Spoiled Brats (including the story that inspired the major motion picture An American Pickle starring Seth Rogen)

Stories

De: Simon Rich

Narrado por: Simon Rich

Twenty years ago, Barney the Dinosaur told the nation's children they were special. We're still paying the price.

From "one of the funniest writers in America" comes a collection of stories culled from the front lines of the millennial culture wars (Jimmy So, Daily Beast). Rife with failing rock bands, student loans, and participation trophies, Spoiled Brats is about a generation of narcissists -- and the well-meaning boomers who made them that way.

A hardworking immigrant is preserved for a century in pickle brine. A helicopter mom strives to educate her demon son. And a family of hamsters struggles to survive in a private-school homeroom. Surreal, shrewd, and surprisingly warm, these stories are as resonant as they are hilarious.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"I can't recommend any Simon Rich book - especially this one - highly enough. From the hyper-competitive rituals of Scrabble players to the laments of a grieving, widowed hamster in an elementary school classroom, each story in Spoiled Brats opens with a brilliant comedic perspective that only gets funnier, more fascinating, more surprising, and more insightful from there. First-rate comedy with a heartbeat, this is one of my favorite books from one of my favorite authors."—B.J. Novak, author of One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories and star of "The Office"

"Simon Rich is a comedic shape shifter, adopting the plights of hamsters and hipsters alike, and Spoiled Brats is vividly hilarious in the way Woody Allen and Donald Barthelme are vividly hilarious. Simon Rich is also much taller in real life than you'd think. Like the reverse of an actor."—Sloane Crosley, author of I Was Told There'd Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number

Praise for Simon Rich and his work:

"It's always fairly obvious when a 'Shouts and Murmurs' piece in The New Yorker is the product of Simon Rich. Telltale signs include the elegant skewering of adult human behavior, as glimpsed through the eyes of children, animals, spectral beings, or inanimate objects-and the fact that the reader is hunched over laughing."—Joe Berkowitz, Fast Company

"His imagined situations read like sketches he might have conceived at his old job as a writer for Saturday Night Live...Rich knows how to balance the smart with the funny."—Patrick Cassels, New York Times Book Review

"This Valentine's Day get a box of chocolates and Simon Rich's hysterical new collection....it might just be the best one-night stand you'll ever have."—The Washington Post

"[The Last Girlfriend on Earth] is technically adept, inarguably funny...Rich's humor is well draw, his punch lines always on time."—The San Francisco Chronicle

3 ½ stars. Some clever ideas.

I didn’t laugh, but I smiled several times.

This has several short stories. Most or all of them are told in first person. My two favorites were: 1. hamsters in a lower school classroom. When Simon was assigned to feed them for the week, they knew death by starvation was coming. 2. “Sell Out” had an immigrant making and selling pickles. He was advised to hire help, but he didn’t want the expense, so he was told to use interns. He couldn’t believe he was getting 100 applications a day from college students wanting to work as slave labor for him.

Many subjects related to things kids in their 20's think about. And the dialogue sounds millennial because he uses the word “like” so much. For example he says “I’m like going somewhere.”

The author narrated his own book. B.J. Novak did this with great success. But I don’t think Simon Rich should do it. His east coast accent is too strong and distracts. Part of it might be his voice. Also, he also should have left greater pauses between stories.

Narrative mode: 1st person.
Genre: humorous short stories.

Simon Riich has a Wonderful Satiric Wit

Rich's stories are well laid out in a humorous, satiric manner. Loved the book.

worth the read...very entertaining.

loved it. i purchased this book from the Dollar Tree ... what a hidden jewel

Simon Rich is Phenomenal!

Simon Rich has a way of creating a book/story that is humorous and entertaining from start to finish. After I read "Man Seeking Woman", or "Last Girlfriend on Earth", I just had to have more. "Spoiled Brats" continued that trend and delieved even more. By far, Simon Rich is one of my favorite Authors (and narrators).

Laugh out loud funny- but maybe someone else should perform.

The stories were excellent. The author is brilliant, wildly creative and, laugh out loud funny. Comedic timing of the author’s performance…mediocre. You want it to be like David Sedaris who has great stage presence and timing, but it’s just not.

So funny

I loved it. It's too funny! Simon Rich is the best and I love his show.

The funniest thing I've ever listened to

So amazing. Laughed the whole time. Don't know what to do with my next book. Nothing will compare.

Hilarious

A collection of stories, some long and some short, and all worth a listen. To sum up, very clever and very funny. The longer ones are especially good, and I've found myself thinking back to some of the lines, because they're so funny. The humor is observational, and is both dark and whimsical. None of it is mean-spirited, though, and in fact, the stories are sentimental at times. Simon Rich was a good person to narrate, and listening to him is a little like listening to the funny kid in class, or the witty guy down the hall you wish you'd run into more often.

Great humor

If you like the preview, this book consistently delivers great content. Perfect for guys who grew up in the 90's

Simon Rich being Simon Rich

I started watching Simon Rich shows before I knew who Simon Rich was (Man Seeking Woman... and then Miracle Workers when I saw that the two shows were both written by Rich). Since then, Simon Rich has been in my audible queue, and I am so glad I finally purchased "Spoiled Brats." I found this collection of short stories entertaining, revealing and compassionate. I hope you also enjoy Simon Rich's writing for the funny, thoughtful Simon Rich perspective that I have enjoyed for so long.