Title: Let Loose & Laugh: Priceless Stories on Navigating Life With a Sense of Humor

Author: Gerry Usrey

Genre: Non-fiction / Humor

Let Loose & Laugh: Priceless Stories on Navigating Life with a Sense of Humor by Gerry Usrey is a collection of short, humorous, true stories. The author recounts times of failure when he’s supposed to be the know-all Mr. Fix-It, practical jokes all in good fun, and tales of embarrassment. His stories range from his boyhood up through his current life as a grandfather, in roles as friend, husband, and father.

Humor is subjective and can often prove challenging to write, but Gerry Usrey’s stories strike the funny bone just right. His tone is honest, open, and self-deprecating, which carries a certain humbleness with it, which further lends to making his tales humorous because they are relatable on some level. We’ve all found ourselves in embarrassing situations where we honestly didn’t know what we were walking into. In those moments, we have a choice: laugh at ourselves or bury our head in the sand. Usrey recounts one such story when he walks into a doctor’s office waiting room with a brown paper bag. Laughter is good medicine, we’ve often heard, and it’s true. Usrey’s choice to laugh at himself proves another truth about laughter: it’s infectious. He seems the type of person who can walk into a room and make everyone smile…or at least look at him funny before cracking one.

Because all the short stories are true, Usrey’s tone is easily carried over into the actual jokes and pranks. He admits he’s past the age of seventy, but he certainly hasn’t lost his childlike wonder and ability to have a good time. While some of his jokes and situational humor may be off-putting for some, because humor is subjective, Usrey’s boldness to put himself out there is admirable. A few of the stories are belly-laugh worthy, so if one is looking for a story to produce a good laugh, Let Loose & Laugh is a good starting point. His tales involving snakes are especially off-the-wall and amusing, but if this is too much, one is sure to find the story about the Boy Scouts to be endearing.

This volume of humorous tales is short and is an easy read at fifteen-thousand words. This makes it a perfect gift for someone who may not be an avid reader. The book can also simply provide entertainment during long winter days in quarantine, as many of us have experienced in 2020-21. We all could use a good laugh in these times.

Gerry Usrey is an expert of humor who’s lived his life with a smile on his face and a joke on his tongue, and he shares his wisdom and laughter in his stories. The author’s tales of bathroom humor, home projects gone wrong, all-in-good-fun practical jokes, and downright childlike pranks offer something for everyone. Let Loose & Laugh is an important reminder to us all that sometimes all we really need to do is “let loose and laugh.”

This Editorial Review was written by the Book Review Directory staff. To receive a similarly honest, professional review for one of your own books, click here.