I grew up on the tales of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. The fantastical folklore entertained me and my siblings as we washed the dishes after dinner each night. Within mere pages, the story of the illustrious, accomplished, and incredibly irrational Baron von Munchausen took me back to my younger days of laughing over the unbelievably thin, one-sided pancakes of Paul Bunyan.

The Further Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen offers a gag-reel look at the ridiculous level of absurdity found in our American culture and even the world at large. The cleverness of the plot is difficult to match. I have read few comedic adventures that do so well at taking literally the “problems” addressed. I laughed uproariously numerous times. Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously – a little fiction goes a long ways to lighten the mood a little.

While more of the content mocks the silly conclusions of left-wing politics in matters of state, justice, economics, and such, the right-wing theories of national morality are not spared a few chapters of mockingly simple logic lessons.

While I’m risking making this novel sound like a political spiel written by some middle ground political agnostic, the book is really a folkish romp filled with tall tales, not political commentary. The subtle (and not-so-subtle) hints at politics, spirituality, and economics are masterfully crafted in a way to cause the reader to stop and think, but also to laugh.

As fun as this novel is, the core point (as I interpreted it) is actually a serious one: we can all get along regardless of our political, social, or spiritual views. That being said, for as much as I enjoyed this book of tall tales and silly but thought-provoking anecdotes, I was disappointed in a few portions of the narrative.

First, a caution. Four uses of “h-ll”, the use of “b-tch” and “-ss” in the context of the animals they originally stood for, one or two blasphemous uses of God’s name, and some vulgar/crude words and comments highlighted during what sounded like a pro-choice march may be enough to suggest this as reading material suited more for older teens or adults.

Second, the main difficulty I had with this book was the inclusion of issues of sexuality, as well as the seeming lack of respect for God and the Christian religion. Travels in the womb of a pregnant mother and a visit to a children’s story hour with a drag queen guest both left me feeling uncomfortable and somewhat surprised. There were also two hints at the potentially sexual adventures of the illustrious Baron. A discussion with a preacher in the midst of a tornado also left me with a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth.

All in all, while this was a hilarious romp that I enjoyed, I recommend taking a minute to consider the less savory portions of this book. What felt like a mostly right-leaning comedy sketch about America, made me wonder how a lack of moral emphasis could shape current and future generations. It may or may not be your next favorite read.

 

**This review was first featured at Reedsy.  You can see that review HERE.  I was provided with a free copy of this book to write a review.