Everything and a Kite

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Ray Romano's Everybody Loves Raymond is the most important TV comedy since Seinfeld. Now he makes his debut as an author with a reported seven-figure book deal. Some of what makes his show great is captured between the covers of Everything and a Kite--it boasts the same affectionate, yet not cheaply sentimental, comedy that conveys actual insights about family life, an experience Martin Mull has likened to "having a bowling alley installed in your brain." The show is like Married... with Children with a heart or Home Improvement with a brain.

In book form, Romano is kind of like Dave Barry. Barry is funnier on the page, but Romano writes a good spritz-of-consciousness monologue. And Barry dared not utter the word prostate in Dave Barry Turns 50, but Romano provides a state-of-the-art prostate-exam reminiscence. There is no shame he shuns--not his fear of spiders, exacerbated when he splooshed one off his windshield with the washer button through the moonroof into the car while driving, nor his sexual-conquest count ("one less than the number of times I've been stung by a bee... greater than the number of times I've put a pet to sleep... exactly equal to the number of times I've been crapped on by a bird"). But Romano stole his title: when he asked his 4-year-old son what he wanted for his birthday, the kid said, "Everything and a kite." --Tim Appelo


From Publishers Weekly
Star of the hit sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, the amiably bemused Romano here puts his stand-up act on the page, and?despite a few dull patches?remains amusingly down-to-earth. The title refers to one of his kids' birthday requests, and the Queens-raised, Italian-American comic can mine the family/kids/guyhood comedy lode with the best of 'em. "Bugs are simply our jurisdiction," Romano says of men and the marriage contract and the task of killing creepy-crawlies, while parents could use a "nap pressure gauge" to monitor their child's consciousness. How often does a guy with four kids have sex? Well, "the next day I pay my estimated tax." Most of Romano's shtick seems believable, and even the stuff that clearly stretches?like his taking off his pants to keep alert while driving?seems in character. Romano's "proud history of accumulated neuroses" apparently gives him the perspective to appreciate the concept that "your happiness peaks at three," as when his daughter daydreams about... candy. Major ad/promo; simultaneous BDD audio cassette and CD. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Laughs from Romano, star of CBS-TV's Everybody Loves Raymond.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Romano is popular; his Bantam publicist informs us that millions of television viewers watch his sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond.


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. . .[S]cattered throughout are tantalizing glimpses of the real Romano. . . .Who knows? Perhaps in his next book, he might favor us with a full-fledged Romano a clef. -- People Magazine


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