Book: The Politically Correct Ultimate Storybook by James Finn Garner

Date Read: January 17 to 18, 2016

Rating: 2 (of 5) stars

This book was a gift. Admittedly, one that I likely would not have picked out myself. Nonetheless, I had some high hopes for it. I like fairy tales and those sorts of stories, and thought that the “politically correct” twist on it had the potential for hilarity. I was sadly disappointed.

By no means do I want to imply that there were not some good moments. There were some stories that made me laugh. I especially loved Sleeping Beauty (or, of course, The Sleeping Person of Better Than Average Attractiveness) being cursed to have unrealistic expectations of her future relationships. Honestly though, I thought that some of the story titles were funnier than the stories themselves. I feel like there was some good potential here, it just fell short for me.

I realize that part of the point of this book was to “go overboard” on political correctness. Or, at least, I think that was the point. I just felt that much of it just ended up being dumb, not funny. I also think that much of it really had nothing to do with political correctness. The best examples for this come from the selection of Holiday stories. Santa portrayed in a villainous way for being overweight? What’s politically correct about that? If politically correct was the goal, then I would think coming up with neutral seeming language would have been more appropriate. Then, there is the faux pas of the party host, who raises a holiday toast with his guests– forgetting that he has served eggnog, and one of his guests is vegan. The error is, of course, corrected. Again, where is the political correctness here? Having an alternative for a vegan friend is not “being PC,” its just being considerate.

Boris’s thoughts: “You didn’t like this one? You like everything. 1 paw.”