Thursday, June 23, 2011

Book Review | Nightlight (a parody) By The Harvard Lampoon


Okay, there is only one book I've read in my life that made me consistently laugh out loud page after page merely for the sake of being sincerely funny, and that was The Princess Bride by William Goldman.  But even that delightful fairytale spoof can't compare to how hard I laughed reading the Harvard Lampoon's parody of Twilight.  Seriously, my son had to come in and check on me a couple of times just to make sure I took a breath between guttural spasms of mirth. 

Nightlight is a cleverly woven tale of silliness that makes fun of all the ridiculousness one could find in the Twilight series were they to look at it from a realistic perspective (which no one ever seems to be able to do.) 

Nightlight is a story about Belle Goose who falls in love with Edwart Mullen--that's right, Edwart Mullen--whom she's convinced is a vampire, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. Here's the spiel from the back cover:

"And thus Belle Goose falls in love with the mysterious and sparkly Edwart Mullen in the Harvard Lampoon's hilarious send up.

Pale and klutzy Belle arrives in Switchblade, Oregon, looking for adventure, or at least an undead classmate.  She soon discovers Edwart, a super-hot, computer nerd with zero interest in girls.  After witnessing a number of strange events--Edwart leaves his Tater Tots untouched at lunch!  Edwart saves her from a flying snowball!--Belle has a dramatic revelation: Edwart is a vampire.  But how can she convince Edwart to bite her and transform her into his eternal bride, especially when he seems to find girls so repulsive?

Complete with romance, danger, insufficient parental guardianship, creepy stalkerlike behavior, and a vampire prom, Nightlight is the uproarious tale of a vampire-obsessed girl looking for love in all the wrong places.

This book is especially funny if you've read Twilight, because other wise you won't get all the funniest jokes. 

I will give this mild warning to readers who are desperate fans of Stephenie Meyer's series: if you don't have a sense of humor, and you didn't find Twilight even slightly ridiculous--even if the story did sweep you away for a while--than you might not think this book is very funny.  Personally, I enjoyed Twilight, however, I immensely appreciated the extravagant spike in my endorphins and the fact that I was completely justified in skipping my ab workout for the day after reading Nightlight.

If you like laugh-out-loud funny, you should give it a read!

2 comments:

  1. I heard really great things about that book! Im going to have to add it to my list!
    Shelby

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  2. Yeah, it was pretty funny! I love irony though, so I found it particularly delightful.

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