“Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang” by Chelsea Handler – Life Through Laughter
Most of you know Chelsea Handler for her work as a comedian, but she is quite an active writer with Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang being the third of her six books.As in her previous ones, there is no real sense of direction, nor is there an ultimate goal here; what we get is Handler describing her thoughts and feelings on various events and situations encountered during the course of her lifetime.
She tries very hard to look at each and every one of them in a humorous way, finding the silver lining and the joke no matter how bad the situation may be. For that fact alone I believe that the book should be commendable in its own right.
Moving on to the less pleasant part, it felt that in light of the two books which preceded this one, the whole approach started to wear a bit thin, with the jokes being very hit and miss, at least for me. It feels as if the whole work is over-saturated with a rather vivid and aggressive (for lack of better words) type of humor, making numerous passages feel forced, cringe-worthy and simply unappreciative.
With that being said, the parts that were funny truly succeeded in bringing out-loud laughter out of me, with the short stories strewn in-between partially-amusing emails being the highlight of the whole thing for me.
Rather sadly, I don’t think there is much more to say about this book; the few parts that showed brilliance lead me to believe that Handler (along with her editor, who let more than a few mistakes slip by his/her eyes) was in a rush to publish this, for whatever reason it may be.
All in all, I wouldn’t go as far as recommending that you do not read this book, but if you are looking for purposeful and solid literature, this is probably the wrong place for it. If, on the other hand, you want something you can read to pass the time while your brain is completely shut off, then it will probably do.
If you do decide to read it, I suggest doing it in short spurs when the mood is right; otherwise it may feel like a bit too much at once.
She tries very hard to look at each and every one of them in a humorous way, finding the silver lining and the joke no matter how bad the situation may be. For that fact alone I believe that the book should be commendable in its own right.
Moving on to the less pleasant part, it felt that in light of the two books which preceded this one, the whole approach started to wear a bit thin, with the jokes being very hit and miss, at least for me. It feels as if the whole work is over-saturated with a rather vivid and aggressive (for lack of better words) type of humor, making numerous passages feel forced, cringe-worthy and simply unappreciative.
Rather sadly, I don’t think there is much more to say about this book; the few parts that showed brilliance lead me to believe that Handler (along with her editor, who let more than a few mistakes slip by his/her eyes) was in a rush to publish this, for whatever reason it may be.
All in all, I wouldn’t go as far as recommending that you do not read this book, but if you are looking for purposeful and solid literature, this is probably the wrong place for it. If, on the other hand, you want something you can read to pass the time while your brain is completely shut off, then it will probably do.
If you do decide to read it, I suggest doing it in short spurs when the mood is right; otherwise it may feel like a bit too much at once.
 | Chelsea HandlerPersonal site Chelsea Handler is a famous American television show personality, a comedian, an actress, an author, writer and producer. He has her own late-night talk show called Chelsea Lately, and she published a number of works, including Are you There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea and Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. |
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