The Holidays

November 16, 2015
This riff on the popular “choose your own story line” books that were geared toward children opens with a situation that is much more adult: waking up with a roaring hangover and a buzzing alarm clock. It’s up to the reader to determine what’s next: to call in sick or soldier on and go in to the office. Scenarios include violently vomiting in a cab on the way to work and blaming the mess on a homeless person when they arrive at the office, carving out a growth on one’s back with a knife and attempting to cauterize it, confessing to a cocaine addiction, and many other awkward and uncomfortable circumstances—which can result in starting the adventure over from the beginning, attending an AA meeting, ending the workday serenely, or getting a promotion. Macdonald and Gagnon are comedy writers who’ve contributed to the Onion, but the humorous bits here are bleak and sparse. Notable more for its creative approach than its content, this will hold the most appeal for former Choose Your Own Adventure fans and devotees of dark, dark humor.

October 15, 2016

The former Onion writers who previously authored Choose Your Own Misery: The Office offer up a yuletide-themed parody of the beloved childhood favorite "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories, only this one is a raunchy grown-up version. You think you're about to have the perfect Christmas sans family as you escape to a tropical resort with a college buddy, but then Tropical Storm Menudo makes landfall and your flight is canceled. Your first decision comes when you call your new girlfriend Lindsi and she invites you to spend Christmas with her family. This is choose your own misery, so of course, all your decisions take you down a path of hilarious holiday hell. VERDICT Bah! Humbug! An ideal choice for holiday haters and readers who enjoy David Sedaris's hysterically funny take Holidays on Ice.

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