Based on a True Story: Not a Memoir

Other books are simply not as good

Genuinely one of the funniest books I have ever read. The content is much more amusing if you are familiar with Norm's career and his video podcast series with Adam Eget although it is not required in order to enjoy this brilliant piece of work. I'm so glad I have discovered Norm and his work in recent times. Here's hoping book #2 comes out way in the not too distant future!

A Christmas gift. He loved it and I was happy to give it.

A good read. Very funny. For my money though, an actual memoir by Norm MacDonald would be funnier. Lots of people say it reads like Russian literature. Not really. It has a long shaggy dog story about a moth in a podiatrsit's office which does, but overall it reads more like Spike Milligan. It's good and I'm glad I read it but the praise heaped on it by other reviewers seems a bit much. Norm is for my money the funniest man who ever lived. His podcast and his stand up are sublime. The book is good but I think something less contrived could be even better.

If you don't understand the author or his comedy this is still a good buy but not as a serious autobiography. It takes the unreliable narrator trope and turns it up to an absurd, hilarious and ultimately comedic effect. There's great prose and some nice aphorism as well as a rare surrealness to this book that leaves a strong impression.

Great work from a first time novelist. Norm is a genius across the board. He must write more. A profoundly funny, important comedy novel, beautifully written, clearly considered carefully, meandering delightfully like only Norm can (without ever losing focus), and all of it over too soon.

It’s impossible to read this book without hearing Norm’s distinctive voice and cadence in your head. And for that reason alone is worth reading.

I think I just read it with this book. Seriously. Did he have a ghost writer, or did he not? I don't know. It was weird, expectantly, but was it too weird? I did laugh. A lot, in fact. I was also baffled at times too. Still, I enjoyed what I read. This guy comes from a place in Ontario that I haven't even heard of, and I live in Ontario too. I found that funny, but it also prompts me to want to see more of my beautiful province. Do I feel like I read a memoir? Not in the least. Even when he discussed actually events in his career, they all drifted to something else all together and somehow it all became about Adam. So did I love it? Not really. I didn't dislike it either. It just was.... well, I don't know what it was, but it was.

I had to go through blood and bones to get this book. Turns out it was available in nothern canada

Gogol canadiense

Witzig.

A funny story, well told in Norm's inimitable style. Not great enough that I will ever re-read it, though. Probably.

Everything is exhaggerated for comedic effect, but it also has some serious and very touching moments. Norm went all out in this one and what we have is a truly wonderful read. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll appreciate the few (very interesting) opinions Norm has on comedy, people, and life in general. Its only fault is the pacing: in 90% of chapters the reality-to-fiction ratio is perfectly balanced, in the other 10% it's a little too skewed towards made up stuff, which results in entire chapters (again though, not many) feeling "useless", like a waste of time: The cool story set in the present and the interesting flashbacks of Norm's past life are all suddenly paused. Those chapters didn't feel great. Other than that, it is a truly unique and wonderful work of art; one that's made with love by a very special man. Give it a read.