Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut by Jill Kargman

"Each page is a new adventure into humor…"

Without humor the world should just close its’ doors and wait for the “Bright Light” to take us all away. Bombeck, Barry, Ivins…these are the writers who put pen to paper and created novels that made the world laugh out loud, which is exactly what we all need right now.

The wonderful Jill Kargman has joined that elite group who can look at the world and show you the imperfections that are actually humorous in life, and put a smile on your face even on the darkest, dreariest days.

In this book of essays and observations, the reader learns right off the bat that Jill’s family was kept afloat by humor. Her Dad was in advertising, but he began his career by putting himself through school doing stand-up comedy. While Jill was growing up, the talk at her kitchen table was all about branding. Whereas most humans walk away from the television when the commercials come on, Jill’s father would always tell everyone to “shush” so that he could see the fine work his advertising agency had done. Jill is a lot like her father, especially laughing at inappropriate times like funerals and people falling down…she has a huge dislike of coconuts and her diatribe on that particular fruit is absolutely hysterical (yet, written with a few words that can’t be printed in this review).

Jill’s outlook on life appears near the beginning of the novel, and it’s an outlook that everyone should share. In eighty years everyone around us, including ourselves, will have passed on. And, frankly, the only ones who can say they’ve achieved success in their lifetimes are the ones who laughed their proverbial…butts off.

Battling through cancer at thirty-five, Jill talks mostly about the humor she found in that otherwise tragic event. She speaks about how she would email her friends regarding the wheelchair drag-raising she was a part of during her recovery. Again, humor can turn a horrific event into a life lesson and the humor, itself, is a huge ingredient in becoming healthy.

From a witty glossary of words Jill loves (i.e. sister baby, which means a kid cute enough that they look like they were chiseled off an Italian frescoed ceiling); to words that should make a comeback and others that should be thrown on the scrap heap (i.e. ‘nother), every description is hysterical. Her fear of vans (reminding everyone nowadays of The Silence of the Lambs, and clowns that remind one of the bad guy in Stephen King’s It, Jill offers her opinion on a variety of issues before heading into more personal territory.

Readers are “walked” through the world of au pairs that she and her brother had who each had something more than a bit “crazy” about them. Jill tells us of teachers in school who simply could not comprehend that her favorite smell was gasoline. She speaks of ridiculous bosses and one bedroom apartments in the City that were more like closets to hide in, and she also turns her focus on the joys and humor that come hand-in-hand with motherhood, and delves into the “lighter” side of the opposite sex.

Each page is a new adventure into humor, and there is no way that readers will not crack a smile. Although some chapters go “too far,” with language and pictures that tend to straddle the line of “funny” and “crass,” this book offers some pure nuggets of joy that will make your day much, much brighter.

< />Reviewer: Amy Lignor