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MY TIME WITH YOU HAS BEEN SHORT BUT VERY FUNNY
Robert McBryde
Tellwell Talent
September 27, 2023
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Featuring personal tales originally prepared for a radio audience, My Time With You Has Been Short But Very Funny is infused with frenetic humour along with undertones of wistfulness and edgy sadness. In a series of sketches spanning two continents and seven decades, the author introduces readers to a rollicking cast of characters from everyday life, including the iconic Pesticide Pete and Barbecue Billy, as well as a series of off-kilter incidents, both hilarious and disquieting. Sometimes compared to David Sedaris for his snarky autobiographical satire, Robert McBryde is most of all a manic master of self-deprecation whose sketches will induce cackling, and perhaps a few tears.
My Review
I’m not sure what I just read. Was it a collection of stories, essays, anecdotes, observations or vignettes? It doesn’t matter how it’s labelled, it was unique and entertaining.
Poignant, funny, sad……it’s all there. Being in the same age group as the author, I was able to relate to many of the stories. The subject matters run the gamut from family stuff to smoking to bullying to wedding day mishaps.
And, the fact that it was written by a fellow Canadian is a bonus! 
About the Author – Robert McBryde
A geezer launching his first book, tossed like a message in a bottle into an uncharted turbulent sea, Robert McBryde is a professional translator with a master’s degree in English literature and a passion for the arts of the stage. A product of Toronto, Ontario, educated in both Canada and Switzerland, he taught literature and theatre at the junior college level in Quebec City for 35 years and worked as a writer/ broadcaster for CBC radio for 10 years, honing his storytelling skills through a weekly recounting of absurd yet poignant tales of everyday life, which a number of listeners urged him to publish.
Crafted in his current home in Dijon, France, My Time With You Has Been Short But Very Funny is a belated response to those requests, and includes an array of other humorous and quirky sketches besides. Awarded the Most Embarrassing Winter Garb Award in perpetuity by his offspring, along with a gold medal for the weirdest accent in a foreign language, Robert McBryde has turned to storytelling for solace. He hopes that his two sons, who figure prominently in these narratives, will not find his tales to be flat seltzer.
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