★★★☆☆ Mistakes Were Made, by Stephan Pastis
If the Dunning-Kruger Effect became a child
Mistakes Were Made
Stephan Pastis
If the Dunning-Kruger Effect became a child
I'm a fan of Stephan Pastis's comic strip Pearls Before Swine, and I like children's books, especially ones that make me laugh. Thus, Timmy Failure seemed attractive.
I was disappointed. Timmy Failure, the protagonist (the word "hero" doesn't apply), is an extraordinarily stupid kid. Most of the jokes have to do with Timmy missing the obvious and making really, really dumb mistakes. This is funny for a page or two, but Mistakes Were Made is 294 pages in sixty chapters. The what-a-stupid-kid joke got old.
What also got old was that Timmy is an awful kid. He's selfish and lazy and contemptuous of all the people around him. He treats his struggling single mother badly and makes her life more difficult. He's without a single redeeming character trait. Timmy Failure is what you would get if the Dunning-Kruger Effect became a child.
I mean, I kind of get it. We are meant to see humanity in the characters who surround Timmy. It just didn’t work for me, though.
It's mean-spirited and I really didn't enjoy it. I don't plan to read any more of the series. Pearls Before Swine is not like this -- it is insightful and often surprisingly humane.