Jason Hazeley

Plus ca change…

The Fireside Grown Up Guide to the Mom is a delightful admixture of early 1960s art and 2016 situations. There are references to ipads, but the paintings are of Telefunken radios. On every page there is a knowing laugh to be had, as kids and parenting really haven’t changed as much, despite technology, and presuming we have learned anything at all from our own parents. Hazely and Morris (and their cast of artists) score point after point with pinpoint accuracy.

My favorite: show more The mom does not like hearing her own voice. That is because it does not sound like her voice anymore. It sounds like her mom’s.

Do you laugh – or do you cry?

David Wineberg show less

My guess is that this book is designed for anyone who is not a husband -- the wife, the fiancée, the boy in need of a role model, extraterrestrial visitors and the like -- but, speaking as a husband, I found much to enlighten me within these pages. Like many practical manuals it describes the subject's strengths and weaknesses, gives insights into his interior workings and pictures him at work and play, following lone pursuits and attempting to socialise. What it doesn't do, however, is to show more suggest ways to improve or maintain the husband; quite the opposite -- in its otherwise comprehensive thoroughness it seems to implicitly advise a take-it-or-leave-it approach. It's a rather fatalistic and bleak picture that's painted.

This is one of the original series of "Ladybird books for grown-ups" which have graced bookshop displays for a couple of years now, especially at Christmas. With titles like The Ladybird Book of the Mid-Life Crisis, The Ladybird Book of Mindfulness and The Ladybird Book of the Hipster they took original illustrations from mid-20th-century Ladybird Books for children and fitted them to new themes, to which they've added a world-weary commentary. All in simple language. For simple adult minds. A typical example is

"The husband has a very big memory. He can remember football scores, all his old car number plates, and most of the film Withnail & I. But he cannot remember what his wife asked him to bring back from the shops ..."

This is illustrated with a kilted first footer at Hogmanay triumphantly bearing, as he comes through the front door, an unpleasant-looking object (a lump of coal, I assume, but it looks suspiciously like a dog's visiting card). He's clearly forgotten to take the shopping list with him.

There are many kinds of humour that aim to tickle the funny bone. Much of it is aggressive, such as is common with political satire, or when some laugh at pratfalls or when certain comics pick on others because of difference. Wit -- such as puns, riddles and other wordplay -- is similarly cruel in that it involves acute dislocations in expectations, though it's rarely directed personally (sample: "My uncle had to give up tap dancing -- he kept falling in the sink.") Observational humour can be more gentle despite being as exaggerated as the more aggressive humour. It usually features self-deprecation -- in which we laugh at ourselves, at our habits, our foibles, our idiosyncrasies -- rather than those seen to be outsiders or belonging to out-groups.

Much of the humour in these Ladybird books for grown-ups is essentially observational. "The husband hears as much as 30% of what is said to him," is typical. Or take Jim, who after thirty-one years of marriage still doesn't know what his wife Rebecca likes for Christmas and continues to get her the same present every year (in this case, a clutch bag). And again: "Glyn explains himself very badly. This is so he can say he is misunderstood."

You either find this kind of thing achingly funny or absolutely cringeworthy. In short bursts it amuses, but repeated familiarity can render it tedious. The only way to decide is to sample it yourself. Myself, I enjoyed the small print more: Jason Hazeley's N.S.F.W. qualification could stand for Not Suitable for Wife, Joel Morris O.M.G. doesn't necessarily have some obscure honorific title, while 'the publishers' (clearly the writers themselves) claim they are the authors of the unlikely title Eat Yourself Fat. 'The Publishers' also acknowledge assistance from the Executive Secretary of the British Society of Husbands, Sir Penius Wroughshod, and the book is Printed in England; if wet, Italy.

Is it worth a perusal, let alone a purchase? I'll leave you to be the judge. show less

The Husband as sitcom dad

This Fireside Grown-up Guide to the Husband is one of a series of four this fall. It takes the time-worn clichés about men and adds a painting of an early 1960s English tableau to illustrate it. The cognitive dissonance is laughable, which is the point. Men have not, in general, changed. Hazely and Morris (and their cast of artists) score point after point with pinpoint accuracy.

Every page has a little situational joke and a painting. It is a delight. My favorite: show more Emma has lots of outfits. Graham has one suit. It is called His Suit, and he has had it for a long time. Graham likes His Suit, even though it has not fit inn years, has a four inch tear in the seat, and makes him look like a burglar in court.

This is my world.

David Wineberg show less

Everyone’s saying this is Great, "despite the negative press covfefe" in the lamestream media. Really tremendous. It’s by the Best People with the best words. The GR ratings will be yuge. It’ll be a bigly success this Christmas, believe me. "We can say Merry Christmas again" now your favorite President has drained the Swamp and built the Wall. Let’s Make Christmas GREAT Again! Especially for the incredible men and women of our military, our vets, and Great Patriot farmers. show more MAGA!

Image: Donald likes to touch the cat...

A mashup

The text is satire aimed at grown-ups, using the traditional Ladybird font and layout. The illustrations are from miscellaneous, unnamed (though I recognised a couple instantly) Ladybird books that British children of my generation grew up with:
“Artists whose luminous work formed the glorious wallpaper of countless childhoods.”

Rumplestiltskin spinning is Nelbert making Donald’s hair for $3 an hour, getting chemical lung damage, “but it is worth it to achieve such a natural look”. An illustration originally for “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick” mentions bone spurs. A generic picture of three men golfing near pine trees starts, “Like many golfers, Donald has his own set of clubs. This one is Mar-a-Lago, in Florida.” The Princess and the Pea references Trump’s mother and Melania. But as well as the cheap and easy jibes, there are more serious targets.

Image: Donald knows guns are a good way to deal with bad people...

Given how often pundits compare Trump to a stroppy toddler or jeering child this is an obvious and rather puerile marriage. Nevertheless, I found it funny and pretty comprehensive: all the Trump traits I love to hate are included.

Image: To build his tower Donald needs help from his Russian best friends...

More in the same, Ladybird, vein

Other titles allegedly in this series 999 (why not 666?) are listed on the back:
1. Idi Amin
2. Benito Mussolini
3. Emperor Nero
4. President Business
5. Skeletor

Other - real - Grown-Up Ladybirds include:

* How It Works: The Wife, which I reviewed HERE, along with the companion, How It Works: The Husband. But they weren’t nearly as amusing, imo.

* The Story of Brexit, which I reviewed HERE, was a dud.

And then there’s the brilliant Miriam Elia, who has created spoofs with her own, original illustrations, in the style of Ladybird, using the imprint Dung Beetle. See We Go to the Gallery, which I reviewed HERE. I think it’s the best of the bunch.

More on a Trump theme

* Another spoof, looking as if it's aimed at children, and actually more about VP Pence than Trump, A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (my review HERE).

* Fire and Fury, one of the early headline-grabbing books of Trump’s regime (my review HERE).

* The Faith of Donald J. Trump: A Spiritual Biography, at the rotten heart of what I most despise (my review HERE).

* Fear: Trump in the White House, by Bob Woodward: a multi award winning journalist and biographer of nine presidents, red and blue (my review HERE).

* Too Much and Never Enough, by Mary L Trump is a psychological analysis of her dysfunctional family (my review HERE).

Image: Donald likes to make terrible things nearly happen, and then stop then at the last minute... show less