Post by Clouseau on Jan 22, 2007 21:37:29 GMT
i've recently been working in a bookstore, and i get a nice discount, so one day i decided to see if they had any biographies of Peter Sellers... they didn't have any on hand at the moment, but then i thought i might at least find something interesting Panther-related, so i searched for "Pink Panther"... only one book turned up in the store, and it was this one - The Pink Panther's Just Desserts - by Marc Cerasini and Alice Alfonsi, so i decided to go ahead and give it a whirl...
Paperback
November 2006
285 pages
this was the second Pink Panther book written by Cerasini and Alfonsi... the first (which i have now ordered, but haven't read yet) was The Pink Panther Get's Lucky... there are a few places where JD refers back to events that happened in GL, but few enough so as not to interfere with the current storyline, so JD works fine as a standalone...
the odd thing about this book is that i don't know really who their intended audience is... the animated panther on the cover looks rather kid-friendly, though it's a story involving Clouseau... the humor and writing style seems most suitable for someone in his early teens, i would think; but then, while the romantic scenes are not near as graphic as what you might find in many other mass market paperbacks, i most certainly thought they were graphic enough that i would not want my children (nonexistant as they may currently be) to be exposed to them!
another interesting thing is that Clouseau and Dreyfus seem somewhat ambiguous... i got the general impression that the Clouseau in the book was modelled after Steve Martin's interpretation, but he dressed more like Sellers' portrayal and apart from using "leau" for "law" and "peeg" for pig, Clouseau was written as if he spoke near-perfect English... you wouldn't even know he was French, i don't think, if they hadn't thrown in a million "sacre bleu"s and "mon dieu"s!
similarly, Dreyfus' reactions to Clouseau were quasi-reminiscent of Herbert Lom's portrayal, but generally speaking, he reminded me more of Kevin Kline's version in the way he seemed to carry himself...
as for the plot, i think the back cover of the book describes it fairly well:
so there you have my review in a nutshell... once i receive the other Cerasini/Alfonsi book and work my way through it, you can expect a review for that one, as well (i'm really getting behind on my reading/reviewing!)... in the meantime, i hope this has been helpful!
Paperback
November 2006
285 pages
this was the second Pink Panther book written by Cerasini and Alfonsi... the first (which i have now ordered, but haven't read yet) was The Pink Panther Get's Lucky... there are a few places where JD refers back to events that happened in GL, but few enough so as not to interfere with the current storyline, so JD works fine as a standalone...
the odd thing about this book is that i don't know really who their intended audience is... the animated panther on the cover looks rather kid-friendly, though it's a story involving Clouseau... the humor and writing style seems most suitable for someone in his early teens, i would think; but then, while the romantic scenes are not near as graphic as what you might find in many other mass market paperbacks, i most certainly thought they were graphic enough that i would not want my children (nonexistant as they may currently be) to be exposed to them!
another interesting thing is that Clouseau and Dreyfus seem somewhat ambiguous... i got the general impression that the Clouseau in the book was modelled after Steve Martin's interpretation, but he dressed more like Sellers' portrayal and apart from using "leau" for "law" and "peeg" for pig, Clouseau was written as if he spoke near-perfect English... you wouldn't even know he was French, i don't think, if they hadn't thrown in a million "sacre bleu"s and "mon dieu"s!
similarly, Dreyfus' reactions to Clouseau were quasi-reminiscent of Herbert Lom's portrayal, but generally speaking, he reminded me more of Kevin Kline's version in the way he seemed to carry himself...
as for the plot, i think the back cover of the book describes it fairly well:
SACRE BLEU! SOMEONE'S KILLING THE GREAT PASTRY CHEFS OF FRANCE!
And who better to head up the investigation than the indominatable Inspector Jacques Clouseau - whose unparalleled love of flaky croissants makes him the ideal gendarme for the job! After visiting the various culinary crime scenes - and sampling trays full of delicious evidence - Clouseau and his dedicated assistant Ponton have gained ten pounds apiece but are no closer to finding the killer. They have, however, determined that the victims were about to compete in the World Food Expo, the most prestigious and lucrative pastry competition on the planet, to be held at the luxurious MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Clouseau's long-suffering superior, Charles Dreyfus has little choice but to allow the bumbling buffoon to once again represent France's finest in America. But if Dreyfus is lucky, perhaps his clumsy nemesis will end up getting himself souf-flayed in Sin City ... and finally be off his plate for good!
And who better to head up the investigation than the indominatable Inspector Jacques Clouseau - whose unparalleled love of flaky croissants makes him the ideal gendarme for the job! After visiting the various culinary crime scenes - and sampling trays full of delicious evidence - Clouseau and his dedicated assistant Ponton have gained ten pounds apiece but are no closer to finding the killer. They have, however, determined that the victims were about to compete in the World Food Expo, the most prestigious and lucrative pastry competition on the planet, to be held at the luxurious MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Clouseau's long-suffering superior, Charles Dreyfus has little choice but to allow the bumbling buffoon to once again represent France's finest in America. But if Dreyfus is lucky, perhaps his clumsy nemesis will end up getting himself souf-flayed in Sin City ... and finally be off his plate for good!
so there you have my review in a nutshell... once i receive the other Cerasini/Alfonsi book and work my way through it, you can expect a review for that one, as well (i'm really getting behind on my reading/reviewing!)... in the meantime, i hope this has been helpful!
