Big Time

by Jen Spyra, Stephen Colbert (Foreword)

The debut collection of raucous, dark, strange, satirical stories from the former Late Show with Stephen Colbert writer and New Yorker contributor, featuring a foreword by Stephen Colbert

A bride so desperate to get in shape for her wedding that she enrolls in a new kind of workout program that promises the moon but costs more than she bargained for. A snowman who, on the wish of a child, comes to life in a decidedly less savory way than in the childhood classic. And in the title story, a time-hopping 1940s starlet tries to claw her way to the top in modern-day Hollywood, despite being ridiculously unwoke.

In this uproarious, addictive debut, Jen Spyra takes a culture that seems almost beyond parody and holds it up to a funhouse mirror, immersing the reader in a world of prehistoric influencers, woodland creatures plagued by millennial neuroses, and an all-out birthday bash determined to be the most lavish celebration of all time, by any means necessary.

Welcome, brave soul, to the world of Jen Spyra.

Genres: Short Stories, Humor, Fiction, Comedy, Audiobook, Essays, Anthologies

320 pages, Hardcover

First published March 16, 2021

Reviews

[emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

a book that claims to be funny gets me every time.

now let's individually rate some stories!

STORY 1: BRIDAL BODY
this is the most heavy handed unfunny thing i have ever read. this is like if the quirky best friend character in a rom com was forced at gunpoint to write a short story on the spot. i am filled with raw fear at what the rest of this collection holds, because we appear to be beginning at rock bottom.
rating: 1

STORY 2: THE FIRST INFLUENCER
another title that promises complete unoriginality. i can't wait!
this was already sickeningly unfunny (and also sickeningly gross) and then boom. rape joke.
rock bottom is carving itself away to reveal a deeper, rockier bottom. which is a bummer because the ending of this would have been kind of cool, maybe making a good point. if i had felt generous. which i do not.
rating: 1

STORY 3: THE SNOWMAN
what we in the industry would call a one-joke premise.
i'm not in the industry.
rating: 2

STORY 4: DINNER AT EIGHT
the joke of this story is that the narrator keeps switching and first is anti-semitic and then is sexist and then is ableist and then is racist.
what fun.
rating: 2

STORY 5: BIRTHDAY GIRL
what the hell is the point of any of this.
rating: 1.5

STORY 6: MY DEAREST CAROLINE
okay this was actually very funny.
rating: 4

STORY 7: THE ADVENTURE OF THE MISTAKEN RIGHT SWIPE
jesus even this title is lame.
super basic sherlock holmes situation, and also the right swipe in question was not even a mistake.
rating: 1.5

STORY 8: MONSTER GOO
a super-cool story about a fifty foot tall teenage boy getting f*cked by animals and inanimate objects against his will in exchange for money.
rating: 1

STORY 9: ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
there were moments that were funny in this that only made me more sad that the rest of this book is so not.
rating: 2.5

STORY 10: FIRST KID, SECOND KID
finally, some eldest child representation. i'm assuming.
ugh god i hate parenting humor. add it to my list of reasons to never have children.
rating: 1.5

STORY 11: THE BOYFRIEND IDENTITY
please, for the love of god...tell me this isn't supposed to be a pun on the bourne identity.
...
it was.
rating: 1.5

STORY 12: THE SECRET MEETING OF THE WOMEN'S CLUB
this f*cking sucks so f*cking much holy jesus. all powerful women secretly have penises. taylor swift denies the holocaust. basic man and blackface engager justin trudeau is labeled "honorary woman." gayle king's and ava duvernay's sole jobs are to prevent jane fonda from engaging in cultural appropriation. harriet tubman's life's work is a sequel to first wives club.
if i die unexpectedly tell the world this story is the cause.
rating: 1

STORY 13: THE TALE OF MR. MITTLEBURY, MILLENNIAL PIG
please...no...not millennial jokes...i'm so weak...i can't take anymore...the words "avocado toast" will take me out for good...
rating: 1

STORY 14: BIG TIME
the titular story. the closer. the hundred-pager.
so close to the end of this suffering...yet so far.
this wasn't even that bad but i don't care. I'M DONE!!!!
rating: 2.5

OVERALL
i think this was one of the worst things i have ever read.
rating: 1.5

---------------

challenging myself to read as many review copies as possible this month because i'm addicted to projects!

ARC 1: spaceman of bohemia
ARC 2: in search of us
ARC 3: aerialists
ARC 4: the sound of drowning
ARC 5: unleaving
ARC 6: the other side of luck
ARC 7: romanov
ARC 8: the storm keeper's island
ARC 9: gut check
ARC 10: when force meets fate
ARC 11: sisters in hate
ARC 12: before i disappear
ARC 13: big time

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jen Spyra is an actress and former staff writer for 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' and 'The Onion.'


Jen Spyra


Jen Spyra's short story collection is satirical, raunchy, clever and entertaining. With tales that range from prehistoric days to time travel, Spyra's creativity shines.

❁ Bridal Body - A bride who wants to look great on her wedding day is shanghaied into an expensive, gulag-like exercise camp that's so addictive she doesn't want to leave.



❁ The First Influencer - Cavewomen Grooga and Crooga enviously natter about influencer Oola, who hawks flat-belly tea and bone hair decorations.



Observing Oola's success, the prehistoric ladies try the products themselves.



❁ The Snowman - A boy builds a snowman who behaves like a horny, drug-using, drinking, vaping bad boy.....to the child's delight.



❁ Dinner at Eight - A murder mystery dinner party is described by a series of guests, including an anti-Semitic playboy, a colonel who objectifies women, a woke young lady, the host, and the victim.



❁ Birthday Girl- A woman makes huge sacrifices and spends a fortune to attend her narcissistic friend Molly's destination birthday party. It doesn't turn out as expected.



❁ My Dearest Caroline - A Civil War soldier about to enter a fierce battle confesses his adultery in a letter to his wife. When the soldier survives, he retracts the confession. The cycle repeats again and again, with the soldier's admissions of wrongdoing escalating each time.



❁ The Adventure of the Mistaken Right Swipe - A dating app pairs up a woman with Sherlock Holmes, who brings Dr. Watson along for all their excursions. Unfortunately, Holmes isn't good at courtship in the modern world.



❁ Monster Goo - When monster goo turns a teenage boy into a giant, there are consequences for the entire family.



❁ One Thousand and One Nights - A jealous sultan marries a fresh virgin each night, then executes her the next morning. Scheherazade stays alive by spinning a cliffhanger story every evening, often cribbed from TV shows.



❁ First Kid, Second Kid - A woman treats her first child as gold and her second child as garbage, with unfortunate consequences.



❁ The Boyfriend Identity - A woman uses a very rigorous training regime to transform men into perfect boyfriends.



❁ The Secret Meeting of the Women's Club - A Women's Club with members like Oprah Winfrey, Angela Merkel, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem, Michelle Obama and more plot to annihilate men, so women can take over the world,



❁ The Tale of Mr. Mittlebury, Millenial Pig - A pig named Mr. Mittlebury hopes doing improv will raise his social standing.



❁ Big Time - A mouthy 1940s actress who used the casting couch to get ahead is magically propelled into the present, where her racist lingo and sexual willingness are out of place, but get her onto a popular reality show.



All the stories are fun, but I got the most laughs from Dinner at Eight, My Dearest Caroline, The Adventure of the Mistaken Right Swipe, The Secret Meeting of the Women's Club, and Big Time. If you need a smile - and don't mind saucy stories- get this book.

Thanks to Random House for a copy of the book.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com

[jenny✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars—what a collection of weird stories that were not, in the end, for me.

Heavy-handed and crass, Big Time plows through modern-day social issues with absurd humour—from a woman who disappears for seven years to attain her dream bod, to a misogynistic snowman come to life, to breaking the fourth wall to address characters’ anti-Semitic and sexist narration. This is a collection that is exaggerated and loud and too on-the-nose with its interrogation of social themes. Despite its unsubtlety, however, Big Time’s all-in commitment to its campiness still made for an overall entertaining read.

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Bridal Body (★★★☆☆)
Hyperbolic and deadpan: an absurd story about a woman who’s desperate for the ultimate “bridal body” (“[r]ock-hard abs, chiseled triceps, and hollowed-out clavicles for miles”).

The story is a little heavy-handed, a lot crude. I’m not sure the humour was for me, but I found it decently entertaining.


The First Influencer (★★★½☆)
Okay, the preposterousness of this one worked for me. 😂😂 “The First Influencer” follows, literally, the first influencer—a cavewoman named Oola who peddles dandelion flat-belly tea and has her own cave-painting #ads. Fellow cavewomen Grooga and Crooga play out storylines we of the Instagram age are more than familiar with: one finds herself swayed by Oola's charismatic fads, while the other is skeptical as hell.

Side plots include an absurd satirization of (prehistoric) rape culture.

TW: casual mention of rape


The Snowman (★★☆☆☆)
Sarcasm positively DRIPS from this one. Elijah Honeycutt has just made a sentient, magical snowman—a snowman who chain-smokes, steals from corner stores, jacks off to family photos, and harasses his ex. Elijah’s canned holiday cheer cannot be diminished, however!

There just wasn’t much substance to this one for me, personally.


Dinner at Eight (★★★☆☆)
The setup seems like every gothic Clue-esque mystery ever, with the added bonus of an outrageously anti-Semitic narrator whose inner monologue spurs the others to break character in a very meta manner.

Dissatisfied with the intolerance of this initial narrator, an unnamed voice commands each character take their turns at the narrative helm, including a misogynistic colonel and the politically correct Miss Hadley. The satirization of each character and their stereotypes made for a story that was, again, too on-the-nose (the didactic was HEAVY with this one) but nonetheless enjoyable.


Birthday Girl (★☆☆☆☆)
This one was going SO WELL—until it went up in dumpster-fire flames. I was fully prepared to give it four stars, but its iffy portrayal of fat characters, random and unexpected rape scene, and hot mess of an ending utterly soured this one for me.

TW: casual mention of rape


My Dearest Caroline (★★★☆☆)
A Civil War soldier writes one-sidedly to his wife, Caroline, in this crass epistolary story. It’s really short; I was entertained by Abraham’s hot-and-cold bouncing between confessing all the trash things he’s done and taking them back via blustering, farfetched excuses.


The Adventure of the Mistaken Right Swipe (★★★☆☆)
What happens when you swipe right on Sherlock Holmes? This story delves into the ill-fated relationship that ensues.


Monster Goo (★☆☆☆☆)
There was something so contrived about the narration in this one that totally prevented me from getting into it. Zack’s a basketball lover whose little sister, Meezy, invents wacky things in their basement—including a monster goo that turns Zack into a fifty-foot version of himself.

Weeeeeird and not a fan of this one. 😅


One Thousand and One Nights (★★☆☆☆)
Like with “The First Influencer,” this story is a mashup of twenty-first century pop culture and historical fiction, modern memes in a far-off setting—in this case, a retelling of the famous story of the same name.


First Kid, Second Kid (★★★☆☆)
As the narrator goes to visit [her?] estranged 18-year-old daughter, she reflects on all the ways she may have treated her two daughters differently over the years. This one was pretty funny if more than a little depressing!


The Boyfriend Identity (★★★☆☆)

They ask him who he is, what he does for work, what kind of trouble he’s in—but the man is at a loss. He has no idea about any of it, not even his name. Only one thing is crystal clear to everyone: this man possesses advanced boyfriend skills.

In a collection filled with absurd stories, this one still somehow manages to top the list: the notion of a perfect boyfriend. The quote I pulled made me guffaw, and I enjoyed this story (even if I did find the substance a teeny bit lacking).


The Secret Meeting of the Women’s Club (unrated)
I stand corrected—this one is by far the most absurd. In this story, we are privy to a meeting between famous and celebrated women plotting to take over the world—Jane Fonda moderates, Michelle Obama keeps the peace, Malala designs a computer virus to mesmerize all men, while newcomer Selena Gomez attends her first Secret Meeting of the

Oh yeah, and every woman has a monster penis.

This was funny, sure, but I feel a smidge weird about the whole thing (I swear I keep saying weird, but that’s just the prevailing aura here). And before you go there—no, I’m not saying “misandry” whatsoever; Secret Meeting is clearly a hyperbolic parody. I just don’t personally vibe with putting words into these real women’s mouths.


The Tale of Mr. Mittlebury, Millennial Pig (★★☆☆☆)
At this point, I’m having a hard time disentangling the individual stories from my overall impression of the collection, which is kinda squicky and weird and not in a good way for me. 😂 So maybe I would’ve given this story—about a pig who suffers from many issues that plague millennial men, including crushing student debt and compulsive masturbation as a coping mechanism—three stars in another life, but here we are.


Big Time (★★★½☆)
A good one-fourth of the entire book is taken up by its eponymous story, Big Time. If a crankier, politically incorrect version of Evelyn Hugo—Golden Age starlet status and all—time-traveled to 2021, you would get Big Time. Ruby Russell has such a distinctly crass voice, getting to be part of her navigating-the-twenty-first-century journey was HILARIOUS.

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AVERAGE RATING: 2.5 stars

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Big Time is a sharply funny, often utterly crazy debut story collection, which left me smirking throughout and sometimes even laughing out loud.

When you have a book written by a former staff writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Onion , you know you’re in for a wild ride. And that’s certainly the case with Jen Spyra’s debut collection.

The 14 stories are in this book are sarcastic, creative, downright wacky, and sometimes even totally bizarre, but they certainly were never dull. Spyra has a memorable voice and while at times I thought a few of the stories went a bit too far (at the very least), I found many of them really entertaining.

Among my favorites: “The Snowman,” in which a boy gets far more than he imagined when his snowman pal comes to life (I don’t think Jimmy Durante would narrate this!); “The Adventure of the Mistaken Right Swipe,” about a woman who finds a unique boyfriend on a dating app; “First Kid Second Kid,” which contrasts different parenting approaches between children; and “The First Influencer,” about the power of persuasion before the internet existed.

These stories are sometimes a little graphic in terms of their language and imagery (nothing awful, but just worth an FYI for some), and at times you wonder where Spyra came up with some of her ideas. But when a story hit on all cylinders, I actually laughed until I nearly cried more than a few times.

Random House provided me a complimentary advance copy of Big Time in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Check out my list of the best books I read in 2020 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2020.html.

Check out my list of the best books of the last decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The queen of satire. The empress of sarcasm. May she take a bow. Worth her weight in gold she is.
These short stories were undoubtedly a guilty pleasure. Give it a shot. I smirked through the whole book. And Stephen Colbert is kinda funny, too.

Thanks to Netgalley, Random House, and Jen Spyra for an ARC in return for an honest review.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

One third of this book is full of stories that made me laugh until I snorted (the riffs on Sherlock Holmes & Agatha Christie, and the cavewoman influencer tale were easily the best of the collection). One third of this book is full of stories that were filthy and sexually forward to the point of discomfort (and just not funny). The remaining stories did nothing for me. This is definitely a collection designed to offer something for every taste...unfortunately, only a third of it is compatible with my own. Luckily, that one third is rip-roaringly hilarious and witty, so that earns the three star rating.

[Polly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jen Spyra is a master of comedy. This book did not disappoint - every page brought unexpected bursts of laughter. I cannot recommend this book enough!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one had me laughing out loud so much, my husband decided to read it after me based solely on that. Jen Spyra is clearly a disturbed individual in the best possible way.

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

DO NOT pick up this book!!! It has to go down as the very worst book I have ever read. I have only not finished two only books in my life. They were good books but just not for me. I tried desperately to find something redeeming about this book but I could not. Each time I started a story, I kept hoping it would be one I'd like even just a little. I can not read anymore. I am calling it quits. There is only one story that remains and it is the feature story titled "Big Time". I just cannot bring myself to start it. Stephen Colbert wrote the forward. I thought it would be a light funny read but it was the complete opposite. It was not funny. It was at times vulgar, where vulgarity was not needed. It was violent where violence was not needed. If I could rate this book a negative number of stars I would rate it -5. Perhaps I did not get the parody but I doubt it. I am sorry I even wasted as much time as I did trying to find something to like. The editor who agreed to publish this book should consider another line of work.

[Marsha Regenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. The perfect comedic recipe to escape from all things COVID. Spyra is an amazing writer who engages from the first sentence and then takes you on a wild and hilarious ride. Some of these stories are going to become classics. I have at least 10 favorites out of the 14 in the book.

[Susan Tunis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird, absurdist, and very funny! Some stories are stronger than others, but the best of them more than justify giving the collection a read, if you're in the mood for something different.

[Julie Swartzentruber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Individual strange stories ranged from 1-3.5. Yet somehow I finished them all.

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jen Spyra knows how to write a story that will hurt you - in the best way possible. Let's put it this way, the snowman story made me laugh so hard that I cried. I cried big fat tears because the idea of a not so child friendly snowman really got me.

While the into by Stephen Colbert is nice - it's not necessarily needed. The opening story about a bride on a mission is more than enough of a reason to pick this up.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Eric Munn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I should be upfront that Jen and I worked together for a couple of years. She was a veteran at The Onion when I joined on. And I was in awe of her. She was not only just a really nice person, she was an amazing writer. Her headlines were always fantastic.

When I saw she was writing a book, I pre-ordered a copy as quick as possible. And it lived up.

This collection of stories is a great exercise of "What if"
What if a children's book pig character was a millennial?
What if an uber-rich socialite held extremely regimented birthday parties?
What if a female star from the '50s ended up time traveling to modern day?

Jen has a strong skill at not only switching writing styles from story to story, but also making us the reader connect with the different protagonists. This was an awesome debut collection, and can't wait to see more.

[🐴 🍖]

funny stories insofar as funny stuff happens in them, but not funnily written; orderly declarative sentences as far as the eye can see. not thrilled either w/ rape as a throwaway gag in "the first influencer" (they don't have consensual sex bc they're cavepeople! lol!). you know the drill; it's a bunch of late-nite sketches deemed too spicy or self-indulgent for tv, repackaged as short stories. you've got an uncle who would love this. in summation: boooo get off the stage

[May Sun Aung · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's like reading a smart, sarcastic animated sitcoms.
Yeah.....not a fan.

But there are some stories which I find funny though, like Dinner at Eight and My Dearest Caroline. I laughed out loud reading the latter.
Birthday Girl and Monster Goo were somewhat scary for me.
And there are also some stories which I just don't understand. And some are just downright weird. *cough* The Secret Meeting of the Women's Club *cough*

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun, wild book of short stories. The satire is on point about influencer culture, adults celebrating their birthdays with weeks long celebrations, male and female dating patterns, women leading the world. I found myself laughing, wide eyed OMG that's on paper, and loving the subtle commentary woven throughout it. I laugh in the car to myself and say "THEY HAVE NO HANDS!" often. If you want a good, twisted fun laugh, read this book.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

***must confess i listened to this on tape***

What a hoot and a half. I wish the collection had more existential weight to ensure its staying power, especially with so many references to the zeitgeist

[Dewey Lovett · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a relief to read a book of short stories that’s FUNNY. Reminds me of an edgier BJ Novak.
I wish reading was always this entertaining. I hope to read more from this author in the future!

[Rose Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a sentence level I really enjoyed this book. Spyra’s comedic timing in her structure is really impressive. However, the comedy in a lot of the stories came from how absurd they are and that gets old for me pretty quick. They often read more like sketches that would benefit from a visual component.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

The opening stories were quite dull and I never would have finished the book if I didn't have to (for a book club). There are some slightly more clever stories later on, but ultimately she is trying SO HARD to be funny, it becomes sad. The final story is like a NOVEL compared to the earlier ones; it seems like the editor told her to pull together everything she'd ever written just to make it long enough to publish. Swearing and sex jokes are her go-to tricks to attempt to create humor, and honestly how much creativity does that take? (and I swear like a sailor and do not blush easily). There were 2 moments that I found mildly amusing. One of them is the story, "Dinner at Eight," which is a clever idea that falls flat. Another one is a joke about Charlie Chaplin and young girls.

Would not recommend to anyone and will throw it away rather than donate it, so no one else has to waste their time.

[Douglas · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of quirky stories, sort of like B. J. Novak, except Novak is funny.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books makes me scream. It’s outrageous, hilarious, witty, relatable. Can’t put it down. Jen Spyra’s writing makes me squeal! A must read.

[Jay Dewey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories begins with the shortest first, leading to the longer and far more developed last.

My first impression was shock (less so because I had been warned by one of the author’s fans, and I was already impressed by writing for The New Yorker). Had I heard the language of her characters from my children, it would have been followed by a bar of soap.

Here, the idiom of her people is crude and standard to their world. It reminded me of the Ashcan School of Art, where the idiom portrays the linguistic setting of a poorer and less educated world than that of the average reader, one that we might think existed in depressed neighborhoods where individuals were just trying to survive. Spyra’s people are not well educated, certainly not refined, and their stories reflect their world where survival is personal and individualistic; they succeed in a world where they are unprepared and ill-trained to succeed except by the school of hard knocks. Theirs is a bar-fight world where the best they could hope for is still crushing poverty.

The first story shocks through its language and plot development. It takes place in a world alien to the average modern reader where success is exemplified in how we handle split infinitives, avoid guttural language, worry about which car to drive or how to afford a big city apartment now that we have our only child, or even before that, how do we get that unborn child into the best nursery school in New York City.

Please note that these stories, especially the last, are satires meant to provoke humor while pointing out the ugly and rough aspects of our modern soap opera world.

The first story reads like dynamite, planted by the author to blow the reader out of easy contentment. Don’t stop there! Travel on into a Swiftian world of satire, but one filled with humor, wit, and well-written prose.

Though the stories have no interconnecting plot, each in its own way introduces the reader to an unfamiliar world that lacks polish, a world that most of us would prefer to cross the road rather than see, much less meet, even listen to, what happens in this street curb society.

Sprya’s world is no Hemingway or Fitzgerald world of a middle ladder or class climber where how we talk, what we wear, what car we buy, and which neighbor we can afford defines success. Hers is a world where ‘Big Time’ is defined by affording the next meal, beating up the other guy by punching harder, hitting harder with words, or by using what sells, even if it's sex at the curb, also, of taking advantage of whatever luck happens.

Having dug into the mud and panned a few glittering nuggets, having allowed ourselves to be mocked, and in the end, learned to separate the dross of pyrite, we’ve unearthed a few bits and pieces of gold, even if it causes us then to wonder how we define success. In the last and longest story, is it Ruby’s luck to be on The Batchelor or her ‘nice’ friends who have truly succeeded fade into the woodwork of normalcy?

The first story mocks the dialogue of the average American, even the average urbanite and certainly the educated’ boomer,’ such as me; both characters and how they speak is crude, even shocking, shocking enough to sift away those not willing to take the characters as they are and ride with their stories. All, however, softens as the stories move along, or perhaps because the reader gets used to and more accepting of the world and dialect of these characters.

All the stories, therefore, prepare the reader for the last story, the longest of them all. Ruby, the central character, has grown up in an orphanage, in a school of hard knocks. Her rough/crude language matches her upgrowing. In addition, Ruby's story of an attractive young girl trying to enter and succeed in the equally rough world of Hollywood, where sex is traded for success and, therefore, for money. As a young wanna-be, she is prepared to perform whatever she must do to get ahead. Then the timeline of the plot explodes when she crashes in an airplane and wakes up several decades later (a modern-day Rip-Van-Winkle device), where sex is a less acceptable form of currency (but not absent), where drugs are rampant, where idioms have changed. As Ruby translates her former world into a more modern idiom, questions are raised (here’s the satire) about the values we, the reader, accept in our contemporary setting.

Many humorous things happen as Ruby tries to understand and cope in her new world, including being locked in a porta-potty (invented after her plane crash), which oddly launches her Big Time career as a contestant on The Batchelor.

This satire of our world today is good fun and very visual, even to the point of slapstick, a strikingly hard gag to pull off in the non-visual of unillustrated literature.

[Amy (Bossy Bookworm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars for me.

This book! Spyra frequently made me verrrry uncomfortable as I read Big Time, her collection of stories. They're satirical, dark, edgy, bizarre, and often outrageous.

I'm curious about what unsuspecting readers may think if they go into this one without warnings about dark subjects played up for amusement. Spyra seems eager to leap over the line that separates questionable from almost certainly offensive. She turns situations on their heads, but the majority of stories felt heavy-handed to me.

The standout highlights of Big Time for me were two clever, funny stories I really liked, "The Secret Meeting of the Women’s Club" (featuring various real-life female celebrities as part of a private club through which they pull strings and wield power) and "Big Time” (in which a Golden Age movie star is plunged into the future, where her old-fashioned views and strategies come into question, but her spirited attitude turns out to be timeless).

To see my full review on The Bossy Bookworm, or to find out about Bossy reviews and Greedy Reading Lists as soon as they're posted, please see Big Time.

Find hundreds of reviews and lots of roundups of my favorite books on the blog: Bossy Bookworm
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[Zibby Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of the stories start out fairly traditional but then become strange satirical stories. For example, a bride wants to get ready for her big day but at a high cost. Or a kid who is building a snowman that comes to life in a different way. But then they all take a turn and end with a twist. I love this sense of imagination that the author used to veer off the expected storyline. It covers topics from Hollywood to white women to the wedding industry.

All of the stories are somewhat silly, whimsical, and fantastical until they then take dark turns. Each story is rooted in an authentic experience that generates relatable emotions like anger, jealously, anxiety. But as crazy as they get, the stories usually start from places of empathy. As a result, the book is hilarious and uncomfortable at the same time.

To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/jen...

[Eileen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for a four star book here but I find myself stuck between two and three stars. I wouldn't recommend it probably, so rounding down.

Basically, these stories take an absurd concept and just run with it til it runs out. What would it be like to be besties with the most self-centered, horrible and possibly actually Satan on earth and how would celebrating her birthday go? What would cavemen influencers be like? What if we could read the minds of our anti-Semitic, racist, misogynistic dinner guests? What if we matched on a dating app with Sherlock Holmes with a drug problem? What if you were a perfect mother to your first child and the worst possible mother to your second (I actually did like the last line in this story)?
All of the stories had potential and sounded intriguing, but fell flat for me, sadly. And I LIKE weird, quirky short stories.

Parts of it are funny, but not in the subtle, clever way I wanted.

{owned, Kindle}

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real showstopping collection of comedic essays from a debut author but longtime television comedy writer for Stephen Colbert. Echoes of some of the greats of the form (Simon Rich, Jon Stewart, George Saunders), but with a distinct pitch black humor all her own, wading into controversial and troubling waters with a casual matter of factness that catches you off guard, as if to say "well duh, why aren't we going here?"

Standouts for me include "Dinner At Eight", "Birthday Girl", "The Boyfriend Identity", and the title novella, all of which made me literally laugh out loud and disturb my spouse's sleep. But perhaps the true genius work here is "Monster Goo", a perfect adult pastiche of Goosebumps books that's genuinely upsetting enough to trouble you in your thirties the same way the source material did in the third grade, despite following the same very stupid plot beats.

[maya · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok first off i did not really enjoy this book it was trying to be funny and maybe another person would've found it funny but not me ok! really i found it more uncomfortably crude and absurd than anything. it's like the taylor swift story. yeah, that's how i'd sum this book up. it's like if the taylor swift story got grinded up and scattered in varying amounts across this book.

and now, some specifics:
i actually liked 2/14 of them which is pretty good all things considered. one is dear caroline i think it's called which was just like silly funny letters epistolary! and i also liked the long one, big time - it was engaging. approved.
my two least favourites were the caveman one and the birthday one. hot mess. terrible. hated.

i think that's all i really want to say ok bye

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

We read the story "Dinner at 8" for book club. it was a funny exercise in problematic writing (switching POV's with each POV a troubling one - the letch was the funniest with a lot of examples of male author 'breasting boobily" portrayals of women. I have to wonder if the obscenely anti-semetic POV character was an allusion to Roald Dahl or if I'm just projecting recent knowledge onto it. The finale was a nice touch of leftist eating each other.
Spryra's writing reminded me strongly of Raphael Bob-Waksberg both in the jokes per minute pace and the episodic style. This story does well as a long(er) form joke but has nothing to lend itself to a full-length novel (or novella for that matter).