What exactly is The Tight Trouser Club? Where do you buy children at bargain prices? How do you survive a father who buries you in the garden whenever you misbehave? And whom do you contact when your wife starts to shrink?
None of these questions are answered in My Extraordinary Life and Death, though what do you expect if the author is dead? A roller-coaster of madness and surreal comedy awaits the reader brave enough to open the pages of this truly remarkable book. Based on a false story.
Laugh Out Loud Funny
You know those old drawings from earlier centuries? Quite often stylised and slightly off somehow. Just waiting for some clever person to come along and twist their meaning to new and hilarious ends.
That person is Doug Macleod, who here collects various images to illustrate a hilarious, entirely fictional account of his life, and death.
Contained within the pages are a father who wears beehives into town, the inventor of the whoopee cushion, a cheerful and light-hearted proposal, and many children, including a nervous child whose pants attract lightning.
I don't know how many times I laughed out loud reading this book, suffice to say, many. And it isn't a 'read once, laugh once' sort of book. Each time I open it to re-read I find myself bursting into a fresh round of chuckles.
Perfect as a gift for christmas, birthdays or for someone who needs a good laugh. It's much better than a gift of tight pants!
Guest, 15/12/2009
My Extraordinary Life & Death by Doug MacLeod
Q: What might you get if you threw Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Andy Riley's Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides into a blender? A: My Extraordinary Life & Death by Doug MacLeod. This is one for those who like their humour left of centre. As a long-time fan of weirdness in all its forms, this book had me laughing out loud from start to finish. Delivered in a formal off-the-cuff tone, with equally formal line art that adds an extra dimension to the dark humour, the narrator chronicles his incredible life, from his delivery by the stork (which was later shot by his parents), to his untimely death. After a jolly early childhood, which included training ants that turned out to be house-eating termites, and blowing grandma up with static electricity, our narrator was them packed off to St Brendan's boarding school where the animals were mutants and the school chef glowed in the dark. Some of the highlights of our narrator's later life include: membership to the tight trouser club, marriage to Lucy, whom he wooed with toadstools and threats of death, and the acquisition of sixteen children who all met dubious ends. This is a tale of few words that even the most bibliophobic child will have no trouble finishing. It can easily be read on the school bus, or during a particularly boring work meeting for that matter. Here's a sample: I could sense Father was cross with me. Father had a no-nonsense approach to discipline. If Denise or I were naughty he would tell the gardener to bury us for several hours. But my sister Denise and I were happy children. Denise would chase butterflies and eat them. I invented an invisible girlfriend, whom I would embrace regularly. My Extraordinary Life & Death is an attractive book that will make a valuable addition to this year's Christmas gift list particularly when it comes to buying for that impossible person, we all know, who has everything. This teeny tome is silly, pointless and an absolute must read!
Katrina, 21/06/2009
