Municipal Bondage: One Man's Anxiety-Producing Adventures in the Big City

by Henry Alford

A collection of essays that describe, among other exploits, taking a dog-grooming test, inventing a new snack food, and becoming an ear-lobe model

Genres: Humor, Essays, Nonfiction

231 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Henry Alford is an American humorist and journalist who has contributed to Vanity Fair and The New York Times for over a decade. He has also written for The New Yorker.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_A...

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Robert Dunbar · Rating 1 out of 5]

The atmosphere of Municipal Bondage, Henry Alford’s collection of essays (many of which first appeared in magazines like Spy, Mademoiselle, Interview and Vogue) remains distinctly claustrophobic. Naturally, the setting is New York, but it’s an oddly crabbed vision of the city … and, in fact, of most things. In classic freelance style, Alford puts himself in a succession of situations that sound as though they should generate saleable material. A typical chapter – You’ll Never Groom Dogs in This Town Again – describes his subjecting himself to a variety of job placement tests. Somewhat distastefully, he seems to find humor in the jobs themselves – sales clerk, beautician, masonry worker – as though the mere thought of such employment were inherently amusing. Alford’s not being hired for any of these positions apparently adds to the hilarity. How they must have roared in the editorial offices at Spy.

It leaves a bad taste.

So do most of the subsequent chapters. Ever notice those nude cleaning services advertised in the Voice? Another piece begins, promisingly enough, with Alford calling a couple of those services – one male and one female – and having the cleaners come over on different days to dust and scrub while he asks questions and takes notes. Possibly, Alford’s inability to fashion a humorous article out of this hinges on his unsympathetic point of view. He details setting nasty tasks for the cleaners, like unstopping a drain with caustic liquid (to see how they handle painful splashes), or carrying a load of firewood (to see if they get splinters in interesting places). The mirth quickly fades, especially after his judgment errs to the point of quoting the cleaners, both of whom sound quite nice. Perhaps a better approach would have been to seek employment as a nude cleaner in order to satirize the clients.

The tone varies so little that accidentally skipped pages are not immediately apparent. A bit on Manhattan bed-and-breakfast lodges seems to begin with the same sour note on which the nude cleaners piece ended, as Alford faults hostess after hostess for their lack of hospitality. (None of them, however, suggested he carry firewood in the nude.) Somehow managing to seem both thin and overwritten, these pieces may simply have been too well tailored to their original markets to flourish in any other format. To compensate for the uniformity, text alternates with boxed “what if” jokes. (What if a talent agent underwent time travel? What if the royal Family were put on the endangered species list?) Phrases like “labored whimsy” leap unbidden to the mind. But the arduous prose remains the real problem. Even giving a dog a bath becomes “lowering this unpleasant battleship into the harbor of my bathtub.”

A little of this goes a long way.

[Lisafaith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henry Alford is a most entertaining humorist with a remarkable eye for detail and human foibles. You'll laugh at his rich and insightful adventures full of memorable observations and delightful word play.

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Highly lacking a narrative thread

[Muneer Uddin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most hilarious books I have ever read bar none.

First, Alford provides some incredibly witty accounts of different "investigations" he conducts in New York City, such as hiring a clutter consultant, trying to get some fake heirlooms auctioned off at Sotheby's, trying to find a good bed and breakfast in Manhattan, hiring a nude housecleaning service, etc. In between each of these stories are some hilarious lists, such as "What if Frank Sinatra taught acting at UCLA" or "What if unemployed actors worked at banks instead of restaurants". The whole thing is great.

I found myself consistently laughing at some of the things Alford did in his investigations, such as gauging what happened when he asked the nude housecleaners to do things like bleach his tub or wash his windows from the outside. All in all, this is a very satisfying book for any fan of humor.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Henry Alford almost beyond reason. This book, his first, contains one of the funniest essays I've ever read: Alford, annoyed that all his friends are getting to sign up for gift registries when they get married and so forth, signs up for a registry just because, asking for items such as one white plastic mug, a bag of potato chips, and Garfield underpants. (Trust me, it's a lot funnier when Alford tells it.) The fabulous Jessica and I still quote this one at each other from time to time.

Get this book and read it RIGHT THIS SECOND.

[Keerthi · Rating 2 out of 5]

i bought this book after i fell in love with alford's sweetly self-deprecating piece "welcome to my world, o my beloved. don't bring your stuff." (which appeared in the new york times in march 2007). unfortunately, while municipal bondage does have its laugh-out-loud funny moments, for the most part it's only mildly entertaining and doesn't have nearly the charm of the times essay. read that piece instead.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very funny book. He treads very similar territory to that explored by David Rakoff (whom I also find very funny); of the two I'd put Alford ahead as being the more consistently (often absurdly) funny.

[Leonard Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry Alford has sort of fallen off the face of the Earth (or at least New York), but his elegant, hilarious humor writing -- nicely collected here -- makes him the modern heir to my main man Robert Benchley.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story collection of one man's life in New York City. From trying to invent a new snack food, to trying out the city's bed and breakfast places, to being a volunteer driver for the Democratic National Convention.

[Angela Pratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

laugh out loud funny