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tigercub58's review against another edition
3.0
Some funny and clever stuff here as long as you are already familiar with the writing style of every author he parodies. Worth reading 'Shakespeare's' Basil Fawlty monologue if nothing else.
izzieburns's review against another edition
4.0
A solid 3.5 stars. This book was a gift from a teacher and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very funny and a nice change from a novel. A quick read that can be spread out, which I like.
marcellemf's review
funny
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
wyemu's review against another edition
3.0
Very short excerpts that show Faulks has a mastery for mimicking another writer's tone. I particularly enjoyed Wodehouse in the world of Chandler and vice versa. It's a very short book and should be taken slowly so as to savour it all the better. Unfortunately it is only truly amusing if you are familiar with the style of each of the writers mimicked but this is not Faulks' fault and even the ones I didn't know are bound to have been true to form if all the authors I did recognise are anything to go by.
hisdarkmaterials's review against another edition
2.0
Hit and miss, most no more than a gentle laugh.
mwx1010's review against another edition
4.0
Faulks is a master parodist and he's on good form here. As is often the case with this type of collection some of the work is a little hit and miss, but the good outweighs the bad.
tinywriter_'s review against another edition
2.0
'Pistache, pis-tash n. a friendly spoof or parody of another's work. [Deriv. uncertain. Possibly a cross between pastiche and pisstake.:] This should have been very, very good. In the end it was a little hit and miss, with some of the bits of bite-size satire more gimmicky than anything else. Worth reading for a few of the best though, including 'Dan Brown visits the cash dispenser', 'Charles Dickens has a shot at being concise', 'Henry James writes a stand-up joke' (my personal fave!), 'Sylvia Plath tells the story of Goldilocks', and 'William Shakespeare writes a speech for Basil Fawlty'.
maccymacd's review against another edition
3.0
'Pistache' was incredibly amusing. The idea of Faulks writing a short parody in the style of numerous authors on a range of hilarious topics was brilliant. I would say 80% of the parodies were extremely funny, whilst others were just clever with their words and showed the breadth of the author's talent. Such a great idea though. Well done Sebastian.
soradsauce's review
5.0
Hilarious. Absolutely worth the hour or two it took me to read through it all, then I had to find people to read my favourites to. Incredibly spot on prose imitations. Loved the Chaucer poem about Geri Halliwell.
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