August was humour month for our genre book club. I was already a few chapters in (yeah ok, so I sort of cheated!) to a hilarious autobiography, which pretty much influenced the picking of this month's genre. And thank goodness, because it was a great book! I guess it's not traditional humour (as far as the genre goes) but it make me smile and laugh constantly so it counts.
August 2014: Humour
Nobody Cries at BINGO
By Dawn Dumont
2011
298 pages
The author (a trained lawyer and actress/comedian) presents each chapter as a short vignette about her childhood growing up on a reserve in Saskatchewan. The stories flow chronologically and revolve around her family, friends and the mundane, yet exciting, details about their daily lives. Dumont's language is simple, yet she deftly portrays reserve life to those who aren't familiar with it (and I suspect to those who are).
And it was hilarious, in a completely dry, sarcastic and self deprecating way. Dumont turns all those little stereotypical details into comical moments, but not in a "laughing at you way", always in a "laughing with you" way. It was a joy to read! My only complaint is that it ended abruptly, but I guess that's the way vignettes are. I definitely wanted her to keep going, as the book ends with her in law school, because I wanted to hear more about her crazy family antics! Who knew a story about crying over Cheezies at BINGO could be so funny!
Read this if you want to learn more about what living on a reserve is like (from someone with first hand experience). Read this if you want to smile after every paragraph. I think I'll try read her new book too, as I really got her style of humour. Or maybe I'll just read this one again!
August 2014: Humour
Nobody Cries at BINGO
By Dawn Dumont
2011
298 pages
The author (a trained lawyer and actress/comedian) presents each chapter as a short vignette about her childhood growing up on a reserve in Saskatchewan. The stories flow chronologically and revolve around her family, friends and the mundane, yet exciting, details about their daily lives. Dumont's language is simple, yet she deftly portrays reserve life to those who aren't familiar with it (and I suspect to those who are).
And it was hilarious, in a completely dry, sarcastic and self deprecating way. Dumont turns all those little stereotypical details into comical moments, but not in a "laughing at you way", always in a "laughing with you" way. It was a joy to read! My only complaint is that it ended abruptly, but I guess that's the way vignettes are. I definitely wanted her to keep going, as the book ends with her in law school, because I wanted to hear more about her crazy family antics! Who knew a story about crying over Cheezies at BINGO could be so funny!
Read this if you want to learn more about what living on a reserve is like (from someone with first hand experience). Read this if you want to smile after every paragraph. I think I'll try read her new book too, as I really got her style of humour. Or maybe I'll just read this one again!
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