Original language: Español
Translation: Manuel Moreno
Year of publication: Between 2013, 2014 and 2018
Valuation: Advisable
Simon Rich is one of the best American comedians. Among his feats is having written for The Simpsons o Saturday Night Live.
Rich’s humor is witty, sometimes even brilliant. The anthology Rindetewhich compiles twenty of his texts (all with the length of a story except for one that we could consider a short novel) give a good account of it.
The texts of Rindete The ones I liked the least are those in which the base idea is a boutade without much development. I think, for example, of “Gowanus Mermaids”, “Trust” or “The Hospital Director’s Office, April Fool’s Day”. And go ahead, some of these texts have made me smile, so I would not consider them bad at all; however, they lack the sophistication that Rich can aspire to.
This sophistication, I believe, is reflected in texts such as “The Baby”, “Manos” or “Sold” (the longest of the set). And these, in addition to presenting a fun premise sprinkled with jokes, branch out in interesting directions and enjoy an emotional climax.
There are other texts that, although they do not reach the quality of those previously mentioned, because the ideas that support them have little scope, are complemented by a background reflection (“Is it my thing?”), a character arc (“Study 13”) or a creative approach (“The Big Break”).
The most common themes explored by Rich are relationships and truncated artistic vocations (generally due to lack of talent and opportunities). From the first block I would highlight texts such as “Is it my thing?”, “Occupy Jen’s Street” or “Firme del susto”. From the second, “The baby”, “Relapse”, “Distractions”, “Studio 13” and “The big opportunity”. Pleasantly surprising, by the way, is the variety of angles from which the comedian addresses both issues.
Finally, I would point out that Rich’s humor may be too tied to its time, so in some cases it will not age well at all. And the fact is that otherwise very successful texts like “Sold” abuse demographic or cultural references with an expiration date.
Be that as it may, it is undeniable that, even with this small defect, the narratives of Rindete they work. Proof of this is that, despite the fact that their sense of humor is far from my predilections within the genre, I found them funny, just as I do with those of Terry Pratchet or Tom Sharpe.
Source: https://unlibroaldia.blogspot.com/2024/11/simon-rich-rindete.html
