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The Book of Jokes
Imagine a universe where every joke you’ve ever heard is solid, real, and occasionally dangerous—and all happening, one after the other, to the same small group of people. Detailing a series of filthy and ludicrous episodes in the life of a single family, saddled with a super-eccentric, sexually rapacious father, The Book of Jokes tells the story of the youth and education of a bland young boy doomed to record—in an incongruously serious, autobiographical mode—all the ridiculous incidents befalling his household. With their lives dictated by set ups and punchlines, the boy’s family quickly becomes luridly dysfunctional, and he realizes that the only way to escape his tragicomic fate is by trying to take control of the joke-telling himself. Channeling the spirits of Chaucer, Rabelais, Flann O’Brien, and Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, the Vatican secretary who compiled the first known book of jokes in 1451, The Book of Jokes is a happy raspberry in the face of life as we know and tell it.
189 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2009
About the author
Momus
21 books47 followersNick Currie, more popularly known under the artist name Momus (after the Greek god of mockery), is a prolific songwriter, blogger and former journalist for Wired. Most of his songs are self-referential and many could be classified as postmodern.
For more than twenty-five years he has been releasing, to marginal commercial and critical success, albums on labels in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. In his lyrics and his other writing he makes seemingly random use of decontextualized pieces of continental (mostly French) philosophy, and has built up a personal world he says is "dominated by values like diversity, orientalism, and a respect for otherness." He is fascinated by identity, Japan, Rome, the avant-garde, time travel and sex.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momus_%2...
For more than twenty-five years he has been releasing, to marginal commercial and critical success, albums on labels in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. In his lyrics and his other writing he makes seemingly random use of decontextualized pieces of continental (mostly French) philosophy, and has built up a personal world he says is "dominated by values like diversity, orientalism, and a respect for otherness." He is fascinated by identity, Japan, Rome, the avant-garde, time travel and sex.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momus_%2...
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 3, 2016
Momus aka Nicky Currie, is giving the reader the finger in this book. It invites one to share a bit of the fun of being put on. I was finishing this particular book in public when a stranger approached me and asked me if there were any good jokes in here. I described the numerous ways that Momus uses the phrase "this is the pig I've been fucking." He was given a warning. I told him that I was not in the habit of telling obscene jokes to strangers. I should have just told him my favorite knock knock joke of this century:
"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Nine eleven."
"Nine eleven who?"
"You said you'd never forget."
"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Nine eleven."
"Nine eleven who?"
"You said you'd never forget."
December 26, 2015
Ever feel like your life is a joke? Meet the Skeletons: Young Sebastian, his sister, and their parents. They live in a glass house where their lives are ruled not by the laws of nature, but by the laws of jokes. The family history and its present, ongoing predicaments are the subject matter of a repetitive series of for the most part rather well known jokes. Do I even need to mention that they are almost entirely dirty jokes. Sebastian seems somewhat aware of this situation, but powerless to break the pattern -- or even very concerned about doing so. When he finds himself in his drowsy Grandfather's bus, he knows he will be among the screaming, panicked victims of the fatal crash and not go peacefully in his sleep like Grandpa.
Sebastian announces that this is his prison diary, an institution where his only friends are a murderer and a child molester. Their decision to break out and commit the crimes of which they have been falsely accused provides some forward narrative for the book, interspersed with Sebastian's childhood memories. For a time his family adopted the lifestyle of Japanese aristocrats of the Heien period, but whatever their affectations they never escape their glass house, the embarrassments and ordeals of their father's ongoing affair with a goose, or their mother's decision to leave them for a lesbian lover. Another source of the children's embarrassment is the prodigal growth of Dad's penis, which becomes so enormous he must either wrap it around his body or arrange for its special conveyance on wheelbarrows or other contraptions.
Momus, the author, is the Scottish songwriter Nick Currie, and throughout the book he proves himself to be one of those people who, when given the chance to tell a joke, lights up with a special verbal fire, treasuring every word as he reaches the usually already known punch line. When Dad takes the children on one of their joyless beach holidays, they sail to the Isle of Bute for the staged entertainment. The narrator writes of these shows, "In avant-garde vaudeville this was axiomatic: you needed to go further to get to, essentially, the same place."
So it is with The Book of Jokes. The book is less than 200 pages long, but not very far into it I wondered how Momus would be able to keep this up. But I realized, towards the end, that it is not a matter of how well he will perform his joke, it's a matter of how well we, the readers, can take it.
Sebastian announces that this is his prison diary, an institution where his only friends are a murderer and a child molester. Their decision to break out and commit the crimes of which they have been falsely accused provides some forward narrative for the book, interspersed with Sebastian's childhood memories. For a time his family adopted the lifestyle of Japanese aristocrats of the Heien period, but whatever their affectations they never escape their glass house, the embarrassments and ordeals of their father's ongoing affair with a goose, or their mother's decision to leave them for a lesbian lover. Another source of the children's embarrassment is the prodigal growth of Dad's penis, which becomes so enormous he must either wrap it around his body or arrange for its special conveyance on wheelbarrows or other contraptions.
Momus, the author, is the Scottish songwriter Nick Currie, and throughout the book he proves himself to be one of those people who, when given the chance to tell a joke, lights up with a special verbal fire, treasuring every word as he reaches the usually already known punch line. When Dad takes the children on one of their joyless beach holidays, they sail to the Isle of Bute for the staged entertainment. The narrator writes of these shows, "In avant-garde vaudeville this was axiomatic: you needed to go further to get to, essentially, the same place."
So it is with The Book of Jokes. The book is less than 200 pages long, but not very far into it I wondered how Momus would be able to keep this up. But I realized, towards the end, that it is not a matter of how well he will perform his joke, it's a matter of how well we, the readers, can take it.
March 17, 2012
Each chapter of this book has an overarching joke which is hit home by the last line being the punchline. This IS a novel, so there's a story about a family living in a glass house that alternates between being told by the father and the son…as far as I can tell. A lot of the book is very twisted - and I mean that both in terms of the chronology and the jokes - they're filthy. There's a major punchline at the end of the book too, but I'll be honest - I'm not sure I got it. I'll be very selective in recommending this book to others, as in I can only think of two friends I'll pass it along to.
October 9, 2017
Gratuitous incest references don't make a book edgy or "dark and humorous". I kept trying to go forward, thinking maybe this was just a false start and somewhere it would become less crass. Crass *can* be funny - but this tried too hard to be extreme.
June 6, 2017
despite its "transgressive" content i found it quite limp n unconvincing.
it lacked the kinda woomphh factor i was expecting, too pale...
it lacked the kinda woomphh factor i was expecting, too pale...
February 2, 2019
Ggfh gud uncanny t u y t u tutu i was writing jebrish
November 6, 2019
There’s something very disconcerting about realizing every detail, every single line, is in service of a punchline.
June 17, 2014
Hay humor negro y humor muy negro que para algunos leerlo puede resultar bastante delicado y ofensivo, pues sin duda alguna el polifacético músico y cantautor escocés postmoderno Nick Currie ha escrito bajo su alter ego de Momus (nombre mitológico que se adapta muy bien para lo que vamos a encontrar en esta su primera obra literaria que se traduce al español), un libro con humor, sarcasmo y burla permanente que pueden tener por seguro que no sea para todo el mundo, se debe estar en un mood muy particular para los que no se encuentren acostumbrados a estas transgresiones literarias o tener un gusto muy particular para atreverse a entrar a la historia de “El libro de las bromas” editado el año pasado por los amigos de Alpha Decay y que ha resultado para esta editorial un éxito y una excelente sorpresa para todo ese publico que encuentra deseoso de todo lo que sea políticamente incorrecto para divertirse.
La historia no es muy complicada pero si mete el dedo en la llaga de los sensibles y moralmente rectos y juiciosos. Un asesino y un pederasta, ambos orgullosos de lo que son (aunque dicen ser inocentes) junto al protagonista principal de nombre Sebastian Skeleton se conocen en la cárcel y deciden escapar para llevar a cabo sus crímenes y demostrarle a la sociedad que ahora sí serán culpables de lo que se les acusa y a su vez demostrarse entre ellos el valor y la moralidad que tiene cada uno de estos actos criminales, mientras huyen Skeleton les va contando su vida desde la niñez hasta las razones que lo llevaron a estar compartiendo celda con ellos y de esta manera “El libro de las bromas” se convierte en una aventura familiar alternándose entre capítulos llenos de toda la incorrección y disfuncionalidad posible que el lector se pueda imaginar.
Todos los personajes son particularmente llamativos y nada correctos, es así que vemos el padre del protagonista que juega ajedrez con su largo pene, un monje que se encuentra en tratamiento porque dice todo lo contrario a lo que piensa y eso vuelve todo una locura cuando tiene que hacer algún acto publico, una rana que habla y cada vez que dice cierta palabra logra encoger un inmenso pene, un gato que come manos humanas y lo mas divertido resulta ser las conversaciones entre el pederasta, el asesino y Skeleton haciendo adivinanzas de vínculos de sangre entre familiares o unos niños que juegan a la santa inquisición con langostinos como herejes; estos son solo unos cuantos personajes de los que se encuentran en este libro que resulta bastante polémico pero en exceso divertido para los que buscan algo que se atreva a ir mucho mas allá de lo permitido por los policías de la moralidad.
“El libro de las bromas” bebe mucho del estilo copiar y pegar de William S. Burroughs, de hecho algunos arriesgados críticos se atreven a comparar esta primera obra de Momus con el clásico “El almuerzo desnudo” de Burroughs y con “Las once mil vergas” de Apollinaire, una comparación bastante polémica y atrevida pero que al terminar de leerla sin duda hay una influencia que Currie acepta gratamente.
Si eres políticamente correcto en exceso, si no te gustan los temas prohibidos, si no entiendes las bromas muy subidas de tono, si te horroriza que se tome a modo de burla y con un humor muy particular temas tan delicados como los asesinatos, el incesto, la pedofilia, la misoginia o la zoofilia pues simplemente no te acerques a este libro, pero hay un publico particular que sabe que las líneas que ponen limites entre lo permitido y lo que no lo es a veces si se deben de pasar para hacer pensar o hasta divertirse con lo que es prohibido y pareciera ser delito.
Momus se encuentra trabajando actualmente en su próxima novela en la que vamos a encontrar según el autor a un anciano de 112 años de edad que nos cuenta lo que es y ha sido su vida actualmente desde su punto de vista; luego de este grato sabor de boca que deja “El libro de las bromas” espero con ansias esta nueva novela de este transgresor escritor y músico.
La historia no es muy complicada pero si mete el dedo en la llaga de los sensibles y moralmente rectos y juiciosos. Un asesino y un pederasta, ambos orgullosos de lo que son (aunque dicen ser inocentes) junto al protagonista principal de nombre Sebastian Skeleton se conocen en la cárcel y deciden escapar para llevar a cabo sus crímenes y demostrarle a la sociedad que ahora sí serán culpables de lo que se les acusa y a su vez demostrarse entre ellos el valor y la moralidad que tiene cada uno de estos actos criminales, mientras huyen Skeleton les va contando su vida desde la niñez hasta las razones que lo llevaron a estar compartiendo celda con ellos y de esta manera “El libro de las bromas” se convierte en una aventura familiar alternándose entre capítulos llenos de toda la incorrección y disfuncionalidad posible que el lector se pueda imaginar.
Todos los personajes son particularmente llamativos y nada correctos, es así que vemos el padre del protagonista que juega ajedrez con su largo pene, un monje que se encuentra en tratamiento porque dice todo lo contrario a lo que piensa y eso vuelve todo una locura cuando tiene que hacer algún acto publico, una rana que habla y cada vez que dice cierta palabra logra encoger un inmenso pene, un gato que come manos humanas y lo mas divertido resulta ser las conversaciones entre el pederasta, el asesino y Skeleton haciendo adivinanzas de vínculos de sangre entre familiares o unos niños que juegan a la santa inquisición con langostinos como herejes; estos son solo unos cuantos personajes de los que se encuentran en este libro que resulta bastante polémico pero en exceso divertido para los que buscan algo que se atreva a ir mucho mas allá de lo permitido por los policías de la moralidad.
“El libro de las bromas” bebe mucho del estilo copiar y pegar de William S. Burroughs, de hecho algunos arriesgados críticos se atreven a comparar esta primera obra de Momus con el clásico “El almuerzo desnudo” de Burroughs y con “Las once mil vergas” de Apollinaire, una comparación bastante polémica y atrevida pero que al terminar de leerla sin duda hay una influencia que Currie acepta gratamente.
Si eres políticamente correcto en exceso, si no te gustan los temas prohibidos, si no entiendes las bromas muy subidas de tono, si te horroriza que se tome a modo de burla y con un humor muy particular temas tan delicados como los asesinatos, el incesto, la pedofilia, la misoginia o la zoofilia pues simplemente no te acerques a este libro, pero hay un publico particular que sabe que las líneas que ponen limites entre lo permitido y lo que no lo es a veces si se deben de pasar para hacer pensar o hasta divertirse con lo que es prohibido y pareciera ser delito.
Momus se encuentra trabajando actualmente en su próxima novela en la que vamos a encontrar según el autor a un anciano de 112 años de edad que nos cuenta lo que es y ha sido su vida actualmente desde su punto de vista; luego de este grato sabor de boca que deja “El libro de las bromas” espero con ansias esta nueva novela de este transgresor escritor y músico.
November 24, 2009
In the midst of reading other books, I picked up the latest media entry by singer Nick Currie, better known by his alias Momus. This is his "first" novel (he wrote another concurrently, The Book of Scotlands) and falls into a lot of pitfalls that debut novels should avoid if the writer wasn't as well known. Of course, it is the failings of the book that allows it to fully explore the realm of the off-color joke.
The "novel" is set in an episodic fashion, which each chapter being, in essence, a deconstruction of a joke (most of them very well known dirty humor jokes) with a series of alternating characters - the son and the father. Much like the movie "The Aristocrats" (if you consciously avoided that movie, you won't like this book), certain jokes are repeated with subtle changes throughout the body of the joke, allowing the affect of the punchline to change though the words stay the same. The book works best when playing off of the idea of Lenny Bruce's "Are There Any N****rs Here?" sketch - taking a taboo topic and repeating it and setting it in places where it doesn't quite sound so off-color, in essence removing the power of the taboo.
Where the novel fails, though, is in the classic definition of novels. That is, this book does not have a plot. Though there are reoccurring characters, too much time is spent on side trips and random stories and no time is dealt on a single thread that unites the whole. Oh sure, there is the "break out of jail and commit our crimes" story, but the amount of writing dedicated to that particular "plot" is three chapters which are split between chapters told by the son (some of which have nothing to do with the son or jokes, for that matter). About halfway through the book, I found myself wishing for something more than just the promising premise. I wanted something to sink my teeth into. Instead, I got ... a book of old jokes retold in one more way.
And maybe that was the purpose. I can see this format frustrating too many people and the payoff at the end is not worth it. Of course, that's the big joke. The set-up and the situation is where the humor lies, not in the punchline as is so clearly demonstrated again and again throughout the chapters. Of course the final chapter would be a let down.
It's like the punchline for "The Aristocrats." No one cares and no one laughs. It can't compare with what came before. In this case, though, what came before is interesting to very few people and barely worth seeing in the first place.
[For those of you wondering why, after such a review, I still gave it 4 stars ... well, I did laugh. Many times. there were certain sections that were highly original and entertaining. There were moments of genius - yes, I dared say that - in the book too. Maybe in the future the rating will change to 3 stars, but I was amused and for a quick easy read between a Gothic novel, a Space Opera epic and a treatise on the delinquency of children caused by comics ... The Book of Jokes was perfect.:]
The "novel" is set in an episodic fashion, which each chapter being, in essence, a deconstruction of a joke (most of them very well known dirty humor jokes) with a series of alternating characters - the son and the father. Much like the movie "The Aristocrats" (if you consciously avoided that movie, you won't like this book), certain jokes are repeated with subtle changes throughout the body of the joke, allowing the affect of the punchline to change though the words stay the same. The book works best when playing off of the idea of Lenny Bruce's "Are There Any N****rs Here?" sketch - taking a taboo topic and repeating it and setting it in places where it doesn't quite sound so off-color, in essence removing the power of the taboo.
Where the novel fails, though, is in the classic definition of novels. That is, this book does not have a plot. Though there are reoccurring characters, too much time is spent on side trips and random stories and no time is dealt on a single thread that unites the whole. Oh sure, there is the "break out of jail and commit our crimes" story, but the amount of writing dedicated to that particular "plot" is three chapters which are split between chapters told by the son (some of which have nothing to do with the son or jokes, for that matter). About halfway through the book, I found myself wishing for something more than just the promising premise. I wanted something to sink my teeth into. Instead, I got ... a book of old jokes retold in one more way.
And maybe that was the purpose. I can see this format frustrating too many people and the payoff at the end is not worth it. Of course, that's the big joke. The set-up and the situation is where the humor lies, not in the punchline as is so clearly demonstrated again and again throughout the chapters. Of course the final chapter would be a let down.
It's like the punchline for "The Aristocrats." No one cares and no one laughs. It can't compare with what came before. In this case, though, what came before is interesting to very few people and barely worth seeing in the first place.
[For those of you wondering why, after such a review, I still gave it 4 stars ... well, I did laugh. Many times. there were certain sections that were highly original and entertaining. There were moments of genius - yes, I dared say that - in the book too. Maybe in the future the rating will change to 3 stars, but I was amused and for a quick easy read between a Gothic novel, a Space Opera epic and a treatise on the delinquency of children caused by comics ... The Book of Jokes was perfect.:]
September 1, 2013
each chapter of this novel is structured around a dirty joke of some kind, presented as a real world scenario. we come to learn that the protagonist's life is shaped by other people's jokes, and that he attempts to inject dignity and humanity into these jokes (and his life) by retelling them in his way. it's complicated because the subject of most of these jokes (murder, incest, child molestation, beastiality) don't leave much room for dignity or humanity.
book of jokes suffers the emotional pitfalls of most postmodern fiction; the focus is on structure and form with little effort towards a pathological anchor. there's some boccaccio and chaucer in here, and it is really, really funny - but I often felt there should be more in the way of a beating heart.
book of jokes suffers the emotional pitfalls of most postmodern fiction; the focus is on structure and form with little effort towards a pathological anchor. there's some boccaccio and chaucer in here, and it is really, really funny - but I often felt there should be more in the way of a beating heart.
January 11, 2014
This was a rather uncomfortable book. The basic concept was great: a world where a family's lives are governed by jokes. I thought it was a fascinating read from that perspective. But, at the same time, the book was nasty, dirty, and crude. Most of the jokes are dirty, and oftentimes, they push it to the point where they just become uncomfortable.
I guess, in short, I love what they did with the basic idea, but the execution of it left something to be desired.
I guess, in short, I love what they did with the basic idea, but the execution of it left something to be desired.
June 6, 2015
It's like listening to a Momus album really. Just replace "Dafuq did I just hear?" with "Dafuq did I just read?" for the same effect. And, oh, it's the good kind of "dafuq", of course. Or at least I suppose so. One just isn't always so sure about that when it comes to Momus.
July 7, 2009
Review forthcoming...
November 5, 2010
Marvellous. It's from The Dalkey Archive, so of course it's marvellous.
March 21, 2011
Just like Momus's music: The book is erudite, consistently funny and surprising, but not really emotionally engaging or necessarily engaging the whole time. Great premise though, adequate story.
July 19, 2011
Amusing, but pointless, other than as a formal exercise.
September 13, 2012
The literarily-inclined songwriter's fiction début is a ribald picaresque, set in a world in which dirty jokes are true. There are echoes of The Aristocrats, Gershon Legman and Alfred Jarry here.
September 2, 2016
so, it's a book, by momus, that is, well, it's a sort of recursive dirty joke. As a piece of modern art? sure, it works. As a novel? it didn't really do a lot for me.
September 12, 2016
Pésimo, al punto que no lo terminé (y he terminado libros malos a la espera de la redención). Mal escrito, aburrido, sin pies ni cabeza. Una charada absolutamente prescindible.
January 2, 2010
Hilarious, disgusting, weird book. That's all I have to say.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews