Format: HardcoverRelease date: October 9, 2007
Date acquired/borrowed: January 8, 2007
Pages: 240
Start reading date: January 8, 2007
Finished reading: January 16, 2007
All the fake smarmy, self-importance, ignorance and obtuseness you've come to expect from Stephen Colbert's parody of far-right media blow-hards (ala Rush Limbaugh) now in printed form. Akin to the Daily Show-derived "America: The Book" which satirized American history textbooks and Jon Hodgman's Areas Of My Expertise which took on the feel of an almanac, "I Am America" adopts elements of both, only written from the perspective of an ignorant egoist.
From the opening pages, we're made aware that this fictional persona Colbert adopts has opinions, so many opinions that 4 TV episodes a week can't contain them all. This book is just some of those opinions spread out over topics such as sexuality, sports, and religion.
Realistically, this should be a very provocative book, full of edgy "I-can't-believe-he-wrote-that" statements which are as funny as they are upsetting. But it's not, and I'm not sure if it's because of the exposure this persona has received or if it's just not trying hard enough. A large portion of the jokes stem around Colbert's ego and self-centred mentality. The spoof of right-wing, rich white men gets shrugged off in favour of pushing forth more and more the aggrandized cartoon of a man whose "American" ideals are beyond absurd. Of course, that's what makes it funny, but it's not grounded enough in reality to actually be edgy.
Throughout the book Colbert and his writing staff paint this character - via first-person narrative, first-person marginalia, and first-person footnotes - as an idiot, a man whose belief in his own sense of what's right and what's not doesn't extend past his own made up beliefs about everything from the Bible, to the American constitution, to laws (of physics or of the road, doesn't matter). It's an amusing persona, obviously, but I was hoping there would be more biting humour (ala his White House Correspondents Dinner speech, reprinted in this book, where he lampoons the president and his policies and his image... to his face! As Colbert would say, the balls on that guy). I was looking for more quotes from the right wing which he then would blow out of proportion... but not so out of proportion that it loses the outrageousness of the original sentiment.
Don't get me wrong, the book is gleefully glib and full of classic "truthiness" that's very amusing reading. Readers of the Onion will find the structure of their book not too dissimilar from the worlds greatest fake news source, and with much the same sensibility. Enjoyable? Fully.
Rating: 3.5/5