Avg. Customer Rating:

A coming of age story, January 15, 1997
Reviewer: A. Neal Bricknell from Crestline, NH 

This charming story gently and with humor uses the amusingly dour character of Eeyore the Donkey to plumb the depths of existential, suicidal despair. Everyone, it seems, has forgotten Eeyore's birthday. Our hapless ass correctly concludes that his life has no meaning, that he, and by extension, all of us, are nothing more than ill-sewn sacks of sawdust, waste products inaptly packaged for the amusement of a mirthless universe. The feeble, after-the-fact efforts of his 'friends' to assuage Eeyore's ennui are revealed, one by one, as trifles in a shallow veneer of lies as the story plunges inexorably to its grim, yet oddly freeing, conclusion. 

It is never to soon for children to come to grips with the reality so tenderly displayed on these handsome pages: life is a hopeless morass of angst and disappointment whose only sweet hope is swift, silent death. The palpable sexual tension between Pooh and Eeyore only ratchets the pain upward.

This attractive edition is suitable for children of all ages, especially those just learning to read or exploring the full panoply of sexual possibilities for the first time. Highly recommended. I myself keep 2 copies in the bunker.  --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Christ in a Donkey, August 1, 1998
Reviewer: Joline McKittrick from Billings, Montana

Someone please see that Neal's dosages are better regulated in the future so that we can be spared his wrong-headed and revealing analyses. Your pessimistic nihilism may color everything YOU see, but the rest of us can take pleasure from the entire Pooh Panoply without your misguided reductionism. 

The pity is, you cannot see this story for what it really is: a playful and clever visit to a land where magic happens. Eeyore clearly represents the Protestant work ethic and all of its dour plodding while the host of others speak for the myriad distractions from honest work. This donkey, jawbone intact, recalls both the Bethlehem stable-mate and the Palm Sunday triumph of humility. The failure of his more "if it feels good, do it" brethren in rousing him to more a feckless and libertine disposition is our collective redemption and resistance to politically correct happy faces. Blow out the candles Eeyore; now we are six. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Find your rainbow, my beautiful ass!, March 6, 1999
Reviewer: Dagney Everett from Daly City, California

Both of you have your head in the sand about the true nature of Eeyore and his guilt over his illicit attraction to the free spirited Tigger. As Tigger opens himself up to what life has to offer and moves forward to pursue his Id's desire, Eeyore looks on at his friend with a mixture of sexual attraction and repressive guilt over these nascent feelings. Pooh is the asexually gay companion of Eeyore, closeted in his desires, open in his manner yet unable to seek out and fulfill his Apollo seeking desires due to a rather severe honey addiction that leaves his sexually neutered by his weight, creating the Truman Capote of the story; insightful, playful, thoughtful, inspiring and ultimately, alone.

As Eeyore faces the cold winds of mortality blown by another birthday, he wrestles with the outcome of his life. Does he stay repressed in his sexual expression in both physical and emotional dimensions; does he open up emotionally like Pooh yet never experience the physical release or does he become what he admires and despises at once - the free spirited, free loving Tigger, who flaunts his prodigious prehensile tail like a phallic torture device?

Keep your eye on Roo in future books. That playful little twink is coming of age soon and may surprise us all! --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

I like this book a whole lot, February 12, 2001
Reviewer: Dylan Anderson of Flint, MI writes: 

I like Eeyore. This book is my favorite. For my 7th birthday, I want to ask for more Pooh books. I love Piglet because he's cute. I don't get what these other guys are saying, but I guess they like it too. It's the best book ever. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.