Reviews

Russian Optimism: Dark Nursery Rhymes To Cheer You Right Up by

hugbandit7's review

3.0

This is a rather interesting book. I don't know that I have read dark humor before but thought I would check this one out since each "chapter" was a short nursery rhyme. I thought some of the rhymes were pretty good and others were downright disturbing. But that is why it is called Dark Humor.

It all depends on what tickles your funny bone

5elementknitr's review

4.0

The author's family immigrated from Russia when he was a young child. He speaks Russian and English. In his one page intro, we learn this along with the day he (as an adult) went to his dad feeling low, and his dad started telling him Russian nursery rhymes. The author explained that America and Russia have a very culturally different outlook on life - America being much more optimistic. So the Russian nursery rhymes are pretty horrific and as his father told them, the author laughed and laughed, thinking, My life is not so bad.

This book is strangely entertaining!

marcuschoo's review

3.0

I've been on a bit of a Russian kick recently and this little book was a great way to practice reading the Cyrillic alphabet. The rhymes themselves are great examples of dark humour, but a lot of the jokes fell flat. They weren't even anti-jokes, just really, really bleak statements. I'd borrow this but not go out of my way to buy it.