Review of I’ll Mature When I’m Dead: Dave Barry’s Amazing Tales of Adulthood by Dave Barry

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The New York Times bestseller from "the funniest man in America" (New York Times). 

Not everyone has to be dragged kicking and screaming through adulthood. Let Pulitzer Prizewinning humorist and nationally unrecognized voice of maturity Dave Barry make the journey a little easier-and a lot funnier-with his hilarious takes on parenting, changing self-image, the battle of the sexes, technology, health care, celebrityhood-and even vampires!

One of the back cover blurbs on my ARC of I’ll Mature When I’m Dead by Dave Barry states that Dave Barry is “The funniest man in America.” Now, I am not quite sure I agree with that, although Barry is quite hilarious. I’m not quite sure how to describe I’ll Mature When I’m Dead, as there is no overarching plot and I don’t think each piece is considered a short story. I guess one could call I’ll Mature When I’m Dead episodic. There were pieces which had me running to show everyone around me, and pieces which I think have already been overdone by comedians.

The subjects of Barry’s essays run the gamut from raising a dog to the marriage of one’s child to a parody of Twilight. Some of the subjects I had an easy time relating to — such as the dog essay and the Twilight parody, but the others, not so much as I’m unmarried and lack for children. I don’t think you need to connect with each and every story to enjoy I’ll Mature When I’m Dead by Dave Barry.

I found I’ll Mature When I’m Dead to be an incredibly fast read and a good transition for me for going back into adult books. I say this because 90% of my reading has been YA lately, so adult books are quite a change of pace. I’ll Mature When I’m Dead is great if you are used to fast paced books. I would say this book read as fast for me as Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.

Now, what hindered me from loving I’ll Mature When I’m Dead by Dave Barry was the section where “a man answers a woman’s questions.” Basically, it was cliche after cliche after cliche. Perhaps I am a humorless feminist, but I don’t really find repeating tired old stereotypes all that funny. Ha ha, women have emotions and talk a lot ha ha men hate listening tee-hee men only listen to you talk so they can figure out how to get in your pants oh ho ho. Now, the intro to I’ll Mature When I’m Dead said to take what was written with a grain of salt, but this really rubbed me the wrong way. I would say the rest of I’ll Mature When I’m Dead was full of laugh out loud moments except for this section.

However, the good parts of I’ll Mature When I’m Dead completely outweighed that one section. I am not in the Twilight fan club, so I totally found his riff on Twilight to be spot-on and hilarious. The character names are changed, and it takes place through Bella’s POV, only I don’t think we get the main character’s new name. Anyways, he states how all these males are attracted to her for absolutely no reason, how she has to make every situation about herself, the Jonas Brothers and Zac Efron make a cameo. It is great. If you have no inclination to read this book, at least read that one chapter.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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