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Cunk on Everything: The Encyclopedia Philomena by Joel Morris, Jason Hazeley, Philomena Cunk
danimae1981's review against another edition
4.0
A month or two ago I was introduced to Philomena Cunk on the Netflix series, Cunk on Earth. The satirical documentary had me laughing, so when I saw the book, Cunk on Everything, I knew I had to read it. As luck would have it, I was able to receive an advance audiobook copy through NetGalley. Now instead of just reading Philomena Cunk's words, I could hear them in her own voice, the way it was meant to be heard. I don't feel like reading the book would be quite the same experience.
The book is organized like an encyclopedia, going through various topics in alphabetical order. Philomena Cunk is hysterical, with her absurd observations and mixing up people or countries with similar names to make bizarre statements. There were many moments that had me laughing out loud, like when she said Pluto wasn't a planet anymore because they discovered it was actually Mickey Mouse's dog, and that The Beatles didn't have 6 legs like a beetle, but 8 legs like a spider and made girls scream, like a spider. It's such an unexpected perception of the world, and I loved it.
I will note that the book is obviously very British, which isn't surprising given that Philomena Cunk is British. But, I feel like there were a bunch of British references that I just didn't get because I'm not British myself. At times I found my mind wandering a bit because she was discussing a topic I didn't know anything about. Also, this book is originally from 2018, so it felt a little dated when she would make references to the queen, who has since passed.
Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Grand Central Publishing for the free audiobook. All opinions in my review are exclusively my own.
The book is organized like an encyclopedia, going through various topics in alphabetical order. Philomena Cunk is hysterical, with her absurd observations and mixing up people or countries with similar names to make bizarre statements. There were many moments that had me laughing out loud, like when she said Pluto wasn't a planet anymore because they discovered it was actually Mickey Mouse's dog, and that The Beatles didn't have 6 legs like a beetle, but 8 legs like a spider and made girls scream, like a spider. It's such an unexpected perception of the world, and I loved it.
I will note that the book is obviously very British, which isn't surprising given that Philomena Cunk is British. But, I feel like there were a bunch of British references that I just didn't get because I'm not British myself. At times I found my mind wandering a bit because she was discussing a topic I didn't know anything about. Also, this book is originally from 2018, so it felt a little dated when she would make references to the queen, who has since passed.
Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Grand Central Publishing for the free audiobook. All opinions in my review are exclusively my own.
offworldcolony's review against another edition
4.0
Dumb absurd filler in the vein of Look Around You. Very funny but a nothing book really. Obviously best as an audiobook.
galacticvampire's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely incredible. If you can get the audiobook I highly recommend it, as Philomena's deadpan delivery only makes all the nonsense she speaks sound even funnier.
blank_blank's review
3.0
the show is really funny and this book tried to take a similar angle but it really didnt translate well over the mediums