Book Review: Misery Guts

A Book You Can Buy From Me

Book Title: Misery Guts


Author: Morris Gleitzman

Author's web page: http://www.morrisgleitzman.com/

Date: 1991

Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Co. (U.S.), Pan Macmillan (Australia)

ISBN: 0-15-302254-X

Length: 122 pages

Quote: "Painting our shop. For Dad's birthday. It's a surprise."

Twelve-year-old Keith thinks his parents are "misery guts" who don't appreciate his kindly meant pranks...painting the walls of the family restaurant orange, painting funny faces on the fish fillets with ketchup. His parents are discouraged by the crowded, competitive business environment in London. If this had been a British or American book, Keith's parents' recognition of their discouragement would have launched the family on a quest for either pills or platitudes to help them be happy where they are. But it's an Australian book, so they decide they might feel more cheerful in Australia.

So they go to Australia, and there they have adventures that lead Keith to a moment of psychological insight, as seems to be required by the genre these days; it's just not the insight that would have been required if the book had been published in a different country.

Twelve-year-old readers may not be impressed by the short words, the large print, and the disclosure that Keith doesn't know where the capital of Greece is. Six-to-eight-year-old readers are likely to find Misery Guts a lively, amusing read that occasionally challenges them with a bit of exotic slang.

For adult readers, this is the kind of book you'll finish before you've sipped a cup of coffee, and there's some danger that it may provoke you to start drilling the kids on capital cities. I'm tempted, but instead I think I'll call my nephews, who had an Australian visitor last year, and ask whether they remember him using "misery guts" as a general slang term for any gloomy person, or a special nickname for a gloomy person with the initials M.G.

Meanwhile...this book won't hurt the children; "guts" is the rudest word in it. The book has actually been used in school curricula; my copy was designed for classroom use. I would have expected teachers to frown on the author's use of sentence fragments. I enjoy writing sentence fragments, too, but not as frequently as Gleitzman does. Still, even with the limited vocabulary, he turns some vivid phrases: "Her forehead looked like she'd put some tucks in it with the sewing machine." "Mr. Gossage...stood behind the rippled glass of his office door like a frozen cod with a phone to its ear." "It was the color of sunsets and tropical reefs and all of Auntie Joyce's lipsticks shimmering together."

Keith is a likable boy, although he'd be more likable if it were explained to him that people don't necessarily have to display happiness to him in order to be happy. His efforts to cheer up his parents could lead to a discussion of which of the things twelve-year-olds do might actually please their parents.

So, Misery Guts is recommended to anyone who is or has been between age six and age twelve, if they're looking for a very short, light, childish read. Until the Paypal button glitch is resolved, buy it by sending an e-mail here, and Gleitzman will receive a 10% royalty (US$1) out of the $10 total price (includes shipping).

(If anyone out there has Facebook or Microsoft Outlook on their computer, will you please notify Morris Gleitzman of this review/offer/system. I tried, but wasn't able.)