This Is a Book

Maybe it was just bad timing: I had just finished Tina Fey's "Bossypants" when I picked this one up. With Tina Fey's book, I had truly LOLed throughout. But this book just seemed....really not that funny.

If you already love Martin, you probably already own this (and wouldn't be reading a one star review). If you are not already a fan, don't waste your time or money -- this book is highly unlikely to convert you. There are a few clever 'drawings', but they not enough to justify a book.

Watching the comedian is so much better than reading his book. It's hard to grasp the joke when reading it to yourself and even reading aloud doesn't help. The funny is lost by putting it in a book. Unfortunate

I usually enjoy the humor of Demetri Martin. It is cerebral, witty, and funny. When I was gifted this book I was eager to see if his humor translates to the page. For the most part, it does. “This Is A Book” is a text that had me laughing out loud on more than a few occasions, and it is a good example of a comedian making the successful transition to the page. I would read it a few chapters at a time (each chapter is a stand-alone bit/story) and then would read some other book, finishing that and coming back to this for a few chapters. Reading it in this manner kept Martin’s style from getting stale and repetitive. I would recommend reading it in this fashion.
In terms of reviewing this text I will just mention a few highlights for me. The funniest chapter in the book is on page 219, called “My Powers”. It is an example of Martin at this best. The last two chapters are also quite good; “The Word Awards” (a great example of Marin’s “smart” humor) and “Goodbye” which ends the book on a delightful note.
There are a few misses in “This Is A Book”, but overall it is worth your time. Especially if read as an occasional diversion. It will make you smile. That is a good thing!

I enjoyed the Demetri Martin show very much and I also love his daily drawings blog, so naturally I was excited to get the book. I was really hoping the book would be full of drawings and the same short, one-liner type jokes that Demetri is best at. Unfortunately, the book doesn't have many drawings at all. It's full of a bunch of short stories that are supposed to be funny but without the comical delivery they just fall flat. It's comparable to reading the script of a stand-up comedy routine--not nearly as funny. The signature style of Demetri Martin is to tell a one-liner or make a funny observation, and then to wait for you to get it. That entire experience is lost in this book and it just seems like he's trying too hard. Even the things I thought were clever did not make me laugh. I had this image of him cracking himself up while he wrote it, and it just annoyed me. Too bad.

Having first become familiar with him as the star of Ang Lee's TAKING WOODSTOCK (based on the Elliot Tiber memoir), I have become a major fan of all the greatly funny things that Demetri Martin has done. He is a truly original comedian, and his essays share much in common with the wonderful comedy prose of Woody Allen and Steve Martin (no relation to Demetri, of course, except in conceptual genius). There is one short story here called "Genie," in which the proverbial genie in the bottle is re-introduced to the reader as a somewhat villainous character just a block or short shy of Iago in his menace and cunning. Demetri is also on the front cover of the movie tie-in edition of Tiber's TAKING WOODSTOCK (if you haven't seen the Ang Lee film, do so quickly - a grossly underestimated picture that will be better appreciated ten years from now), and so I'm very glad to see him further affiliated with a great book - his own!! May this be the Summer of Demetri - kudos, Demetrocles (for those who don't get that name reference, you have to rent Demetri's two-season Comedy Central series masterpiece, "Important Things with Demetri Martin").

I'd seen his standup, I'd watched Important Things and I got an inkling of something I learned about Demetri Martin from reading this book. A lot of comedians have a love of words and everything about them. If it's just you and a microphone making people laugh, you have to develop an affinity for wordplay. But it goes deeper with Martin. He observes, takes apart and repurposes language. There is a poem in this book which is one long palindrome. It should strike you as gimmicky or stupid or read like something's that barely language. But it doesn't. It reads like Burroughs or a lost fragment from Ulysses, which only makes it funnier. You have to go along with him and laugh at the deftness with which he wields language. His comedy is wonderfully absurd, he simplifies, dissects and repurposes life as well. This is more than a book, it's a great book. Buy it, play along and root for him as he subverts, warps and reshapes the language he loves.

Title: This is a Book

Author: Demetri Martin

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Rating: 5 Shots of Espresso (Coffee Shakes)

I would first like to thank Grand Central Publishing for graciously sending me a copy of Martin's book to review. I was extremely excited to read it and I am still just as excited.

Comedian Demetri Martin has now reached out to the bookworm community with his first book. This is a Book by Demetri Martin instantly catalyzes laughter and sore abs. A superb ab workout plan should include reading Martin's comedic prose novel. From "Megaphone" to "We're Pregnant" to the "Cat Calendar," you are sure to find dozens of short comedic quips that strike a few cords. Martin's novel, at points, was even hard to keep reading because I was laughing so much. I will be sure to keep This is a Book by Demetri Martin on my coffee table just in case an awkward silence ensues at my next house party. You never know when you may need to tell your guests of one of Martin's statistical facts-i.e. "you are 10 times more likely to get hit by a car when the driver is aiming for you" (38)-hell, that's just great advice! Martin's comedic prose is a fabulous read to do in one sitting-like I did-or read a piece here or there. Demetri Martin definitely knows how to deliver-comedic prose that is...

I give This is a Book by Demetri Martin five shots of espresso for its ability to make me need to catch my breath in order to continue reading. Martin ensured that I fulfilled my week's cardio by simply opening the cover. Go read it NOW...

...OR ELSE!

Comedian Demetri Martin's book is a weird collection of one-line jokes, cartoons, and strange (almost surreal) short stories. It's funny, in a kind of existential way. There really aren't any punchlines and the humor is, at times, so subtle that it can pass you right by. However, it is clever, witty, and most of all, highly entertaining.

When you laugh at Martin's jokes, you instantly feel superior to everyone else who didn't laugh at them because those people, obviously, just aren't as smart or precocious as you and therefore don't understand the humor. And you, of course, can't explain why you're laughing because if you did, it would spoil it.

Martin's one-liners are the kinds of things you wish you were clever enough to post as your FaceBook status updates because they would make you seem so cool and thoughtful. As it is, if you read the book, you'll probably just use his ideas on your FB page because it's not like he's your friend or anything and so won't be checking up on you.

So just read it. It's funny.

Comedian Demetri Martin's book is a weird collection of one-line jokes, cartoons, and strange (almost surreal) short stories. It's funny, in a kind of existential way. There really aren't any punchlines and the humor is, at times, so subtle that it can pass you right by. However, it is clever, witty, and most of all, highly entertaining.

When you laugh at Martin's jokes, you instantly feel superior to everyone else who didn't laugh at them because those people, obviously, just aren't as smart or precocious as you and therefore don't understand the humor. And you, of course, can't explain why you're laughing because if you did, it would spoil it.

Martin's one-liners are the kinds of things you wish you were clever enough to post as your FaceBook status updates because they would make you seem so cool and thoughtful. As it is, if you read the book, you'll probably just use his ideas on your FB page because it's not like he's your friend or anything and so won't be checking up on you.

So just read it. It's funny.

arrived in used condition, little dirty with some wear and tear but pages were all in like-new shape and for a penny a great buy. the book itself gives off the demetri martin vibe perfectly but isn't as funny as I had anticipated

This book exemplifies Martin's odd humor. It is a collection of musing, essays and hypotheticals that is charming and brilliant if not always laugh-out-loud funny.

I read much of the book without laughing or chuckling. However, when a line or a joke landed, it really landed. I looked insane a local coffee shop reading the chapter about the cat calendar. It is a fast read. I finished in under 3 hours. Many of the jokes and stories find their genesis in his unique one-liners from his stand up so fans will recognize a good portion of the jokes.

This was interesting and fairly funny but it loses something, I think, in the medium. I am glad he wrote it though, and is trying new things. He is a very funny guy and this is worth getting, though I would wait for paperback.

If you enjoyed Demetri's show, then you should enjoy this book. His humor translates very well to the page, particularly when you can imagine him delivering it (silly/hilarious things told in an earnest/deadpan fashion).

If you've never heard of this guy, then just take a look at the opening (through the "Look Inside" feature on the store) and you should be able to tell fairly quickly if you respond to his humor style.

I love Demetri Martin. His standup is funny, as was his short-lived TV show, Important Things with Demetri Martin, so I was excited about this book. About half was what I wanted -- unexpected wordings, and very silly, yet somehow obvious things you've never thought of before. The other half consisted of longish stories that were kind of boring and skippable.
(originally posted on)

This Is a Book is pretty entertaining. I found some of the sections boring and skipped over them, but for the most part, I enjoyed it. I would recommend borrowing the book from a friend or the library, rather than buying it.

Another reviewer, Michelle Scott, gave this book four stars and said this of it: "When you laugh at Martin's jokes, you instantly feel superior to everyone else who didn't laugh at them because those people, obviously, just aren't as smart or precocious as you and therefore don't understand the humor."

You might feel superior if you are 18 years old.

I found the humor to be rather one-note. The punchlines obvious. The stories longer than necessary. I was actually taken a bit aback by how unfunny some of it was.

The main problem is that this is not a book. It's certainly not literary. It's one-dimensional. And, as others have pointed it, it's material fit for television and live stand-up, if anything. I'm not saying it's not funny, I'm saying it just does not translate well to the page. It's also arranged in such a way that it feels rather sloppily thrown together, as if he pulled a lot of it out of his a**, some stuff good, some stuff not so good, but good enough to fill some pages.

Too often books are written just because they can be written, not because they should be written. This is one of those books, in my opinion. I consider it somewhat of a cynical ploy at making a buck off of his other, more popular television exploits. This isn't craftsmanship, and I will rate it accordingly, even if one star may seem rather harsh.