A Year in the Life of the Man Who Fell Asleep

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View books by Greg Stekelman.

Mehhhh......not funny.... - Rated
Must say from the reviewers I saw on here I was expecting the book to be very funny but I must say I didn't find it entertaining at all. Full marks for imagination and the book has brief moments of wit but I just didn't get anything out of it!

Absolutely pointless (or am I missing the point?) - Rated
After reading some of the reviews on Amazon for this book I was really looking forward to reading it on holiday.

Unfortunately I absolutely hated this book almost from the beginning. It was especially amusing to see a note from the author a few pages in stating that this was your last chance to stop reading the book and get your money back. How I wish I had returned it!

I found the book very difficult to read as there was no flow to it whatsoever- it is simply a collection of irrelevant points and/or observations. You could have picked up the book and started at any point and it still would not have made a difference. Clearly this is the point of the book and but I didn't appreciate it.

Anyway- just for fun here's an example of the journal I've made up to give you a flavour of the book:

may 28: Today I visited Saddam Hussein at the Guggenheim Musuem. We had tea and scones for dinner and played Yahtzee.

I won. It's not easy being a dictator.

Absolutely brilliant - Rated
This is the best book that I've read in a very long time (maybe 2 years). It's written as a diary and the entries are pretty much totally unconnected and so some entries are significantly funnier than others. The worst of the entries only raise a chuckle-- but that was only the worst. Most of the entries made me laugh out loud, and October the 24th's entry was worth the price of the book alone. The pictures in the book were very funny too.

So good it's scary. - Rated
I've found a new book to add to my list of favorites! A Year in the Life of the Man Who Fell Asleep is by far the best satire I've read in years- quite possibly ever.

The Man Who Fell Asleep began life as a blogging project, but that's where all semblance of order or continuity fly out the window. What you're left with is a hilarious / bizarre / unique / and ultimately original take on everything that flows from the author's very talented, fertile mind to the keyboard. Stekelman hates people... hates the sun... hates shadow... hates light... hates leaving the house and, for the most part, hates himself. He's apathetic to the nth degree, but he's content in his maladjustment.

He's also an excellent metaphor-maker: "The light was golden and cloudy, like bottled piss." , and his take on famous genres of psychoanalysis are not to be missed. Here's a sample of the Freudian approach:

PATIENT: I had a dream last night that I was running a marathon, but my shoelaces were untied - the nearer I got to the finish line, the more anxious I got that I would fall. I couldn't bear to stop or look back. I was running from something, but I don't know what it was.

ANALYST: Interesting. The marathon is your mother. The shoes are your father. You are gay.

PATIENT: Oh.

As if the entries aren't enough, he also illustrates many of his thoughts, including drawings of what Kurt Cobain would look like as Charlie Brown, and a 90th birthday card that reads: `Happy 90th Birthday - All Your Friends Are Dead'

Heh.

While 99% of the The Man Who Fell Asleep is genius satire; there's also a great entry hidden away on June 29th that's the complete antithesis of humor. Be sure to look for it as it's an excellent showcase of Stekelman's range.

Throughout the book you'll find all kinds of nutty off the wall stuff, such as astrological charts for the periodic table and multiple conversations with God and/or Jesus (always with hilarious results). I could go on and on, but you get the drift: I absolutely loved it.

Original and Hilarious - Rated
I found this book to be a hugely refreshing and welcome change from what is usually on offer in book shops. There isn't a plot as such but that is what makes the diary format ideal. The reader is thrown straight into Stekelman's unique style on the very first page when themanwhofellasleep has an encounter with a Jesus very different from what one would expect. The book is never boring slipping effortlessly from the cheeky to the downright outrageous. I defy you to read this on the train and not laugh to yourself; when I was reading the 'Jokes' passage I giggled so much I think a bit of wee came out.