Once Upon A Punchline by Holly Schindler

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Amazon description:

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away…

you were a child. And fairy tales were delightful stories that insisted life wasn’t scary and overwhelming, but magical and sweet. Oh, there were happy endings galore—not to mention plenty of helpful godmothers and wands locked and loaded with life-changing sparkles.

Come on—admit it! That was pretty great.

Now, you’re an adult. And let’s admit this: adulthood isn’t quite as swell as you’d once hoped it would be.

What if you could explore this (ahem) more mature era of life through the same rose-tinted magical lens of a fairy tale?

Once Upon a Punchline is a humorous collection of stories—a little bit parody, a little bit fable, a little bit allegory—and a whole lot of laughs, all aimed at poking fun at the silliness in this era of life called…

adulthood.

MY THOUGHTS:

I found Once Upon A Punchline to be very humorous. I loved how the stories, written in fairytale style, had a lesson to learn. They were entertaining, humorous and thought-provoking.

FAVORITE QUOTES:

In the story Freewheeling:

"The thing is, we're all meant for something." 

I loved this story because it reminded me of a passage in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 12:14-27. In Freewheeling Spoke Ann is a spoke in a bicycle wheel. She decides to jump off one day and finds how disastrous that is and how much she is needed on that wheel and how much she needs the others. Just as in the Bible passage, we all have a gift and everyone is different but we are all one body. 

"We're meant to be together." 

I loved Spoke Ann's discovery that we all have a job and we are meant for community. A great message in the story!

In the story The Flyover:

"Don't you know the greatest love affair most people have is with stuff?" 

A sad truth! This is a story of people mourning the loss of things. Very sad, but pretty truthful.

In the story of To Be Frank:

"That's how it always goes. One day, you're in your prime, and the next__The old man gestured toward the hill, the crest of which was now behind Frank." 

Ack! Before we know it we are "over the hill" Sigh...FACT!

In the story Princess Karen and the Ogre:

"The thing was, Princess Karen was afraid" 

Ahhh, the crux of why some people act the way they do...fear. I loved this story even though I hate the calling of someone a "Karen." I happen to have a sister named Karen and she is the least "Karen" that I have ever met. But, back to the story...Karen has slowly become a demanding and cranky and ugly princess and doesn't even know it until she meets an ogre apparently stalking her. I love the lesson that this Karen learns.

In the last story Once Upon a Punchline part 2:

"So many others had agreed with her that waiting in the tops of family towers was actually as useless as wearing glass slippers (they chafe, in case you were wondering, creating blisters the size of ox testicles)."

This made me laugh! 

"I don't know about you, Esperanza said, but I have no grudges against men. Why, my own royal family has plenty of not-half-bad princes. There still have to be more than just a few males out there who do, in fact, have an intrinsic value far greater than being gator food." 

I liked the fact that there wasn't a big "men-bashing" scene in this story. The princesses that decided to be on their own didn't hate men, they just chose a different life than other princesses. 

FURTHER THOUGHTS:

All in all Once Upon A Punchline was entertaining, educational and a delight to read! I think that maybe Princess Karen and the Ogre may have been my favorite of all the stories. I enjoyed the lessons and the word pictures of real life. A fun read!