"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" Writes a Self Help Book Review

 "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The 7 Secrets of Awakening the Highly Effective Four-Hour Giant, Today"
by FX Networks
Publisher: Dey Street Books
Release Date: Jan 6, 2015
Source: sent by publisher

My Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Summary from goodreads.com:


"The Gang" from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia attempts their most ill-conceived, get-rich quick scheme yet: publishing a “self-help book” to hilarious, sometimes dangerous, and often revolting, results.
The Gang may have finally found their golden ticket. Left alone to close down Paddy’s Pub one night, Charlie Kelly inadvertently scored himself, and his friends, the opportunity of a lifetime—a book deal with a real publishing company, real advance money, and a real(ly confused) editor. While his actual ability to read and write remains unclear, Charlie sealed the deal with some off-the-cuff commentary on bird law and the nuances of killing rats (and maybe with the help of some glue fumes in the basement with an unstable editor on a bender). While The Gang is stunned by the news, and the legally binding, irrevocable contract left on the bar, they are also ready to rise to the task and become millionaires—and of course, help Charlie actually write the book.
In their own inimitable voices, Charlie, Mac, Dennis, Sweet Dee, and Frank weigh in on important topics like Relationships, Financial Success and Career, Fashion and Personal Grooming, Health and Diet, and Survival Skills, providing insane advice, tips, tricks, and recipes (Rum Ham anyone?) as only they can.
Fans of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia rejoice and welcome the most influential work in the history of the written word (or at least since the script for The Nightman Cometh): The 7 Secrets of Awakening the Highly Effective Four-Hour Giant, Today.
My Review:

The premise of the book entails that the gang from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" write a self-help book for Harper-Collins. You can only imagine their ideas for self-help. As a fan of the show, I think this is a great book, IF it were quite a bit shorter. When I first started reading the book, I was laughing so much, and I could just 'hear' the characters reading their chapters aloud. However, at about the midway point, I started to lose interest, and I was ready for the book to be over.


A word of warning, I would only recommend this book to readers who are already fans of the tv show. Otherwise, the book would be crazy offensive to...nearly everyone. If you've ever seen the show, you know what I mean. I think you have to go in realizing that the book is going to try to offend everyone, no one is safe-haha.

My favorite chapters were written by my favorite characters on the show-Charlie and Dee. I would have loved to have read more of Charlie's own words, instead of  most of his chapters being written "as told to" other characters. Perhaps more usage of a tape recorder and transcripts would have worked since his writing skills involve crayons and mispellings. Dee's chapters were written spot-on in her voice. I could just hear her reading the pages, cursing and all. Sometimes the characters of Dennis and Frank push the envelope for me personally, so I didn't really love their chapters.

Bottom Line: For fans of the show, this book is a funny companion to the tv show. It could have been great if only it were shortened by half or so.


Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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