I haven't laughed so hard I cried in months. That near-murder-by-pickle was the culprit. I read it 3 times and every time it had me in stitches, unable to breathe, and straight-up sobbing.

Thanks for the laughs, and especially the depression, David. You always know how to keep me coming back for more.

A little different than Thorne's previous books but in a good way. Still outrageously over the top funny commentary but a little more feeling than previous books.

The parts of this book that take place in 2020 are an amazingly accurate history of the mundane, mind-numbingly boring, infuriating and sudden events that occurred over that year; transitioning into work-from-home and stuck in quarantine and then just living in that space. And while I agree that he reused, I think verbatim, parts of his other book in regards to Simon's funeral, by the end it made sense as he did focus more on Jennifer and events that happened at that time as they pertained to her.

I look forward to buying each new book when they come out once a year. And I like the transition into more of essays with a common theme (even though they diverge quite a bit).

Politically incorrect? Sometimes. Hilarious? Always.

Before I got to the last section of the book, I was expecting to write something about it being “not his best” and “worth it for the updates on the unusual recurring characters”, but I’m not sure that’s exactly fair after finishing it. I would maybe rate it as a 3/5 for someone who hasn’t read a David Throne book before and lacks a lot of the context explored in earlier books, but a 4/5 for anyone who has.

This is not a normal David Thorne book about not-a-normal year. There are funny parts, of course, but they’re used more as small reliefs from a through-line of the growing pandemic, grief, and loss. There are a few “yikes” passages, as well, where you would have hoped an editor would have stepped in. Overall, the normally misanthropic Australian funnyman comes off more as someone just trying to cope through the pandemic & personal loss, while revealing a hidden care for many of the humans he’s previously made subject to his antics in prior writings.

The last two stories, one a flashback to his youth, the other more recent, cap off a book that serves more as an exploration of using humor to deal with a lifetime of trauma and loss, than a humorous endeavor itself.

This was a quick funny read that I read on a whim and enjoyed.