The root of the slightly confusing subtitle of this enjoyable self-help guide (Life Lessons Learned from the Common CrankaTsuris Chronicles) lies in author Steven Joseph’s debut children’s book, The Last Surviving Dinosaur. In it he told the story of how humans evolved from the most troublesome dinosaur that ever lived, the TyrantoCrankaTsuris. As Joseph tells it, this dinosaur’s DNA has given rise to all of mankind’s inner crankiness. And rather than be seen as a weakness, these feelings can be used as tools of empowerment and action. The word “tsuris” is the Yiddish word for problems. Though these might begin as small things, Joseph is keen to point out that the key to not letting problems get out of control is to face them down and make them work for you.
Though formatted as a self-help book, CRANKY SUPERPOWERS reads more like an anthology of comic stories and parables. Many of these are autobiographical tales in which the author recalls events from his own life. He is especially strong when referencing his Jewish heritage and the customs of his family. There are many endearing (and highly amusing) recollections from his childhood, including his stints of “remote control aerobics”—where, as the youngest child, he would have to sit in front of the television to channel hop at his lounging father’s whim through endless Sunday mornings of press and politics shows. Elsewhere his schooldays and interactions with his teachers are dissected with dry humor, including a bizarre incident where a Rabbi used a classmate as an ashtray.
Joseph has a warm, engaging, freewheeling prose style: generous, welcoming to the reader, and never afraid to poke fun at himself. Some of his shtick even reads like stand-up comedy. In the chapter titled “Don’t Get Me Started,” he engages in clever wordplay around the names of his neighbors, including Harry and Sally Non-Starter and the Barker family. These Barkers are apparently named Woody and Maple, and call their kids Birch and Willow. Soon they’re losing their voices because they’re bickering and “barking up the wrong tree.” More elaborate, further fictionalized chapters take in sci-fi, fairy tales, and Jewish folklore, and smuggle the moral messages home with gag after gag. The tone of much of the material is reminiscent of classic Mad magazine—right down to the black and white spot illustrations that illuminate each chapter.
Though Steven Joseph’s CRANKY SUPERPOWERS seems rather too idiosyncratically arranged to be read as a self-help tome, the book is consistently funny and perhaps best enjoyed by dipping in and out of at random—whenever light relief from the petty troubles of the world is required.
~Kent Lane for IndieReader