Molvania: a Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry: A Jetlag Travel Guide - Atlantic Books

2 cheers for Molvania

As a parody of a travel book, it works very well, although the joke tends to wear a bit thin the further you get into the book. It would have had a stronger foundation and been funnier if the authors had concentrated more on the oddities of a life in post-communist Eastern Europe. As it was, some of the inconsistencies and inaccuracies to do with the real world were simply irritating. This book made me laugh out loud, but Ray Bradbury's Why Come to Slaka?, a parody of communist-era travel books, made me cry with laughter.

Overwhelmingly hilarious

Molvania is one of the most hilarious books that I have read. So if you laugh and gasp over it, then I don't think you have a fair sense of humor. True it is a one-joke parody. But if you find it offensive, think it over. The book isn't really about what it says, but actually it is about the way things are presented. It is just one hilarious and brilliant parody of a travel guide. Put yourself under a great deal of self-restraint when reading this book in public because your chuckles and guffaws might cause people to call an ambulance for you to be ferried away to a madhouse. The book is a sure relief from sagging spirits. Other hilarious books are: THE USURPER AND OTHER STORIES, SENSE AND NONSENSIBILITY

A tongue-in-cheek travel guide like no other

If you are like me and are somewhat addicted to travel guides, be they Lonely Planet, Rough Guides or something similar, you will greatly appreciate "Molvania: A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry".

Written by a team of Australian comedians - the same men behind the films "The Dish" and "The Castle" and the current-affairs mockumentary series "Frontline" - this is a spoof travel guide for a fictional nation located somewhere in the Baltic region of the former USSR.

In the best travel guide tradition it provides a wealth of advice on places to stay, the best places to eat, the sights to see and intriguing little snippets about the country's social and cultural history, all interspersed with amusing photographs and illustrations.

By turns completely realistic and laugh-out loud funny, it is one of the most entertaining reads I have had in a long while. On every single page there is something that will grab your funny bone and have you chuckling uncontrollably. For this reason, my advice is not to read it in public. It's also not advisable to read it while you have a friend in the room because you will spend all your time annoying them by saying, "hey, listen to this", as you regale them with insights from the book, and then, before you know it, you will be reading the whole thing out loud in between bouts of laughter.

Some random examples to prove my point:

"The famous statue of Helmzlog III (the 'Liberator of Lutenblag') stands in the centre of the busy main square, holding aloft a sword and what was for years assumed to be a shield, but has recently turned out - upon closer examination - to be the grille from a Fiat 350." (Page 58)

And:

"Many visitors will no doubt have heard of the Gyrorik Art Gallery, an institution that made headlines a few years back when its curator Vbrec Mzecjenj suspected a Rembrandt landscape in the gallery's possession may, in fact, have been painted over a rare, and far more valuable, self-portrait of the Dutch master. Under the curator's guidance a painstaking restoration process was commenced in which the outer layer of the painting was delicately stripped away. The work took almost 16 months and eventually revealed nothing underneath. With the original work destroyed, all that remained of value was the frame which now holds a copy of Mr Mzecjenj's letter of resignation." (Page 139)

And if that wasn't enough, my favourite section of the entire book is not related to the actual travel writing but to the short biographies assigned to each of the fictional authors who have created the book. For example:

"Trudi Dennes: Trudi has lived and worked in Japan for over 10 years. She now works in the department of classical history at Tokyo University. Trudi has never visited Molvania and was assigned to this guide due to a staffing error." (Page 6)

My only quibble with this very clever and comical book is that it gets a bit "samey" after awhile. It's definitely not one to read cover to cover, but one to dip in and out of over an extended period of time. It's perfect light reading to lift your mood and bring a smile to your dial should you need one.

Easily the funniest spoof I have read in years

This is a brilliant piece of humor writing; I am getting copies for my Christmas list. It should sell forever.

Molvania - A land untouched by modern dentistry

Fantastic - funny to extremes. This book kept me laughing from start to finish, mostly out loud - but who cares, the book is great and I can't wait for the next one. Buy it now!!!