eandrews80's review against another edition
3.0
A quasi-satirical guide to life, language, and culture in Minnesota. The parts of the book that work best revolve around dialogue and body language; Mohr totally nails phenomena like "you bet," "that's different," our avoidance of confrontation and strong emotions, the Minnesota Long Goodbye, etc. But then there's a lot of other stuff -- advertisements for fake products, long stories about fictional farmers and law suits and historical events -- that left me cold. Still, worth a skim. If you grew up in Minnesota, you'll recognize yourself or your neighbors somewhere in the book.
carol_kennicott's review against another edition
4.0
So, you want to learn how to talk Minnesotan, then. Good deal. “How to Talk Minnesotan: Revised for the 21st Century” by Howard Mohr is not too bad a book if you like that sort of thing. I don’t want you to think I didn’t like it.
I compare it to a good hot dish: there’s lots of stuff in there, and it’s pretty easy to digest, for the most part. I like books that make me laugh, but only on the inside. If you see me smirking, that means I’m having a heckuva good time. I don’t think I had the thought, “Oh, for dumb” even once while I was reading, though I suspect if you’re still reading this you may have by now.
If someone held lutefisk under my nose and forced me to pick, I’d say my favorite part of the book was the story about the guy who moved out to a farm place and tried to order some fuel oil. Depending on who he talked to, he had the fuel delivered to the Fletcher place or the Prindel place (the names of the farm’s previous owners). It only took a decade or so before he could order fuel under his own name. I thought that sounded about right.
A guy could read a book like this if he wanted to. But not if it puts you out or anything like that. If you feel like it, go ahead. Whatever.
I compare it to a good hot dish: there’s lots of stuff in there, and it’s pretty easy to digest, for the most part. I like books that make me laugh, but only on the inside. If you see me smirking, that means I’m having a heckuva good time. I don’t think I had the thought, “Oh, for dumb” even once while I was reading, though I suspect if you’re still reading this you may have by now.
If someone held lutefisk under my nose and forced me to pick, I’d say my favorite part of the book was the story about the guy who moved out to a farm place and tried to order some fuel oil. Depending on who he talked to, he had the fuel delivered to the Fletcher place or the Prindel place (the names of the farm’s previous owners). It only took a decade or so before he could order fuel under his own name. I thought that sounded about right.
A guy could read a book like this if he wanted to. But not if it puts you out or anything like that. If you feel like it, go ahead. Whatever.
vanessaw's review
4.0
I listened to this rather than read it, and I think it made it better. The accents and reading really made it real. I live in MN and caught myself numerous times thinking, "Oh, we do do that!"
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