Book Review: F U Penguin

F U, Penguin: Telling Cute Animals What's What
Written by: Matthew Gasteier

From the back of the book:

There is a cute and present danger lurking out there - in the wild, in the zoos, and sometimes even in our very own homes. Spurred on by the Cute Industrial Complex, these cuddly animals have taken over blockbuster films, inspirational posters, and computer desktops everywhere, further weakening the innocent civilians who are beguiled by these fuzzy frauds.

But you are stronger than them, aren't you? Those soft bellies and wet noses are no match for you - and their free ride has just come to an end.

Inspired by the hugely popular blog, F U, Penguin is the rallying cry for those who choose to fight these power-hungry cute-mongers. Loaded with color photographs and hilarious commentary, this book will have you laughing out loud while it simultaneously saves you from the tragic fate of tossing yarn with big-eyed kittens and bottle-nursing baby pandas forever.

Think puppies, penguins, kangaroos, kittens, moose, and other various animals are cute? Well so does Matthew Gasteier and he's taking them to task for it in this collection of essays from his popular blog, fupenguin.com.

The book is funny and full of ridiculously cute animals being berated by Gasteiers snarky commentary. His tirades aren't limited to just penguins as the book title may suggest. He sets his sites on a menagerie of animals, each one cuter than the last.

The essays are funny and clever but the problem is that they are best in small doses. I found myself getting bored if I read for too long.

I think in most cases a blog is best kept as just that, a blog. Collecting the entries and releasing them as a book takes the uniqueness out of them and makes them a little less enjoyable over time.

Gasteier is a very talented writer and his essays are very funny but I found myself losing the pleasure of reading the book if I read more than a few at a time.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the book, it's just not a book I would recommend reading in one sitting or for longer than ten minutes or so at a time.

Is it worth the $15.00 it costs? Well, that depends really. First read through is entertaining enough (spread over a couple of weeks) but I don't ever see myself going back and reading it again.

I feel like this is ultimately just a novelty book that is doomed to gather dust on a shelf once its reader gets bored with it. That is a shame because Gasteier's work is deserving of more. It might be best to just make his blog a regular stop when you need a laugh at work.

F U. Penguin is in stores now.