Review: Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern

After being dumped by his longtime girlfriend, twenty-eight-year-old Justin Halpern found himself living at home with his seventy-three-year-old dad. Sam Halpern, who is "like Socrates, but angrier, and with worse hair," has never minced words, and when Justin moved back home, he began to record all the ridiculous things his dad said to him.

More than a million people now follow Mr. Halpern's philosophical musings on Twitter, and in this book, his son weaves a brilliantly funny, touching coming-of-age memoir around the best of his quotes. An all-American story that unfolds on the Little League field, in Denny's, during excruciating family road trips, and, most frequently, in the Halperns' kitchen over bowls of Grape-Nuts.

I first heard about Shit My Dad Says via the @shitmydadsays Twitter account. The first time I stumbled upon it I read through every tweet available. Bascially, Justin Halpern, after his girlfriend dumped him and he had no place to live, moved back home with his parents. He began leaving the outrageous one-liners from his 70 year old cantankereous father on his AIM away messages. Someone suggested to him that he create a Twitter account and, a million followers later, he has a book offer and a pending television show based on his father's one liners.

After reading some of the tweets, one might get the sense that Halpern's father is gruff and uncouth, both of which appear to be true but somehow I equeated that with not being a good dad? I don't know why. But after reading Sh*t My Dad Says, it is apparent that Mr. Halpern clearly loves his son. Sprinkled in among the obscenities are stories with real heart and,ultimately, the story is a classic father/son tale. With a lot of swear words thrown in! 

It is a quick read that literally had me laughing out loud. If you're interested in the book but not quite sure, you can check out the twitter page or this article to get a sense of the writing. 

I'll leave you with some of Mr. Halpern's pearls of wisdom:

"Don't ask for my opinion then. I said congrats on the car, just saying nobody's panties are getting wet from a fucking Honda Accord."

"There's a word for people like that...No, I'm saying, there's a word and I don't know what it is. I'm not being fucking poetic."

"You look just like Stephen Hawking...Relax, I meant like a non-paralyzed version of him. Feel better?... Fine. Forget I said it."

"That woman was sexy...Out of your league? Son. Let women figure out why they won't screw you, don't do it for them."

"Sometimes life leaves a hundred dollar bill on your dresser, and you don't realize until later that it's because it fucked you."

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