Review: 4.75 stars from Red Adept Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 16, 2012
Overall: 4.75 starsPlot/Storyline: 4.5 starsYes, I know a humor book doesn't necessarily have a plot, but it does have a storyline (sort of). There were some comments in this book I didn't like; for instance, I don't think getting drunk is amusing OR an acceptable way to handle holiday stress. But Henry nails so much about the holiday season, in an unaffectedly amusing manner, that I laughed anyway. He acknowledges that wives get most of the Christmas shopping duties because men are memory-impaired. "Wives make lists, an activity that is as abhorrent to most men as asking directions." He argues effectively that stocking up the first aid kit should be the first Christmas chore. "There's no time when greater amounts of unlicensed electrical work will be performed by a guy that's sometimes half in the bag." He compares mall shopping to Dante's Inferno and shares his attempts to buy a gift online for his wife. "Something sexy, but not an outfit that looks like it has to be accessorized with a whip and dog collar." I laughed all the way through Chapter Seven, "Journal Entries." His first chapter wasn't particularly funny, and you wouldn't miss anything by skipping it. But the bottom line on the book is: it made me laugh. The journal still made me laugh out loud the second time I read it. This would be a great early Christmas present for the men (and women!) stressing out as Christmas nears.Writing style: 5 starsSentence structure was fine. Descriptions were pointedly exaggerated and usually made me laugh. I spent some time looking hard at Henry's word use and couldn't find anything that I thought would be more effective if a different word/phrase was used.Editing/Formatting: unratedThere were some relying-on-spellcheck-type errors, but the most annoying was the repeated use of "bow" for "bough." Formatting may have been the weakest area of the book. The cartoon illustrations were somewhat cute and may have been funny, but the captions were too small to read on my Kindle Keyboard or my Android phone Kindle app, and increasing the type size didn't help. Whole sections were oddly indented. But these problems didn't really affect my enjoyment of the book.