Henderson’s Humor

Before we grow any closer, there’s something you should know about me…

I’m a fan of puns.

Let me show you why:

• I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
• I’d tell you a chemistry joke but I know I wouldn’t get a reaction.
• It’s not that the man didn’t know how to juggle, he just didn’t have the balls to do it.
• My teacher accused me of plagiarism. His words, not mine.

And if you didn’t laugh at any of those, you’re broken inside.

Anyways, these stand as proof that puns can be funny. If they’re done right, they can make you laugh, and I love how they play on words. But, at least for me, I imagine they’re very hard to create from scratch. You’d probably have more luck finding your own than making one up. Unless you’re Henderson.

The white jacket and pants became brown and green camouflage, blending with the pine trees and ferns around us.

“Nice!” I said. “Jacket by Ralph Lothlorien.”

I’d actually seen a real elven cloak once…(211).

You can tell he tries to be funny. And I’m sure with part of his audience he succeeds…not so much for me. I can tell he does try, which in itself is pretty impressive since puns are hard to create. But I do think there is a fine line between good puns and bad. Speaking of which…

Speaking of bad witches, riding piggyback reminded me of Pete, who’d often given me piggyback rides when we were younger, which reminded me again that Pete wasn’t with us, which reminded me why he wasn’t with us, which made me sad. It also reminded me of the time I gave barefooted Heather a piggyback ride across a field of gravel while walking her home, which reminded me that she wasn’t talking to me, which again made me sad. That was a lot of bad whiches indeed, which was too bad because I suspected that piggyback rides came along very rarely in adulthood, and it seemed a real shame to not enjoy them. (212)

This made me wince so hard, internally cringing to the point that I think I pulled a muscle. Although, I have to give credit where credit is due. Anyone notice he started with “bad witches” and ended with “bad whiches?” Cute. Either way, there was so much repetition of piggybacks and “which reminded me” that it really aggravated me a lot. This was one of the few instances in this book that greatly grated on my nerves, but I don’t think this is what truly bothered me about this book, nor was it the puns.

It was the constant references to pop culture. I think this book would attract fans who have a lot of trivia knowledge, or keep up with music or art or anything other than books. But not knowing any of that, I felt kicked out a lot, like I was always missing out on a joke, especially since it happened so often. I get it if you mention a reference once, maybe twice. Even if it was something common like The Beatles, where it was so big in history, everyone would know about it, but having seen uncommon references so many times, it was more annoying. Like I’m not in on the joke. That I shouldn’t be reading.

That’s not something I would like to replicate.

Henderson, Randy. Finn Fancy Necromancy. New York, NY: Tor, 2015. Print.