The Ferrari in the Bedroom

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Synopsis
Jean Shepherd was one of America's favorite humorists, his most notable achievement being the creation of the indefatigable Ralphie Parker and his quest for a BB gun in the holiday classic A Christmas Story. But he was so much more, a comic Garrison Keillor-like figure whose unique voice transcended the airwaves and affected a whole generation of nostalgic Americans. The Ferrari in the Bedroom is Shepherd's wry, affectionate look at the hang-ups and delusions of Americans in the 1970s. From his sardonic assessment of fads such as the nostalgia craze ("Thinking that the old days were good is a terrible sickness. Everything was just as bad then as it is now. ") to a modest proposal for the foundation of S. P. L. A. T. (The Society for the Prevention of the Leaving of Animal Turds), Jean Shepherd provides a generous measure of his special brand of wise and warm humor as an antidote for some of America's more ridiculous obsessions.
Copyright:
1972

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9780307755315
Related ISBNs:
9780385237925
Publisher:
Broadway Books
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Jean Shepherd
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Literature and Fiction, Humor
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

4 out of 5

By on

This is the least known of Shepherd's four books, but is almost as funny as the other three. There are a few downers here, which is why it got 4 stars instead of the usual 5 I'd give his other 3 books. But the plus side still outweighs the minus side about 3 to 1. His story of a flight from New York to Chicago with a plane full of guitar-playing college students having a singsong on the plane makes me wish for the old days when you could bring just about anything on the plane and nobody batted an eye. Now, if my wife flies, the T.S.A. agent gets more intimate with her than I do--all in the name of national security. A tale that made a big impression on me was Shepherd's tale of fishing at the Playboy Club, surrounded by bunnies. In this tale I learned that bunnies are called by only their first name--Bunny Bonnie, Bunny Sandy, etc. From that day I started calling my wife Bunny ----,(insert first name) and starting then she cursed the name of Jean Shepherd. Then there's a day in the life of a 15-year-old Shepherd pumping gas, inspired by Merle Haggard's song "Harold's Super Service." There are portraits of Maine and Juneau Alaska, two of America's more remote outposts. Best of all is an utterly marvelous story of Shepherd, the Old Man, Uncle Karl and Uncle Al going to the 1939 Indianapolis 500. Until Brock Yates wrote the book "Against Death and Time," nobody had written as vivid a portrait of the race and the atmosphere surrounding it. The chapter about "Splat," and the one about two aging potheads trying to bring back the '60s were a total waste of time--something I rarely say about anything jean Shepherd wrote. But the book closes with the title piece, inspired by a magazine ad for a bed shaped like a Ferrari--and what racing nut wouldn't spend a thousand bucks for a bed like that if somebody made one? Lots of laughs to be had here.