Need a Cab?! - A Review!?

[Christine L]

NEED A CAB?! THE WILD TIMES AND MISADVENTURES OF A NEWBIE CAB DRIVER by Yarr Wauchabey

* I received this ebook at no charge via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review *

Before I start this review … on the plus side … the cover was funny!

Our guide through this (mis)adventure is Monrovian Wuss aka Money.  He is unemployed and decides to try his hand at driving a cab.  Not the easiest way to make a living, especially since he’s given the night shift, but as Money sees it, he is a perfect fit for the job … he can drive, he’s a little bit lazy so he doesn’t mind sitting and he loves donuts.  Those are only the beginning of the clichés that are apparently supposed to make this book funny.  They don’t!

As the book begins Money walks into the cab office/garage to fill out his application and be introduced to fellow drivers.  The introductions read a little bit like the “begats” in the book of Genesis … too many names coming at the reader too fast.  I did manage to keep some of them straight, not that it really mattered, as the stories began to unfold.

On to his “Wild Times and Misadventures”; each “misadventure” was preceded by detailed street directions – which meant nothing to me, they were populated with embarrassing stereotypes – cowboys (from a rodeo) and Indians (both Native American and from India), wealthy customers – all snobs, a bingo lady – pays him with a bingo card, cheerleaders – all bimbos.  These caricatures added to any other racial or sexist slurs Mr. Wauchabey could manage to include described his customers and anyone else Money came into contact with. 

I requested this book based on the title and description expecting to have a fast and fun read.  I have family and friends who are in the taxi business and I have heard some sidesplitting stories from real cab drivers; little people sliding off leather seats at a sudden stop; husbands who are used to traveling alone on business trips forgetting their wives at the hotel and kids who can’t stop farting are a few.  Unfortunately (1) I have sincere doubts that Mr. Wauchabey has ever sat behind the wheel of a taxi and (2) His “recollections” were too over the top to be even remotely entertaining.  I know that this is a work of fiction disguised as a memoir, but even that fact does not allow me cut this book any slack.  The book is misogynistic, sexist, racist and insulting to the characters and the reader.

I was trying to explain this book to a friend of mine and she summed it up perfectly, “So the driver is like the Donald Trump of the taxi business”.

It’s very difficult for me to write negative reviews, and there may be a reader out there who finds this book entertaining … I didn’t.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

 Nope … couldn’t find a thing on Yarr Wauchabey, so I am going to assume it is a pseudonym and this book was published on a dare.