book review
Book: A Grumpy Book: Disgruntled Tips and Activities Designed to Put a Frown on Your Face
By: Grumpy Cat
If you’ve been anywhere near the Internet during the last few years, then chances are that you’ve seen at least a few pictures of Tardar Sauce. Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with the name, because it is very likely that you are familiar with the face, and the fact that it belongs to a feline doesn’t make it any less notable. Yes, Tardar Sauce is a cat, more famously known to her devotees as Grumpy Cat, and her grumpy mug has generated a plethora of memes, graced the cover of international magazines, endorsed merchandise, and amassed a million dollar empire. And Tard has even made the leap from the Internet to paper with her tome A Grumpy Book: Disgruntled Tips and Activities Designed to Put a Frown on Your Face.
The famous frowner (who gets her distinct countenance because of feline dwarfism) has “written” a coffee table book to share her grumpiness with the world and to help her minions develop a grumpy mindset.
Ever since becoming an Internet sensation after her owner Tabatha Bundesen’s brother Bryan posted her photo on Reddit in September 2012, Grumpy Cat has taken over the Web with amusing memes that have statements like “I had fun once, it was awful” superimposed on her pictures next to her sullen face. Many of these memes have been compiled for the book, and a few of the same, familiar images appear multiple times in the pages with amusing captions. Some new pictures (and yes, the book is mostly pictures) from Tardar’s life are also shared with the readers.
Other than photos and memes, A Grumpy Book also comes with activities, games, and sarcastic guidelines. Tard offers snarky pointers on how to enhance your grumpiness, and you can benefit from her tips on how to be grumpy and how to get in a grumpy mood as well as a guide on how to host a grumpy party. Other things in the book include demotivational posters and several puzzles (including connect the dots, crossword, maze, and word search), all of which are designed to put a frown on your face (but obviously have the opposite effect).
A Grumpy Book is very short and a super quick read (primarily because it comprises mostly of images with very little text), and you’ll be done with it within minutes. Its size combined with its reliance on a handful of photos that are already available on the Internet makes it seem like a hurried attempt to cash in on the Grumpy Cat phenomenon, capitalising on a funny idea but not giving us anything too original or different from what we have already seen online. The book could have used some more information about the kitty at its centre, and it would have been nice to read about Tardar Sauce’s background. As it stands, sure its content is funny, but there isn’t too much variety on offer here, and this material is not exactly worth spending money over; you’ll be better off if you borrow the book or pick it up at a sale or even look for Grumpy Cat memes online. That said, despite its limited substance and range, A Grumpy Book really is amusing, and is likely to offer some assistance when you need a quick laugh.
- S.A.
Us Magazine, The News - 30th May, 2014 *
No comments:
Post a Comment