Simon Rich

A sharp new collection from "one of the funniest writers in America" -- The Daily Beast Simon Rich is the "hilarious" (Washington Post) humorist who draws comparisons to Douglas Adams (The New York Times Book Review), James Thurber, and P.G. Wodehouse (The Guardian). With Hits and Misses, he's back with his funniest--and most personal--collection of stories to date. Based on Rich's real experiences in Hollywood, Hits and Misses chronicles the ups and downs of fame in all its absurdity. From a bitter tell-all by the horse Paul Revere rode to greatness to a gushing magazine profile of everyone's favorite World War II dictator, these stories roam across time and space to skewer our obsession with fame and fortune--from the days of ancient Babylon to the age of TMZ.

Stories

Hits and Misses

Jeremy Anderberg

Simon Rich was born into a family of writers, which makes his first story in this collection make that much more sense. Titled "The Baby," it's about a middle-of-the-road writer who finds out during his wife's pregnancy that his unborn son is also in fact a writer. The kid is holding a pen and a moleskin, and a 4-D ultrasound can even make out some of his brilliant ideas. Agents start contacting dad about the fetus. It's ridiculous, sure, but also makes some witty points about jealousy and familial legacies.

And that story sets the stage for all the rest. They are often poignant mixtures of satire, wit, absurdity, and wisdom. Some of them are purely jokes — a story told from the point of view of Paul Revere's horse, a doctor on April Fool's Day — but many offer some sort of nugget of insight that's worth chewing on, particularly for those in creative pursuits.

It's clear that many of these stories are drawing on his experiences as comedy writer and screenwriter: One story features a guy working at a BuzzFeed-like viral content factor; he encounters younger versions of himself who are asking why he's working for the man instead of chasing his dreams. Another is about a middle-aged woman who's been forced to give up playing and writing music; she ends up in rehab because her daughter catches her playing piano. One that was especially clever was a GQ profile of Adolf Hitler; it was a lovely dig at formulaic magazine features. As a writer myself, I especially appreciated those few stories especially.

I will say that I don't think everyone will like them. If you can't get over the absurdity, it'll be rough going. In the final story, for instance, a guy makes a movie with an actual ghost. But, Hits & Misses is an incredibly quick read, and was worth the couple hours it took me to plow through these 18 short stories.

Hits and Misses Stories

Reviews