Customer Reviews: Read 78 more reviews...
 Don't believe the cover! December 1, 2008
It is rare that I read a book all the way through in a day, but I completed this one in a three hour car journey (not while driving though!) At 142 pages, it's an easy book to read and is like a literature version of the channel 4 series 'Fonejacker'.
There are some good letters that were worth book marking, including the poem about aluminium set to 'Oh my Darling Clementine' and the letter to the Society of Existential Analysis. The letters also give you some good ideas for letter writing and can be light-heartedly amusing, steering clear of puerility.
However, this is where the similarity between the hype (on the cover) and the content ends. The book does seem like someone's hobby when bored, and the timewasting nature of the letters follow the tawdry cliche of being a waste of your (the readers) time.
It is reminiscent of reading one of those Clarkson books of magazine articles - essentially what you get is just a load of raw material, which could do with processing into something better. Maybe this is why the fawning praise is from TV comedians - it's good source material, but little more.
So, to conclude, if you are a comedian, then this is a good book for you, as it has much in the way of diverse and useful muse material. However, if you are after comedy then get a hold of some early Jeremy Clarkson or Douglas Adams. Better still, experiment a little by getting some Nikolai Gogol Petersburg tales, which are a lesson in just what can be made with comedic ideas...
 Probably the funniest book ive ever read November 30, 2008
I found this book by accident, but was so glad I did. I rarely bother to write reviews, but then I rarely have tears rolling down my face - literally - because I am laughing so hard ! I can only recall a few times I have been unable to breathe properly and could not sit up straight due to laughing, and reading the Timewaster letters was one of them. It wont appeal to everyone - i can understand why some people think its daft (my wife for instance doesnt get it), but if you have one of those senses of humour that appeals, this is a real gem.
Even now months after reading it, I still recall the odd letter or 2 and it makes me laugh.. Warning : dont read in public unless you dont mind people looking at you in wonder, as you try not to wet yourself laughing ..
 Been done better before October 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Dear Mr Cooper,
People younger than I seem to enjoy your book, but my generation remember that it has been done before (and better) by Willam Donaldson:
The Complete Henry Root Letters
Yours sincerely,
Artefact
Absolutely hilarious book September 27, 2008
A fabulously funny book. I laughed and LAUGHED and LAUGHed. My wife laughed so much a small bit of wee came out, but since having our second child, that does happen every 7 weeks or so.
For me, the enjoyment did not come from the letters being a `wind-up' - the author does not relish in making people seem foolish and does not ever really ridicule them. If they did subsequently read their own responses in the book, I think they'd see the funny side. The humour lies in the totally natural and unforced way the author writes about the bizarre, and his intelligent simple constructs in the correspondence. It avoids the lazy, artificially bizarre (hurling raw fish at a radiator) kind of comedy in favour of something more educated and rounded. The comedy reminded me of some of the more intelligent and less crude articles found in Viz, but a bit more grown-up.
The small details had me in hysterics. "Poor water boy" may not seem too hilarious, but in the context of the letter to the Belgian Ambassador, that single phrase had me howling for several (9) minutes and laughing the next morning (Thursday); at least I think it was Thursday because I remember seeing an offal lorry on that day.
 Top notch September 25, 2008
Cooper wasn't the first to embark on this genre but he's up there with the best. Funny, whimsical and wonderfully pointless. Henry Root is my all time favourite wind up merchant followed by The Raymond Delauney Emails, which is absolutely hilarious. Cooper's books are perfect for cheering you up on a day when you are feeling a little down.
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