THE RAVI FACTOR:

So Ravi wrote a book. How surprising. Lucky for you that the Bright and Beautful family is here to guide you carefully in this time of scandal and controversy so that you may make better sense of your life.

DANCIN WITH HANSON: A READER'S GUIDE:

Flash Bulletins from the Bureau of the Completely Obvious:
  • The Hanson family prays.
  • Zac is wacky.
  • Tay is a god.
  • Rock stars are people too.
  • Ike isn't Jimi Hendrix.
  • Hanson is really busy sometimes.
  • 14 year-old boys like girls in bikinis.
  • Diana has really long hair.
Stuff Ravi Told Us That We Probably Didn't Want to Know:
  • The boys are "big meat eaters"
  • Ike and Ravi discussed hairspray and other methods of frizz control.
  • That they do inane 14 year-old boy things like shoving their arms in vats of ice to see who can stay in it the longest.
  • They actually think the "I went to the store and bought and APPLE!" alphabet game is fun.
  • The "Mmmplop" story.
Why you should read this book:

I don't see Hanson coming out with any new material any time soon. Do you? If nothing else, it's a good fix. And besides, why deprive yourself of a different point of view? Knowledge is power. Even if it's Ravi knowlegde.

Why most of the stuff in this book is probably true:

Well, for one thing, it's not all that exciting. If you were going to write a big scandalous account of the inner workings of the Hanson camp, you'd at least throw in something about a) drug use b) wild parties and c) Taylor's Ramones t-shirt. In other words, you'd make it interesting. Yes, we do get accounts of some occasional fiestiness from Isaac and Walker, but nothing that hints at serious inner rage or anything. Maybe they were having a bad day. Maybe the moon was full.

Stuff that would have made this book considerably better:
  • If Jarrod had written it.
  • If Ravi had cut his use of the exclamation point by about 40‰
  • Far far fewer pictures of Ravi's ticket stubs.
  • The omission of the "by the pool" picture.
  • If it had been printed in an un-Teen Beat-like font.
  • Less time and space dedicated to describing Hanson's attire. I don't know why anyone would do that…
  • A picture of Ravi's pink slip.

The bottom line:

If you want to, read it. If you don't want to, don't read it. Afraid of supporting something that doesn't have the Hansonopoly stamp on it? Don't buy it. Take it out of the library when no one's looking.