What Is Funny?

This month’s WIF Book Club selection is arguable one of the top 50 Mystery Thrillers of all time, ranking somewhere between War with the Evil Power Master and Sound and the Fury (or, as it was originally titled: The Mystery of the Missing Quentins).

The Hardy Boys classic, The Sinister Signpost is not only nonstop adventure, it is also, per Wikipedia, “one of the most dangerous and intriguing cases” of Frank and Joe Hardy’s careers. Just looking at the cover tells you that’s definitely true. That sign is literally shooting lasers at that red sports car! What’s worse, it appears someone from a completely different angle is rolling a tire at the Hardy Boys!!  This can only add up to one thing: Danger!!!  Never before have the letters SS conveyed so much excitement and fun than they do in the Sinister Signpost!!!!

A couple of thought provoking questions as you read this literary classic:

1. In the story, Frank and Joe’s father is hired by a mysterious racecar inventor, Mr. Alden, to figure out why his racers keep getting in wrecks. Yet Frank and Joe do all the work in solving the case.  Why is Mr. Hardy such a shitty dad?
2. Horses appear often in the book, and for no particular reason.  Do you believe horses are capable of human emotion? Could the fastest man in the world run faster than the slowest racehorse?
3. In the seventh chapter, Frank says to Joe, “Looks like we’ve got ourselves another mystery to solve.”  Would it have been morally justified for Joe to hit Frank at this point?
4. Mr. Alden’s son Roger is a total jerk throughout the book. Is it possible to be raised by a genius race car scientist and not end up a little messed up? Does this explain what went wrong with Lindsay Lohan?
5. The criminal masterminds in this book have an array of horrible secret weapons, but nothing can be more horrible than the existential angst of knowing that no matter how many mysteries you solve, we are alone in a cold, uncaring universe that will eventually be swallowed in plumes of hydrogen and that every thing that has ever lived will soon be dead.  Who do you think will realize this and suffer a nervous breakdown first, Frank or Joe?
6. If God does exist, then why do bad plot obstacles always happen to good protagonists?
7. Were this novel to be adopted to a film, who would you cast as the signpost? Steve Buscemi, or David Alan Grier? How does race play into your decision.
8. Here’s a fun exercise. Rewrite the novel from the perspective of a two-dimensional inanimate object.  Remember that two-dimensional objects can’t use pronouns!
9. Were you surprised by the mysterious twist ending that the twin brothers Vilno Sigor and Baro Signor were in fact the villains behind all the accidents?
10. SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read the previous question if you have not read the book yet. It will totally RUIN IT for you.

Tags: Book of the Month, Low Art, review

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