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In I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, Tucker Max turns a blog about drunken debauchery into a pulpit to brag about the depths of his own hedonism. I’m not a prude—or even that religious anymore—but this book managed to offend me in more than one place. The plot, such as it is, is a retelling of his sexual and drinking exploits from college. Fine for telling at your class reunion, but is it really right for a book? I guess it must be.
There’s not really a good way to explain this book on a PG-rated web site, but they pay me the big bucks to try. To give you a quick flavor for what the book holds, let’s look at some of the chapter titles (after cleaning them up a bit): The oral sex stories, Tucker has sex with a fat girl—hilarity ensues, Tucker tries anal sex—hilarity does not ensue, The dog vomit story…. Well you get the idea. There’s also a very long and convoluted story about how he didn’t get hired at a law firm where he interned. According to him, his drunken antics at a company auction—or on the job—were, of course, not the reasons he was let go. Instead, it was because he hadn’t slept with one of the junior partners.
Tucker Max says that all of these stories are true, with some alterations to the names and places to protect himself from lawsuits. But it really reads a young man’s dream list of the things he wishes he had the courage to really do. From what my friend (who attended the University of Chicago at the same time as Max) says, his reputation matches the book, which forces the reader to add some credence to these tales.
Tucker Max comes off as a spoiled rich kid with no sense of decency or respect for women. That would be fine if this book were being billed as fiction—or if he found some sort of redemption in the end. But it has neither of those qualities, and, in fact, he seems prouder of himself at the end of the book. Every story seems to stoop lower than the last, and by the end of the book I was appalled at myself for having found any of it funny or interesting.
This is one of those books that it’s just best to avoid.
