This isn’t my first of Jim Gaffigan’s books so I knew what I was getting into when I signed up. Sure enough, it is Jim Gaffigan talking about food he enjoys.
This book is enjoyable, I enjoy Gaffigan’s self-deprecating sense of humor and his admiration of his wife. I also appreciate his love of food and his rather dark sense of humor on appetites in the United States:
If aliens studied Earth, they would come to the conclusion that the United States is somehow consuming food on behalf of other countries.
The problem I ran into with this book wasn’t the book itself but the audiobook narration. I love Gaffigan’s standup routines, but Gaffigan talks a little too fast for his audiobooks in my opinion. He’s funny, don’t get me wrong, I just wish he’d slow down a bit. It does give off the stream of consciousness impression rather than the “I’m reading a book” impression, I just don’t always love it.
That said, the text is very funny and Gaffigan did make me laugh quite a bit, so even if the audiobook narration wasn’t my favorite, it didn’t ruin the experience.
Tag Archives: authors: jim gaffigan
Food: A Love Story
Dad Is Fat
Dad Is Fat is one of several books by comedians I’ve read over the last few years. This is also one of the ones I used to forget how disappointing I found the New York Islanders in the second round of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs.
I was a bit hesitant to listen to this one. I am not one of those people who loves children. I find children tend to make most people a lot less interesting because people seem to think 1) I deeply care about everything their child does 2) they don’t need to have anything else to talk about except their children I barely care about anyway.
Conversations tend to go like this:
Me: Seen any movies lately?
Friend: I saw a video my significant other took of our child! Want to watch?
Me: Sure.
*3 Hours Later*
Friend: And THIS is a video of our child taking a dump on the bathroom floor AFTER getting off the potty!
Me: Oh is that so? *quietly removes friend’s contact information from phone*
Anyway, in spite of my initial reluctance, I enjoyed this book a lot, mainly for the reasons that 1. I find Jim Gaffigan’s comedy funny and 2. Jim Gaffigan’s stories about parenting his children are basically the stories my parents told me about parenting me and my sister.
Jim and his wife have 5 children in a small New York City apartment. That’s basically all you need to know going in, and his ongoing theme is basically “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
My parents also had no idea what they were doing, and have told me so on several occasions now.
But Gaffigan’s descriptions of children’s music, books, television, interaction with each other and strangers, and all of that? My parents told me those stories, and they’re a hundred times funnier here.
This was one of the many audiobooks I listened to at work, and I highly recommend experiencing Dad Is Fat as an audiobook. Gaffigan reads it himself, which makes it very enjoyable. I’m finding most books done by funny people are best when you hear them read by the author rather than read on your own. The author is able to give the best delivery of the material.
A lot of comedians repeat their standup material in their books, but Gaffigan doesn’t do that here. There’s a little recycle material, but not much. Definitely worth the read/listen. It’s a quick listen and a quick, easy read and I highly recommend it, even as someone who has no children and doesn’t typically enjoy hearing about other people’s children.
words in scarlet ink 