Thursday, July 14, 2011

It Looked Different on the Model: Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy-Laurie Notaro

It Looked Different on the Model: Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy
Laurie Notaro
Villard, Jul 26 2011, $15.00
ISBN: 9780345510990

This amusing collection lives up to its subtitle as Laurie Notaro explores how far she will go to fit in to avoid “shame and infamy.” In "Let It Bleed” she analyzes the mental trauma of “modeling clothes in a store’s dressing room while knowing workers and other customers are scoring her. "She's a Pill" focuses on "Ambien Laurie," who arises when the author takes the pill that never quite allows a sleeping dog to just sleep at least in her case. Parental relations are explored in "It's a Bomb" as she flies from Eugene, Oregon to visit her Republican parents in Phoenix, Arizona and in the “FWD” apocalyptic emails from her mother. Finally there are the spousal relationships in their rendition of “Jingle Bells” and in “Woofs”. This is the usual amusing self-deprecating shtick from one of the best humorists around (see Autobiography of a Fat Bride and We Thought You Would Be Prettier).

Harriet Klausner

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