Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Y’all know that, right? I mean, I know I’ve mentioned it before. And yet Stephan Pastis’ Mistakes Were Made (Timmy Failure, #1)–which I finished yesterday–left me supremely unimpressed. I went INTO it with high hopes, partly because I so desperately wanted a “Wimpy Kid”-like series to present to my son so he doesn’t just reread “Wimpy Kid”; unfortunately, I found Timmy himself to be just plain unlikable. He’s entertaining, sure, but in a weirdly extreme kind of way, and his complete inability to recognize fault in himself is rivalled only by his singular lack of sympathy, empathy, or compassion for anyone else. The humor seems aimed at adults, and yet as a parent I want no part of Timmy, because who wants their kids to act like that? It would be different if lessons were learned, but I didn’t see that happening, particularly. Instead, Timmy gets all his cases wrong and makes a nuisance of himself. The line between funny and cringy was crossed.

Bottom line? It’s not going under my Christmas tree this–or any other–year.