Too Good to Be True

Chicago Tribune

If you enjoy these too-good-to-be-true tales, Brunvand's new book will give you hours of pleasure.

Tampa Tribune

Informative and entertaining... . Brunvand has collected more than 200 of the most-repeated and best-known examples of modern folk-myth.

New City

A fun read... . All the classics are here from the killer upstairs to the Kentucky Fried Rat.

San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

Resonant stories that express our hidden anxieties ... make us laugh, [or] arouse our fascinated horror.

Publishers Weekly

If a story sounds too good to be true, well, then it's probably an urban legend. Brunvand, the nation's leading authority on these contemporary folktales, draws from five previous collections (The Choking Doberman, Curses! Broiled Again!, etc.), from letters to his syndicated columns and from newspapers around the country, in this truly colossal anthology of horrendous and hilarious stories that sound as if they're true and most of the tellers believe are true, but somehow can never be verified. These are stories told by a FOAF (a friend of a friend) or a neighbor of the radio dispatcher who knows the deputy who talked to the doctor who treated 18 slash victims at the local mall. Many are familiar tales--of the hook heard rasping against the car door handle, of alligators in the sewers of New York, of earwigs in ears and spiders in bouffant hairdos--this last traced back to the 13th century. Everyone will find at least two or three stories they could have sworn really happened. These are stories that turn up in every region of the country, every walk of life, and that invariably involve laughing paramedics, a dead grandmother stashed on the luggage rack, a fantastically cheap price for a Porsche or an exorbitant one for a cookie recipe from Neiman Marcus--or is it Marshall Fields? In demonstrating how such stories spread, change and endure, and how certain kinds of stories attach themselves to certain franchises and products ("Kentucky Fried Rat" is an especially gruesome example), Brunvand has constructed not only an entertaining anthology, but an excellent introduction to the study of folklore itself. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Brunvand (The Choking Doberman, The Vanishing Hitchhiker) is the dean of urban folklore--for 20 years he has collected and documented tall tales swapped at social gatherings. This anthology embraces over 200 fanciful, amusing, and often exaggerated stories and beliefs that have, through repetition, become part of the American oral heritage. Brunvand invented the acronym FOAF (Friend of a Friend), the anonymous source of every tale. Everyone has a few favorite stories: alligators in the sewer and pets in the microwave are familiar to most folks. Collectively, this is the best gathering of urban legends extant. They have passed through generations and represent an important body of traditions, myths, folkways, and folksay. The tales are thematically arranged, e.g., "Bringing Up Baby" is an assembly of episodes of child-rearing gone wrong. Thoroughly researched and exhaustive, this fascinating work is characterized by impressive scholarship. Unconditionally recommended for all audiences.--Richard K. Burns, MSLS, Hatboro, PA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

For those wary of being fooled, some 200 anecdotes<-->which circulate in various versions among the populace as "true"<-->are arranged in sections, roughly by category e.g. dog tales, cars, babies and baby- sitters, accidents, contaminations, the criminal mind, among others. Each is introduced with sources and a bit of history about its origins. The author (emeritus, U. of Utah) has written several other books on the subject. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Chris Nashawaty

Sure to be instant classics are a hilarious alleged Eddie Murhy Elevator incident and one in which a babysitter on LSD mistakes a tyke for a turkey and puts it in the oven. Bon appétit!

Entertainment Weekly