Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC of this book.
This is a breezy read. It starts off with
“Pissing someone off is not, strictly speaking, a good or nice thing to do. Glad we got that out of the way, but if you're going to do it, I recommend doing it discreetly and with surgical precision.” This pretty much gives us an insight into the kind of humor that is used throughout the book, and I personally think targeting someone with sassy retorts is the most enjoyable way of dealing with a disagreement (because you get to show them who’s right twice: in the context as well as in the sarcasm quotient)

Funny quotient:
The ideas made me chuckle at a lot of places, it made me chortle, it made me laugh out loud at certain other places, but coming out of this book, I am conflicted because it's a very blurry boundary on what's funny and what's offensive when it comes to such themes, and I think it's important to acknowledge that in a review of this book, especially because it's written by a man. First of all, I think I want to take out the rating for the funny quotient in the book. I think the book was very funny — nothing can take away from that. It elicited responses in varying degrees of smile to laughter, and it was funny, except for the places where it was conflicting, and that brings me to the second point of how do you decide what's not going to rile you up?

Conflict:
I’ll give you an example:
“when a man tries to explain crypto to you say, oh, I saw that on Pinterest.”
I know that this is a great retort if we look at how women on Pinterest are a stereotype, and then double down on that stereotype as a joke, but a man telling me to use this as a joke makes me think.
The Pinterest part goes on, “Say this when a man talks about anything he's interested in or shows you one of his tattoos, saying, oh, I saw this on Pinterest. This is a great way to do two things. One, drive a stake into the heart of his ambitions of originality. two, get the words of the iconic stand-up comedian, Ali Wong, ringing in his head. If a man has Pinterest, he's probably Pinterest-ed in men.” Again, not a very clear-cut non-offensive joke, and not even his own!

Subverting tropes:
I do like certain parts of it a lot. Somewhere he suggests a joke, and then he says, “if you can make it sound like the prelude to an intervention, that would be great.”
And I do think it sounds funny, and it makes things funny. There are some witty repartees as well. He suggests that if he is at some point in the conversation, you should say, you seem to be having a lot of feelings right now. And of course, he's trying to do this thing of subverting the trope of how men call women “emotional”, and then meting out their own treatment.

He adds, “when you say, you seem to be having a lot of feelings right now. If this is not true, when you say it, it will be by the time you're finished speaking”, which is a funny observation. And I think the observational part of the comedic tidbits here works really well.

Some humor feels less universal due to cultural and regional specificity. This limits the book’s appeal across diverse audiences, as certain jokes may not resonate or may be lost on those not familiar with the context.

Solid book. 10/10 no notes. I had a good time reading these, it was funny af, and I would happily use some of these. Loved the nerd references, since those are the circles I find myself in most.

I really enjoyed Kyle Prue’s dry humour in this book. I ended up reading it out loud to the women in my house—and my husband got a kick out of it.

The introduction, where he breaks down how to make insults stick, was deeply funny. For example, instead of directly saying, “You look like you can’t swim,” which just makes people defensive, he suggests asking, “Can you swim?” It’s much more subtle and makes the other person internalise the insult. It’s clever, a bit cruel, and exactly the kind of sharp wit that made this book so fun to read.

I’ve been following Kyle Prue and his “How to Piss Off Men” series for ages, and this book was the same kind of sharp, witty humour I expected. I do wish there had been a bit more original content beyond what’s already in the internet series, but overall, I really enjoyed it.

While the book is mostly light-hearted and funny, it also makes you think. After all the laughs, Kyle dives into some unexpectedly tender insights on how society teaches men violence and the importance of kindness. The reflection that these clever insults while framed in jest may be the type of engagement that might highlight the dissonance and toxic beliefs the patriarchy instills.

All in all, it’s a great read—sharp, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt.

Who -wouldn't- be interested in this book after seeing the title? Even men would be intrigued enough to pick this one up. It isn't something you could just walk by and not take a peek at. And if you can, you have more will power than me.

Obviously, the title is great. The insides are pretty fun too! For sure keeping some of these in mind for when the need arises.

This was a fun one; do recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Iconic. I've watched all of the TikTok series and this was pretty much just that, but in book form. I like the videos more, but I definitely want to get this as a coffee table book when it comes out. Maybe some people won't quite get the humour (my boyfriend didn't 👀) but it's exactly my sense of humour and I think it's HILARIOUS. I've definitely used a lot of these on my brother, friend's boyfriends and my guy friends if I feel like roasting them (especially the sports ones). Anyway, I'm gonna go rewatch the whole TikTok series now.

This was fairly entertaining, but a little repetitive in some places.

(I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

If you follow Kyle on social media or have seen any of his videos, you know to expect great things from this book. It is hilarious, witty, timely and supportive of women. He has creative ways to use men's own words and actions against them to throw it back in their face to show how cringey it is to say or do to women. There are many of them I am going to save and use when I get the chance! This would make a great coffee table book, conversation starter or gift for a friend.

Thank you to Sourcebooks for my advance electronic copy via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Absolutely hilarious! Sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes just cheeky, these 109 pieces of "advice" are excellent burns to counteract toxic masculinity in all different corners of life. I especially love that the author is male, which makes it all the better somehow. This is the perfect gift for a friend for a birthday, holiday, graduation, promotion, or break-up. Witty and quippy, I definitely recommend!

In a Nutshell: I expected a funnier book. Then again, ‘funny’ is a subjective term, so this might be a good gag gift. But most of this content was boring to me.

It is very easy to guess why I requested this book – the title was almost like a fishhook that grabbed me and didn’t let me go. I was also curious that this was written by a man. So would it be a realistic expose on what men are truly afraid of hearing, or would it end up patronising women into thinking that they can do better with their barbs? The tagline was also interesting. 106 things not to hurt male emotions, or make them introspect, but to “shatter the male ego” – a strong claim.

Sadly, the potential was not met.

There are various reasons why this didn’t work for me. I won’t say it ‘did not live up to my expectations’ because I didn’t have any expectations in the first place except of finding an entertaining read. But in all honesty, I think the main reason is that we women are, in general, better at sarcastic barbs than men are. (Not something to boast about, I know.) But this isn’t a review about women or their talent for hitting where it hurts most when someone pisses them off, so let’s return to the book.

The comebacks herein are quite lacklustre. Most of the content aims to channelize reverse psychology into breaking a man’s confidence, but the retorts feel mostly juvenile. The author admits in his initial disclaimer that some of these retorts are easier for him to say as a cis white man. I think that defeats the point of the book to a great extent.

The responses are also highly situation-specific, with some situations being once-in-a-way encounters such as watching MMA or talking to a man who is explaining to you the concept of a secret identity. Thus, while there officially are “106 things to say”, the practical application of these is minimal.

The pop culture references are exclusively American, so this is certainly not a global advisory. There are a multitude of US-specific concepts and abbreviations such as JROTC or Kohl's Cash, which went over my head. (Not the author’s fault that an Indian reader gave his book a try. So the benefit of doubt in this round goes to him.)

Obviously, we don’t read such books for actual implementation of the barbs but for laughs. However, I barely cracked a smile during this entire book. Only two of the retorts actually felt clever. The rest were mostly meh to my ears, and after a point, the whole thing felt repetitive.

On the pro side, it’s not offensive or condescending or patronising towards woman – I’ll give the author credit for this. I also loved the line in the opening note: “Women want to be loved, and men want to feel important.” Then again, this is something I already read in “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus”, so…

The most heartfelt content (honestly, I wasn’t expecting heartfelt content in this book, so this took me by surprise) is the final chapter titled “Why to Piss Off Men”, which is not at all what it sounds like. This chapter was brilliant (patriarchy having put both men and women in boxes – excellent analogy!), and while I might not agree with the rest of the book, I respect the intent of the author the way he has explained it in this section.

Basically, humour is quite subjective. So this book might still make some other readers guffaw. The author is supposedly a known online personality, actor and comedian, but I am not so much into movies these days (and I have no legal access to Tiktok), so I have no clue about his work. Maybe fans of his stand-up comedy would enjoy this better as some jokes are better heard than read.

I can advocate this as a light-hearted book to be borrowed from the library and read for entertainment value, or it could work as a prank gift. (But I am not sure whom you could gift it to.)

A shoutout to the cover pic – I love the expressions of the women in that artwork.

2 stars.

My thanks to SOURCEBOOKS (non-fiction) for providing the DRC of “How to Piss Off Men” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn't work out better.

This wonderful book was the just the pick-me-up I needed at the end of a long week. I admit that I was skeptical to read a book about mansplaining written by . . . . well . . a man. I needn't have worried! The author provides a plethora of witty comebacks along with some genuine insight into the state of modern masculinity. The book kept me chuckling and I will definitely purchase it for a few of my favorite feminists!

Full disclosure, I rarely, if ever, use Tik Tok. I tried to maintain one similar to this account and just couldn't bring myself to. With that said, I had no idea that the author had this as a series on his Tik Tok. So, if you read this and it ends up being redundant, don't blame me. I have absolutely no idea.

What I do know, is that this book was fucking hilarious. It couldn't have had a better start with number one. My other personal favorites were numbers 12, 17, and 46. This book gave a shoutout to Neopets, too, so automatic additional star. There were some too niche for me that I did not understand, but for those I did, it more than made up for it.

I’ve been following Kyle Prue on TikTok for a while now, and I’ve always loved his “How to Piss Off Men” series. Naturally, I was excited to get my hands on this book, and it did not disappoint!

The book is honestly so funny—Prue’s humor translates perfectly from his videos to the written page. Not only did I find myself laughing out loud, but I also picked up some great lines and insights that I’ll definitely be storing away for the perfect moment to use. If you’re a fan of his TikToks or just looking for a good laugh, this book is a must-read!

What an hilarious read! Read it in one sitting but I can totally see myself going back to it a lot it in the future, reading one page a day randomly just to have a laugh! Everyone needs this book in their lives!

Thank you to @netgalley and @sourcebooks for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a fun, funny, and easy read. I liked the quips and the author’s personal anecdotes/commentary. It was interesting!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️

A hilarious, quick read that’s a perfect coffee-table book imho. Thank you Sourcebooks, NetGalley, and Kyle Prue for a free copy of How To Piss Off Men in exchange for an honest review (coming out on 9/17/24!)



For 2024, I’ll be using this rating scale:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I mourned the ending of this journey 🥹
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ really enjoyed and would recommend
⭐️⭐️⭐️ it was fine
⭐️⭐️ I didn’t enjoy this journey
⭐️ I dnf’d or wish I’d dnf’d
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ this is smutty smutty erotica 🥵
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ a lot of spice
🌶️🌶️🌶️ some spice
🌶️🌶️ romantic b plot / closed door / YA romance
🌶️ no romance / nonfiction

I'm going to be coming back to this book a lot. I will be gifting this to all my friends. I laughed so hard, I hurt my neck. This is a perfect book.

I want to buy this for all of my coworkers and friends who are female. This book is absolutely hilarious and I think it needs to be shared with everyone who has a sense of humor!

I always loved Kyle’s TikToks so seeing his hilarity in print was awesome. This book is just so silly and funny and I hope to one day use one of these lines on a man that doesn’t deserve peace. 😂

This book was SO funny! I loved reading hilarious ass shit to say to men of all kinds. 😂 I will def be using these in every day life. Such an iconic book and I feel like every baddie needs to read this. I will 100% be recommending this to people. 🥰😘 💅🏻

I was so excited to read this book as soon as it was announced. I have been a fan of Kyle Prue and his online shenanigans for some time, so I was delighted to see his viral series come to life in the written word. His humor translates effortlessly to the page and offers a humorous break from these trying times.