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Silent Bob Speaks

By: Kevin Smith

For those of you out there who don’t know who Kevin Smith is, shame on you!  For those of you who do, then maybe you didn’t realize that he has added author to his repertoire.  In his nonfiction book, Silent Bob Speaks, Smith takes the time to write down a few of his more colorful life experiences in a way that is both engaging and hysterical.

Now, normally, I’m not one for nonfiction books, but this one caught me by surprise.  I have seen the interviews with Kevin Smith as well as his lectures, but I was sure that his quirky sense of humor wouldn’t translate so well into writing.  However, I am a big girl and can quickly admit when I’m wrong, and in this case, I was. 

First of all, Smith writes as if he is speaking directly to you, which works to draw you into the story that he is relaying.  One of my favorite chapters in the book is “The Unholy Tale of Greasy Reese Witherspoon,” not because I dislike Reese Witherspoon (I do like her acting), but because it displays exactly what goes on in Hollywood as seen through the eyes of someone a little on the outside. 

While Kevin Smith may be a director and actor, the politics of Hollywood don’t seem to have tainted his sense of reality.  So many people buy into the myth of their own greatness and turn into something else when they become famous, but Silent Bob Speaks is proof that an ordinary person can make it in that world and still come out laughing at his experiences.