When You Need a Lift Review
Last fall, View host Joy Behar released her third book: When You Need a Lift: But Don’t Want to Eat Chocolate, Pay a Shrink, or Drink a Bottle of Gin. Unfortunately, it is the weakest of her three books, mostly because she didn’t write it. The book is actually a collection of writings from other people and Behar acted as more of a compiler than an author or even an editor.
Behar solicited responses from actors, authors, and politicians about what they do when they “need a lift” out of a bad mood or how they recover from a bad day. While some of the responses are humorous, most responders tried too hard to sound like a self-help book or just came out bland. This was disappointing to me because when I read a book authored by a comedian, I expect it to be funny.
One of the highlights of the book was the response from Bil Keane. The Family Circus cartoonist wrote about how when he gets down, he reads letters that he received from readers over the years. He included a little comic of him looking sad and then being happy after reading letters; very cute.
Another interesting submission came from actor Jerry Stiller who used the opportunity to protest the war in Iraq. Despite being a comedic actor for the most part, his entry was pretty serious, talking about how being on stage, swimming, and watching old movies make him feel better. He said, “This is how I get off the sadness that overwhelms me when I think about this horrendous war.”
While overall the book was mildly interesting, I was glad that I had borrowed it from the library rather than paid money for it. The concept of the book was very clever: learn what other people do to feel better after a bad day. Where the book failed is in the execution. Rather than simply reprint word-for-word submissions from the participants, followed by a few lines of their biography, Behar should have added her wit to the book by responding to their submissions or maybe rewritting their concepts in her own words. As it is now, the book could have been “authored” by anyone.
I would recommend Joy Behar’s other two books, one of which I reviewed here, rather than this new one.
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The View, Joy Behar, When You Need A Lift, Jerry Stiller, Bil Keane, Iraq war
January 12th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Thanks for the warning Winnie. I’ll check this one of joys out at the library and save my dollars for Rosie’s next book!
Winnie did you read rosie’s book Celebrity Detox? Will you review that for us?
I love Joy. she is the kind of friend you’d want to have fun with and have serious talks with too. she makes me laugh so hard and so often. but she is wise and smart too and has a lot of “horse sense.” it is too bad she did not add her two cents like you said to what these people in her book had to say. that would have made it a good gift for joy’s fans and for people wanting advice.
January 12th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I have read Celebrity Detox and did plan to do a review, but I never got around to it. I still plan to write it up at some point. My short review is that I recommend it.