I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

I was at the local Barnes and Noble about two weeks ago. I made my purchases and was walking out of the store, gloves on and keys in hand, when a book on the table closest to the door caught my eye. It's title, "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell". I picked it up and turned it over where my eyes were met with the first words on the back, "My name is Tucker Max and I am an a**hole." Immediately, I was hooked. I then opened the book and started reading through it. Much to my delight, I quickly realized that this was a book full of previously posted blog entries. A blogger done good! I could hardly believe it. Of course, I had to buy it.

"The runaway New York Times best seller" is described as "highly entertaining and thoroughly reprehensible". They weren't kidding. Tucker Max, author of the blog posts, parlayed his hilarious, completely offensive, sophomoric, outlandish life experiences into blog posts on his wildly popular web site, TuckerMax.com, and then into a best seller in 2006. A twenty-something law student at the time of most of the posts, Tucker's tales of his complete and uncautionary abuse of both alcohol and women are in one word-unbelievable.

If his book is correct, it's a miracle that Tucker still has the use of his liver and has not, at this point, succumbed to the dangers of a sexually transmitted disease. With titles like, "Tucker Tries Butt Sex; Hilarity Does Not Ensue, The Night We Almost Died and The Worst Tucker Story Ever", the book is both engrossing and repulsive.

And I am recommending it to you.

I couldn't put it down. I laughed hard, was utterly repulsed, questioned it's authenticity at times, and was offended, but I can't say I wasn't entertained. It was an easy read and I admire his style of writing. The boy can tell a story.

Since the book was published in 2006, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell has been made into an independently financed movie and his book has been revised and expanded with new material. You can follow all the movie's comings and goings on ihopetheyservebeerinhell.com. It's just about the only place that Tucker himself blogs regularly, when he is not on tour for the re-release of his book.

The Tucker Max book tour hit Boston last night and I had to see this guy for myself. The line to see Tucker snaked throughout the entire book store and his fans were rowdy. Let's just say that his fans are made up of 20-25 year old college guys and young ladies looking for a, er, um, a good time with Tucker the man. When I met him he looked spent. Maybe he had overindulged the night before and Tucker, 33 now, is no spring chicken anymore. This was not the Tucker in the book. I get the feeling he is more serious these days. He wanted to talk about the movie and how good it is, his pride showing, as it should be.

Funny, Tucker's way of greeting me with a smile was this, "It's really nice to see an adult here."

I'm not quite sure how to take that.

It was almost like he was resigned to his plight in life.

Regardless, he still signed my book like this:

Which reads: "Candy, I'm awesome Tucker Max"