THE GOOMBA'S BOOK OF LOVE

This humorous essay follows fast on the heels of the author's bestselling GOOMBA'S GUIDE TO LIFE. Trading on his image as a featured player in "The Sopranos," Schirripa provides a mock sociological exegesis on the love life of the Italian-American working-class male of New York and Vegas, replete with illustrative reminiscences. From momma to the wife to the girl on the side, they're all here. As narrator, Schirripa sounds like what he is--a goomba. That he reads like a sixth-grader, stepping on his own punch lines, is part of the production's gestalt. Perhaps it's my prejudice against bullies, but nothing in either his writing or delivery struck me as amusing. Y.R.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 04]