Title: The Far Side Gallery 3
Author: Gary Larson
Genre: Animals / Humor / Society
Year Published: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
Year Published: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
Year Read: 2014
Publisher: Universal Press Syndicate Company
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 7+ (Some Suggestive Themes)
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
Publisher: Universal Press Syndicate Company
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 7+ (Some Suggestive Themes)
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
Introduction:
Now, I have heard many good
things about Gary Larson’s famous “The Far Side Gallery” series, but I
never had the chance to read them, until now!
Surprisingly starting with the third volume of the “Far Side Gallery” series, “The
Far Side Gallery 3,” I found myself rolling on the floor with laughter
throughout the entire volume!
What is this story
about?
Basically, this volume contains many comic strips of Gary Larson’s famous series “The Far Side Gallery” and each comic
strip has a character or an animal doing something hilarious in their
situations.
What I loved about
this story:
Gary Larson’s writing: Gary Larson’s writing is truly brilliant and hilarious at the same
time as the various characters in these comic strips are always doing something
hilarious or playing off of a pun in an intriguing way. I loved the way that Gary Larson takes puns such as “Primitive
Fandango” and “Parakeet Furniture”
and managed to twist them around by actually having the characters take the
puns seriously, such as the parakeet furniture being shown as human fingers
with the parakeets perching on them. In
all honesty, I really enjoyed almost all of the comic strips in this collection
as they were creative and hilarious at the same time and here are a couple of
excerpts that I considered to be some of my favorites in this collection:
“For crying out loud, I was hibernating! Don’t you guys ever take a pulse?” (When
a bear was mistaken for being dead at a funeral)
“So, then, when Old MacDonald turned his back, I took that ax, and with
a whack whack here and a whack whack there, I finished him off. (A
chicken tells an inmate about how he killed Old MacDonald and ended up in
jail).
“Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail, they said, could stop the
mail…But they didn’t figure on Rexbo.”
“He’s dead, all right-beaked in the back…and, you know, this won’t be
easy to solve.” (Solving the murder of a penguin among a group of
penguins)
Gary Larson’s artwork: Gary
Larson’s artwork is hilarious to look at as the characters look exaggerated
with their bodies looking a bit wobbly and their heads being a bit larger than
their bodies. I also loved the
simplistic look of the artwork as it makes the comedic moments in this
collection stand out even more.
What made me feel
uncomfortable about this story:
Probably the only thing problematic with this series is that
there are a couple of comic strips in this collection that mentions “hell” a
dozen times and that might be a bit upsetting for some readers. Readers who do not like the mention of “hell”
might want to skim over the comic strips that mention “hell” whenever they read
this collection.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, “The Far Side Gallery 3” is a truly brilliant
series for fans of Gary Larson’s “Far Side Gallery” series and you will
surely start rolling around the floor with laughter at this collection!
When my boys were six and my daughter eight, I asked them what they wanted for Christmas. All three of them said, "I want a Far Side book."
ReplyDeleteTo this day I don't know if I was doing something very right in my upbringing of my children or horribly wrong. How many children that age do you think would want a book, let alone Gary Larson, for Christmas?
I find it great that your kids enjoy the Far Side series! Even though I just started on this series recently, I think kids will easily enjoy it, although it all depends on what they like.
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