Customer Reviews:
 Fantastic! When's the next book coming out? June 12, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Full Disclosure: I'm already half "in it" over Craig Ferguson's comedy, so I'm predisposed to like his book. However, I'm also predisposed to tell the truth (thanks Mom!), so here's my honest take:
I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me very much of Kurt Vonnegut - absurd, sweet, melancholy, hopeful. In between outrageous profanity that has you laughing out loud there are moments that strike so profoundly that it almost seems the comedy and profanity is there so you let down your guard and zap, straight to the heart.
And heart, too, is what this book has. The story is silly (and did I mention there's profanity?) and farcical and funny and metaphorical but in an emotional sense "real" and at times seemingly autobiographical in a sideways kind of way. The love/hate relationship with Los Angeles (as it both destroys and nurtures souls) is a metaphor for what seems to be a love/hate relationship with life, with flawed humanity, and with himself, and reveals someone who is at once totally cynical and blessed with a sweet and hopeful innocence.
There are a lot of characters, and some didn't stay around long enough for us to get to know them. And some thinly veiled (okay blatant) stabs at actual people/shows/studios that are extremely funny if not subtly couched.
I've been waging an interior war between enjoying the ending (which I did, very much) and wanting something it didn't deliver (although I can't tell you what that might be.) Maybe I just wanted to keep reading. That's always a good sign.
I can't find the quote but apparently Carrie Fisher said something to the effect of "I want to f**k him just to get inside his brain" or some such. Could be apocryphal, who knows. But after reading this book, I just want to know where the line forms. But then again as I said I was already half way there.
If you love comedy you'll enjoy Between the Bridge and the River June 7, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is an excellent novel. It's a must read, especially for people who find European style comedy to be funny. When I was reading this novel, people kept asking me why I was laughing so much. I just pointed to the front cover and said, 'Get this book.' The Scottish host of the nightly Late Late show, Craig Ferguson, is brilliant, subversive, an individualistic thinker, and he makes you see things in a new light. He's hilarious. His work is funny, witty, charming, crude, rude, lewd, socially unacceptable, yet acceptable as he pushes people to view things in a new way.
Two of Craig Ferguson's main characters are from Scotland and it's funny and interesting to read about Scotland from the point of view of a Scot. One of the Scotsmen goes to France and the other to the U.S. It's hilarious to read about France from a Scottish perspective. It's also hilarious to read about the U.S. from a zany Scottish perspective. The other two main characters are from the deep south. Again, you'll keep laughing when you follow the story line of the characters from the south coming from one of the finest comedians in the world.
It's a brainy day in America May 30, 2006
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
My only contact with Scotland and its kilted male population was a short business trip to a castle near Edinburgh where I was forced to eat haggis and drive a car on the wrong side of the road in the rain, which nearly ended in my demise. I never dated a Scotsman or knew one as a friend or acquaintance and 007 incarnated by Sean Connery really did not make me swoon. But now I struggle every night to stay awake to take in at least the monologue of hot Scot charming Craig Ferguson , not very successfully though, because most of the time one of the celebrity interviews of his forerunner has put me to sleep before singing Craig dances onto the screen and when I wake up CBS has already switched to a rerun of Entertainment Tonight, with the latest news of some stumbling blonde singer turned endangering mother or the soon-to-be-born off-springs of a couch-jumping cult member or of the union of two relationship challenged mega tabloid stars, which does not really contributes to a good night sleep for me.
So I was more than happy to get Ferguson's' book in the hope it would magically put a smile on my face before I drift off into dreamland. Strangely enough it took me several days to get over page 10. Today I finally was in the right state of mind and devoured the whole thing. What a ride!! What a multi-talented entertainer! Now I have to see one of his movies and assess how he is as a an actor or screenwriter. The book is intelligent, witty, cynical, amusing, funny, provocative, true, sensitive, thoughtful and easy to follow, despite of the many story lines. Sit back and make yourself comfortable , take your shoes off , have a glass of wine and be ready for a whirlwind visit to Glasgow, Miami, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Birmingham and Paris initiated by a bunch of characters from Frank Sinatra to Carl Jung, intermixed with hookers, preachers, movie-stars, fatties, addicts, silicon beauties, which all seem much too familiar and a pretty accurate depiction of the glamour world, we all seem to be so fascinated with.
Before reading this outpouring I thought Craig Ferguson had found his calling by being a witty talk show host. Now I nearly prefer him as a writer. Well, maybe he should have a talk show at an earlier time slot so that I can enjoy him more often and keep writing books, so I can read them when he is not on the tube.
One of the best books I have ever read. May 26, 2006
8 out of 15 found this review helpful
On the surface this book is a profane, vile and offensive work but if you get past that you realize that the messages it conveys are some of the most important you will ever learn.
 Don't give up your night job, Craig! May 21, 2006
12 out of 33 found this review helpful
In my opinion, Craig Ferguson is the most brilliant of the late night talk show hosts. His timing, his delivery, his body language, and his sheer inventiveness enable him to make mediocre material good and good material great.
Perhaps the material in his book would have been better served if Craig could have delivered it as stand-up, because in my opinion it doesn't "stand up" well between the covers of a novel. Although it often reveals the author's erudition, it also reveals his impatience with the task of character development.
Few of the characters in this book evoke much sympathy. The problem is not just that most of them are little more than caricatures, but that their repellent aspects are emphasized to such a degree that the reader tends to lose sight of any virtues they might possess.
Even worse considering how funny the author can be, almost never does he give one of his characters a funny line to say. Indeed, I found only one or two laugh-out-loud moments in the entire book. And most of what does pass for humor is hostile and mean spirited rather than gentle and ironic--almost the opposite of what Craig Ferguson the talk show host gives us night after night.
In summary, I found the book disappointing--not just unfunny but frequently boring. Craig, please, don't quit your night job. It's what you're best at.
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