relationship.Meet John the Cleaner, Margaret, Jeff, Sandy and a host of others. Each character has his/her own foibles, fears and desires. All, without exception, hate Mr Hogsbottom, who sees himself as a David Brent-type success story, who alienates with every utterance.This is a hilarious read from start to finish. As the story unfolds, it becomes more outrageous but at the same time, it is darkly humourous with characters that will be easily recognized by anyone who has ever worked in an office. It is a real page-turner.Like his earlier book, The Village Idiot Reviews, this is a very original concept, and is fully deserving of it's 5 star rating.***The Idiot government Reviews***A politically funny satireThis is a review of The Idiot Government Reviews (A Laugh Out Loud Satirical Comedy)This book, like the others in the series, tells the story through reviews of products available on Amazon.co.uk.Full of instantly recognisable characters from the world of politics, like Cameron Davies, Ted Williebond, Elouise Munch and Gary Usborn, the story lurches from the sublimely funny to the ridiculous, offering an insight into the murky world of political intrigue.This book caricatures recent political history in 'Southamptonshire', and, with a little thought, accurately reflects some real events though in a typically oblique way. A lot of the fun in this book is trying to work out the satirical references.Though it will date very quickly as political events don't last long in the public consciousness, it is an entertaining book, with some laugh out loud moments.