Negative Positive
Title: What the ????????
Review: This is what passes for humorous writing these days? Pollack has some cleverness--but not much else. He's a poseur, and his pose isn't even original. The only way to entertain yourself while reading this tedious and pretentious little book is to ask yourself, "Who is he trying to imitate in this piece?" Pollack is so unfunny that he makes Dave Barry look like S. J. Perelman. Pollack is is a run-of-the-mill McSweeney's narcissist. That he has fans--that people show up for his readings with intentions other than those of heckling him or shouting him down--is a distressing indication of how stupid the "hipster" reading public has become. The McSweeney's publishing operation is little more than a vanity-press outfit.
Is the review positive or negative? 