I hoped for a few laughs. I found there were few of them in this collection of short pieces. Perelman was popular in his day, and apparently a wisecracker, like Groucho Marx. He had only volume as opposed to wit to recommend him. ( )

I've almost run out of words to describe how much I enjoy Perelman's work. His writing is so clear yet so loopy. He took the culture of his time, both the high art and the detritus of pop culture and filtered it all through his irreverent worldview. His writing represents a strain of American humor writing that is only slowly being rediscovered, one based on fast-paced satire and wordplay. His short satirical plays and tales were the predecessor to the Onion and McSweeney's. The way he weaved and looped around the clichés of the English language showed a sophistication and intelligence that few have ever been able to match. For me, his works serve the same purpose as P.G. Wodhouse novels or the works of Terry Pratchett. It's a familiar world always open to me, a way to step away from myself for a while. "Gorge," like most of his collections, is literary escapism at its best.

(This review originally appeared on zombieunderground.net) ( )