A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

“I have filled 3 Mead notebooks trying to figure out whether it was Them or Just Me.” David Wallace

Anyone who is familiar with David Wallace’s writing style knows that his wit and humor more than make up for his lack of focussed writing. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again is a collection of 7 essays that got more media attention than any of his other works. And for a good reason too. Wallace has often been called a “human observation machine” where the primary butt of his humor is himself, and if he seizes upon his experiences to reveal ugly aspects of the American character, he always does it through the lens of his own worst impulses.

Mr. Wallace’s circus of high intellectual discourse is not a rarity in this book as he challenges the budding artists of this generation. ‘‘The new rebels,’’ he speculates, ‘‘might be artists willing to risk the yawn, the rolled eyes, the cool smile, the nudged ribs, the parody of gifted ironists, the ‘Oh, how banal.’ To risk accusations of sentimentality, melodrama. Of overcredulity. Of softness.’’

His compulsively analytical ways have given birth to the most culturally popular chapter “Getting Away From Already Being Pretty Much Away From It All” in which David Wallace takes a seven-day luxury cruise to the Caribbean. Besides the obvious hilarity, the title begs for attention. Tina Fey’s 2011 memoir Bossypants also includes a chapter on her own cruise experience, entitled My Honeymoon: Or, A Supposedly Fun Thing That I’ll Never Do Again Either, in which she jokingly suggests that those who’ve heard of Wallace’s book should consider themselves members of the “cultural elite”, who hate their country and flag.

Dig out your Smiths record and let this tickle monster of a book entertain you.