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Poet Scott Barron has a pretty good life. He’s got a beautiful girlfriend, a supportive mom, some great friends, an agent who worships him, and a brand new book on the market. But all good things must come to an end. His girlfriend leaves, he makes a fool of himself on national TV, his agent threatens to dump him, and things just keep falling apart. It’s then that Scott realizes that he envies his younger brother, Jes, an overweight struggling writer with a loving wife.
Men and Other Mammals wasn’t really what I expected. I expected a goofy-but-a-little-bit-touching, male Bridget Jones-y kind of book. Perhaps I was judging the book by its colorful, cartoony cover. But that’s not really what this book is. Sure, it has its funny moments — especially in the beginning — but it’s more of an introspective story with a bit of quirk thrown in to lighten it up every once in a while. And then there’s also some strange stuff about penguins, but I’m not going to get into that right now. You’ll just have to find out for yourself — all I’ll say is that I’ll look differently at penguins from now on.
As I mentioned earlier, this book wasn’t what I was expecting — so I guess that disappointed me a bit. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy parts of it. As a writer, I loved the stories about Scott’s struggle to be a famous, best-selling poet. And the more serious stuff was often intelligent and insightful — but there were parts of the book that I found to be just plain bitter and depressing.
So I’m not telling you to avoid this book. In fact, if you do decide to read it, I can promise you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn more about penguins, and you may just learn a little bit about yourself. Just know what you’re getting yourself into, and you won’t be disappointed.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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