[davidm]

Originally Posted by Stephen Maturin

But you don't understand, David. We're supposed to read it as a work of "science fiction." Doing that will "take the pressure off to critique this work," which is vitally important cuz all this pesky critiquing "is causing serious problems[.]"

Hell, if we read the book "the way the author intended" we'll even "enjoy it." Never mind the fact that Lessans' breathtakingly poor command of the English language renders reading that aggressively malodorous pile of shit as enjoyable as washing your eyeballs with lemon juice and a cheese grater. Simply read the book with the faith of a little child and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Actually, though, as I said early on, parts of it are very, VERY funny. The rumpy-pumpy on the dinner table, the letter to Nixon, the lawsuit against Carter, his descriptions of his earnest but failed interactions with the dreaded Men of Higher Learning, his lecturing of Will Durant, the dramatic way in which he revealed that in the future, husbands and wives would sleep in separate beds after sexual intercourse -- all this and much more very often provokes

Of course, none of it is intentionally funny, but you can't have everything.