Me V. Everybody: Absurd Contracts for an Absurd World

by Dahlia Lithwick, Brandt Goldstein

A contract for a blind date. A restraining order against obnoxious family members on Thanksgiving. OSHA regulations administering the contents of the office fridge. A contract for "Boy" and "Girl" entering into a Long-Term Relationship, including a definition of the term "fat."

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Dahlia Lithwick is a Canadian writer and editor who lives in the United States. She is a contributing editor at Newsweek and a senior editor at Slate. She writes "Supreme Court Dispatches" and "Jurisprudence" and has covered the Microsoft trial and other legal issues for Slate. Before joining Slate as a freelancer in 1999, she worked for a family law firm in Reno, Nevada. Her work has appeared in The New Republic, The American Prospect, ELLE, The Ottawa Citizen and The Washington Post.

Reviews

[Gospodyina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I expected this book to find humor in real contracts--ridiculous rock star riders, obnoxious small print, that sort of thing--but no, it's dumb jokes inserted into legalese. And WOW does the quality drop off during the course of the book! The first few were amusing, the middle less so, and eventually it's padding to make the thing book-length.

Started this review giving it 3 stars, but the more I think about it...

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe if you're a lawyer and read this stuff all day, it's funny. But mostly it's just putting legal language around bad stand-up: guys don't want to get married but girls do; if you go out drinking, people want to hook up; the office fridge gets really gross.

I like Dahlia Lithwick's legal writing. This bears no resemblance.