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Dumb Dumb Dumb: My Mother's Book Reviews
Dumb Dumb Dumb gives the reader an insight into Mary Jo Pehl’s remarkable mother-a woman of many contradictions. A voracious reader who kept ratings and synopses of everything she read. A taste for the pragmatic and macabre, she doesn’t suffer romance and I found that delightful. Also, an interesting category of hoarder. New or slightly used items stored in her gift closet and donated to good use. Get ready to take notes when you read this book. It offers so much in the way of attitudes towards life and a kick ass reading list not to mention many laugh out loud moments seen thru Ms. Pehl’s endearing wit.—Laraine Newman, Founding member of The Groundlings and OG SNL
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2022
8 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Mary Jo Pehl
12 books25 followersMary Jo Pehl is a writer/performer/producer with Cinematic Titanic, the live version of the Peabody Award-winning TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, for which she was a writer and on-air actor in the recurring role of Pearl Forrester. For these two projects, she has bravely withstood hundreds of the worst movies ever made. The experience hasn’t killed her, only made her stronger.
Mary Jo has worn out packs of pencils for Austin Monthly, Austin Chronicle, Minnesota Monthly, Minneapolis StarTribune, Catholic Digest, Salon.com, PBS and more. Her work is featured in several anthologies, including Life's A Stitch: The Best of Contemporary Women's Humor and Travelers' Tales: The Thong Also Rises. Her commentaries have aired on NPRs All Things Considered and Weekend America, and The Savvy Traveler on Public Radio International.
As a standup comedian, Mary Jo has appeared on Comedy Central and A&E, and in stage productions in New York and Los Angeles. She has also contributed to RiffTrax.
She is a member of the former First Family of Circle Pines, Minnesota, but that's another story, which you can read in her new book. That book, Employee of The Month and Other Big Deals, is available through Amazon.com.
A native of Minnesota, Mary Jo lives in Austin, Texas with Total Husband Ron and Total Dog Seymour.
Mary Jo has worn out packs of pencils for Austin Monthly, Austin Chronicle, Minnesota Monthly, Minneapolis StarTribune, Catholic Digest, Salon.com, PBS and more. Her work is featured in several anthologies, including Life's A Stitch: The Best of Contemporary Women's Humor and Travelers' Tales: The Thong Also Rises. Her commentaries have aired on NPRs All Things Considered and Weekend America, and The Savvy Traveler on Public Radio International.
As a standup comedian, Mary Jo has appeared on Comedy Central and A&E, and in stage productions in New York and Los Angeles. She has also contributed to RiffTrax.
She is a member of the former First Family of Circle Pines, Minnesota, but that's another story, which you can read in her new book. That book, Employee of The Month and Other Big Deals, is available through Amazon.com.
A native of Minnesota, Mary Jo lives in Austin, Texas with Total Husband Ron and Total Dog Seymour.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
July 19, 2022
Not a usual choice for me but I love MJ's other work so had to get a copy. As someone who started their goodreads as I couldn't remember what I read and what I hadn't and if I liked it I totally related to her mother's index card system. This was a lovely memoir about her mother and herself. It was funny and touching. My Dad died in May this year and reading this was very relatable. All the little things, and your own expectations and changes. I am very glad I read it and definitely recommend it.
December 30, 2022
Oh my heart! I've always loved Mary Jo, from her early days on MST3K through Cinematic Titanic to Rifftrax. I think I get more excited about a new offering from her and Bridget than I do about one from the guys. This book is a treasure. Her voice comes through so clearly and I loved learning more about her life. And having just lost my mother a little over a year ago, the book made me cry and laugh at the same time. I'm kind of glad my library system didn't have this so that I had to purchase it to read it. It's worth it. It will be read again.
July 1, 2022
Briefly put, this is a wonderful book. I found it extremely poignant, perhaps more than the average reader as many parts of it reminded me of my own mother's recent death. It is also funny and not overly sentimental. The author, a comedian and writer for RiffTrax and MST3K, discovered a collection of book reviews her mother had written on 3x5 cards while sorting through her mother's belongings after she died.
The reviews are interspersed with recollections of her mother through her childhood, college and postgrad years. As I grew up in the same time period, I could identify with many of the issues she discusses, particularly struggles with weight. Although they had their clashes, when her mother developed cancer Mary Jo came back to care for her and get her through treatment. "Dumb Dumb Dumb" does a wonderful job of examining the mother-daughter relationship and I highly recommend it.
The reviews are interspersed with recollections of her mother through her childhood, college and postgrad years. As I grew up in the same time period, I could identify with many of the issues she discusses, particularly struggles with weight. Although they had their clashes, when her mother developed cancer Mary Jo came back to care for her and get her through treatment. "Dumb Dumb Dumb" does a wonderful job of examining the mother-daughter relationship and I highly recommend it.
April 6, 2024
It’s really hard when your mother dies. You never get over it, although you do get used to it. Unfortunately I know this from experience as we all will one day. Mary Jo Pehl knows about it because she wrote this book. Not only is it about her mother’s life and death and Mary Jo’s memories of her, it’s also about her unexpected legacy. When Dorothy Pehl died in 2014, Mary Jo and her father found recipe boxes stuffed with index cards in her closets. When they read the cards they found that they didn’t contain recipes but book reviews from all the books she had read over the last several years.
“You keep it,” my father said as he tied up one of the many trash bags. “You’re the writer in the family, after all.”
So she kept the boxes and read all the cards. They gave her new insight into her mother via her reading and her reactions to that reading. She then took the reviews and arranged them thematically around her memories and it became this book.
On the surface, Dorothy Pehl was not the kind of person you’d expect books to be written about. She was an average woman for her time. She got married young in the 1950s, had five children, raised those children with her husband in the suburbs (Circle Pines, Minnesota). She helped her husband run his businesses (a liquor store and a stationery store) and fielded calls for him when he was mayor of Circle Pines. She got her real estate license. And she read a lot.
I think I would have liked Mrs. Pehl if I had ever met her. She had quite a personality, much like my own mother. And decided opinions, especially about Mr. Cool.
I’d come upstairs for breakfast in the morning. My mother would be standing at the big window over the sink, in her robe with coffee mug in hand. That window was her front-row seat to the goings-on in the neighborhood. Their house was on the corner of a busy intersection in a bustling neighborhood, kitty-corner from a dingy, cigarette smoke-laden mini-mart and across the street from a city bus stop. A few doors down was Sandy’s, a divey supper club from whence you could smell the greasy hamburgers on nights when the wind was right.
My mother loved it all. She surveyed her corner of the world from the big kitchen window as my father sat at the table with his breakfast and the daily paper.
“Oh geez. Look at that guy,” she’d mutter about someone walking by. “Check out Mr. Cool.”
A “Mr. Cool” could be any guy 20-80 years old who, say, might be wearing a t-shirt with a rock-band logo. And/or smoking. And/or driving a car less then 20 years old in a color other than black or gray. A sip from her mug, and with a sigh, she’d concur with herself. “Yep. There goes Mr. Cool.” … Missssssster drawn out as she shook her head.
When They talk about a story painting a picture, this is what They’re talking about.
Along with her mother, we get a glimpse of Mary Jo’s life as well, growing up as one of five children and the only one with a “weight problem” as it was phrased back then. She grew up to be a stand-up comedian and recollected her mother’s reaction to her early career. Then she got hired on as a writer on a cable TV show that was the Best Job Ever until it got canceled.* Afterwards she moved back in with her parents, got her career back on track, moved to Texas, got married and got a dog, Seymour. Then the atom bomb of her mother’s cancer diagnosis detonated along with the fallout of treatment and death. And then the discovery of the card boxes.
The reviews themselves are pithy (obviously since they’re on index cards), witty, scathing, and insightful. Not just of the books, but of Mrs. Pehl herself. She had a rating system of 0-10 with 0 being utterly dumb and 10 being the best. She read just about everything, further cementing her role as Friend of the Blog. She liked to hate-read Patricia Cornwell. She liked mysteries. She read some capital-L Literature as well like The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Book Thief. It was interesting comparing her reactions to books I’ve read to my own. We both liked the two previously-named books, but we differed on The Shell Seekers and The Poisonwood Bible.
When you read this book you will have a favorite review. It’s impossible not to. Most likely it will be one of the negative ones because it’s easier to wax eloquent about a book you hate than one you like. My favorite is on page 194:
Searcy, David
Last Things
Page 4 used the word eschatological—made me angry at author so quit the book.
Good call, Mrs. Pehl. There is never any good reason to use the word eschatological. I’m deeply ashamed of the fact that I know how to pronounce it correctly.
*That show being Mystery Science Theater 3000. Mary Jo was not only a writer, she also played various characters including Pearl Forrester, the villain of seasons 8-10.
Cross-posted from The Eclectic Reviewer
“You keep it,” my father said as he tied up one of the many trash bags. “You’re the writer in the family, after all.”
So she kept the boxes and read all the cards. They gave her new insight into her mother via her reading and her reactions to that reading. She then took the reviews and arranged them thematically around her memories and it became this book.
On the surface, Dorothy Pehl was not the kind of person you’d expect books to be written about. She was an average woman for her time. She got married young in the 1950s, had five children, raised those children with her husband in the suburbs (Circle Pines, Minnesota). She helped her husband run his businesses (a liquor store and a stationery store) and fielded calls for him when he was mayor of Circle Pines. She got her real estate license. And she read a lot.
I think I would have liked Mrs. Pehl if I had ever met her. She had quite a personality, much like my own mother. And decided opinions, especially about Mr. Cool.
I’d come upstairs for breakfast in the morning. My mother would be standing at the big window over the sink, in her robe with coffee mug in hand. That window was her front-row seat to the goings-on in the neighborhood. Their house was on the corner of a busy intersection in a bustling neighborhood, kitty-corner from a dingy, cigarette smoke-laden mini-mart and across the street from a city bus stop. A few doors down was Sandy’s, a divey supper club from whence you could smell the greasy hamburgers on nights when the wind was right.
My mother loved it all. She surveyed her corner of the world from the big kitchen window as my father sat at the table with his breakfast and the daily paper.
“Oh geez. Look at that guy,” she’d mutter about someone walking by. “Check out Mr. Cool.”
A “Mr. Cool” could be any guy 20-80 years old who, say, might be wearing a t-shirt with a rock-band logo. And/or smoking. And/or driving a car less then 20 years old in a color other than black or gray. A sip from her mug, and with a sigh, she’d concur with herself. “Yep. There goes Mr. Cool.” … Missssssster drawn out as she shook her head.
When They talk about a story painting a picture, this is what They’re talking about.
Along with her mother, we get a glimpse of Mary Jo’s life as well, growing up as one of five children and the only one with a “weight problem” as it was phrased back then. She grew up to be a stand-up comedian and recollected her mother’s reaction to her early career. Then she got hired on as a writer on a cable TV show that was the Best Job Ever until it got canceled.* Afterwards she moved back in with her parents, got her career back on track, moved to Texas, got married and got a dog, Seymour. Then the atom bomb of her mother’s cancer diagnosis detonated along with the fallout of treatment and death. And then the discovery of the card boxes.
The reviews themselves are pithy (obviously since they’re on index cards), witty, scathing, and insightful. Not just of the books, but of Mrs. Pehl herself. She had a rating system of 0-10 with 0 being utterly dumb and 10 being the best. She read just about everything, further cementing her role as Friend of the Blog. She liked to hate-read Patricia Cornwell. She liked mysteries. She read some capital-L Literature as well like The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Book Thief. It was interesting comparing her reactions to books I’ve read to my own. We both liked the two previously-named books, but we differed on The Shell Seekers and The Poisonwood Bible.
When you read this book you will have a favorite review. It’s impossible not to. Most likely it will be one of the negative ones because it’s easier to wax eloquent about a book you hate than one you like. My favorite is on page 194:
Searcy, David
Last Things
Page 4 used the word eschatological—made me angry at author so quit the book.
Good call, Mrs. Pehl. There is never any good reason to use the word eschatological. I’m deeply ashamed of the fact that I know how to pronounce it correctly.
*That show being Mystery Science Theater 3000. Mary Jo was not only a writer, she also played various characters including Pearl Forrester, the villain of seasons 8-10.
Cross-posted from The Eclectic Reviewer
July 8, 2024
Simply wonderful. The author rediscovers her deceased mother through a stack of notecards containing short book reviews, and ultimately learns more about herself.
I want my wife and daughters to read this, and highly recommend it to everyone. It's a very personal and revealing story of remembrance that covers the gamut of happiness, humor, sadness, and grief.
I want my wife and daughters to read this, and highly recommend it to everyone. It's a very personal and revealing story of remembrance that covers the gamut of happiness, humor, sadness, and grief.
June 21, 2022
I don' read this kind of book. Light, and humorous...at times laugh out loud funny...and charm...very charming. Anyone who knows me also knows I don't read books like this. So imagine my surprise, thoroughly enjoying this poignant reflection on the author's mother, I read it in one sitting! But only because it is very good! I was engrossed! Is the old curmudgeon mellowing? Loved it...you will too...
Ken Varnold
Ken Varnold
August 11, 2022
Loved this book!
“Maybe all I need to do is assemble them just right so I can truly see my mother.”
“The very thing of books themselves make sense to me: pages squared off and sentences plum to the page. Black ink crispy delineated against white paper. One sentence leading to another, and the next, and the next; words marching single file with information.”
I love how the books that Mary Jo chooses to share throughout the book coincide with the storytelling about her mom.
10 out of 10
“Maybe all I need to do is assemble them just right so I can truly see my mother.”
“The very thing of books themselves make sense to me: pages squared off and sentences plum to the page. Black ink crispy delineated against white paper. One sentence leading to another, and the next, and the next; words marching single file with information.”
I love how the books that Mary Jo chooses to share throughout the book coincide with the storytelling about her mom.
10 out of 10
August 6, 2022
Mary Jo Pehl writes in a way that is relatable. Dumb Dumb Dumb: My Mother’s Book Reviews is not so much the story of a woman, but a story of a daughter getting to know her mother. It’s beautifully funny and sad. It touched my heart.
February 6, 2023
Love this book! Crushed it in two days. The only thing I would add is a few pictures of the family, but also after reading the book, I 100% understand why there aren’t any.
August 3, 2022
Oh, how I love this book. I enjoyed “Employee of the Month and Other Big Deals” a great deal, but this book is a masterpiece. You would not expect that from a book called “Dumb, Dumb, Dumb” but it is true for me. The comedy and tragedy blended extraordinarily well. I was laughing and crying throughout this wonderful read. Ms. Pehl is an excellent storyteller, weaving a fascinating narrative of her mother and her death, each story linked hilariously with her many briefer than brief book reviews.
Whenever you are presented with a book of full of shorts sections that flows well and causes you to laugh, cry, and reflect, you gotta read it.
Hopefully, we will more essays and books from this captivating writer.
Whenever you are presented with a book of full of shorts sections that flows well and causes you to laugh, cry, and reflect, you gotta read it.
Hopefully, we will more essays and books from this captivating writer.
January 20, 2024
Dumb. She should have just used Goodreads.
OK, I crack myself up. We all want to be comedians, don't we? I loved this. Mary Jo Pehl actually IS a comedian--if you like Mystery Science Theater 3000, then you've enjoyed some of her humor.
When her mother passed away, the author and her father found a box full of index cards that her mother used to keep track of books she had read, with short reviews and ratings for them. These are interspersed with Mary Jo's memoirs of her family in general, and her mother in particular.
It is a book about reading, and food, and family, and love. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb is a poignant and funny tribute to the author's mother, and was a delight to read.
OK, I crack myself up. We all want to be comedians, don't we? I loved this. Mary Jo Pehl actually IS a comedian--if you like Mystery Science Theater 3000, then you've enjoyed some of her humor.
When her mother passed away, the author and her father found a box full of index cards that her mother used to keep track of books she had read, with short reviews and ratings for them. These are interspersed with Mary Jo's memoirs of her family in general, and her mother in particular.
It is a book about reading, and food, and family, and love. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb is a poignant and funny tribute to the author's mother, and was a delight to read.
May 4, 2023
Mary Jo Pehl’s mother often reviewed a book as “dumb” and one as “dumb, dumb, dumb.” This book by the same title is a compilation of the book reviews meticulously kept on index cards and arranged to highlight various aspects of her mother’s personality. The book is a homage to her mother whose personality is captured with humor and deep affection. I want to call this a nice read but it is about her mother’s death too, so maybe a poignant read that will make you miss your own mom.
* A bonus is getting some ideas for some good reads.
* A bonus is getting some ideas for some good reads.
February 20, 2023
This is not the book I expected...while it is sometimes funny, it is also a very personal and honest memoir about the author's relationship with her mother and her mother's death from cancer. Its written in a very different style but it works so incredibly well and it's incredibly moving without being saccharine. I wish that Mary Jo Pehl would write more....I think she's very talented and would like to read more of her work.
May 23, 2023
Gentle, heartfelt, and raw in an understated Midwestern way. I had been slogging through a novel on grief that, as Pehl's mother often noted, I just ,"couldn't get into it," when I picked this up instead. The whole read was like a soft, wet hug at the comforting buffet after a funeral. The love was never sappy, the family exasperation was always tempered with affection. A cathartic pleasure to read.
November 27, 2022
I love Mary Jo, and I really wanted to love this memoir. I think this is the type of book that you need to read at just the right time. I don't think it was the right time for me. I would recommend this for anyone who is processing loss of a parent or processing a parent/child relationship as an adult that had ups and downs.
March 6, 2023
I related a lot to this book as my own mother passed away almost 3 years ago. She was also an avid reader who often forgot what she had already read, but she never kept track or notes.I really like the way Mary Jo used her mother's book reviews thoughtfully and were always related to the topic being discussed during that section of the book.
It was a light, easy read and I enjoyed it.
It was a light, easy read and I enjoyed it.
December 29, 2024
This is the perfect Goodreads book, as it's centered around book reviews. It's an endearing and funny look at the author's mother through her short and punchy book reviews. The amount her mother read is admirable, as is her willingness to stop reading a book she was not enjoying. A quick and enjoyable read.
July 4, 2022
I am a fan of Mary Jo and all things MST3k, so I knew I would probably like this book. In fact, I loved it. Most of all, I enjoyed her mother's book reviews, especially when she gave a book a rating of 8.5 out of 10. The finesse of it.
April 12, 2023
Story of her relationship with her mother, anchored by her mother's box of index card book reviews. Reminded me of Minnesota and B. Dalton and how all the people I love are getting older. And I'm getting older too.
Highly recommended. Quick read.
Highly recommended. Quick read.
October 15, 2023
Without my noticing, Mary Jo Pehl laid out the relationship between her mother and her in such a way that I found myself out-and-out bawling towards the very end—though there were plenty of laughs and some tears before that, too. A great memoir.
August 17, 2024
Very unique in the way similar topic sets of books are used to string together Mary Jo’s thoughts on her mother. Sweet, heartfelt, and makes you think about your own relationships with your family. Made us cry a little at the end.
October 5, 2024
Easy to read slowly, in pieces, with coherent connections and themes all throughout. A compassionate memoir dealing with how our parents, beyond their relationships to us, can be kind of an unknowable mystery.
July 14, 2022
This really touched me. The short, sketch-style of scenes made it too easy to just keep reading and reading. Really lovely and funny.
September 20, 2022
I wish I could give more stars and then a few more
March 11, 2023
Loved it. Everyone should read this.
June 19, 2023
This funny and authentic memoir made me think of my own mother and family that I grew up with. She uses her mother's short book reviews to bring family anecdotes to life. I loved it!
September 1, 2023
I didn't agree with a lot of Dorothy's reviews, but appreciated them nonetheless. Read it.
November 25, 2023
This book really is a 10/10!!!
April 11, 2024
An excellent book, able to make you laugh and cry on the same page. Mary Jo Pehl is an excellent writer.
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May 10, 2024Great Mother's day gift for a book lover!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews