Booknote: And Then You Die of Dysentery

Lauren Reeves, . . .And Then You Die of Dysentery: Lessons in Adulting from the Oregon Trail.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2018. ISBN: 978-1-328-62439-0.

Genre: humor
Subgenre: video games, retro, nostalgia, life lessons, self help
Format: hardcover
Source: Berea branch of the Madison Count (KY) Public Library 

This short little book presents lessons of  adulthood from the old Oregon Trail video game (want to try the game out? You can find various websites that allow you to play it such as this one). The book starts with a short introduction from the author. We then get an illustration in the eight-bit style of the game and a short lesson. Lessons deal with all sorts of modern day issues, including a first world problem or two now and then. The illustrations do capture the style of the game fairly well.

You can read this book cover to cover in about ten to fifteen minutes. It's amusing here or there, but otherwise there is no real substance here. You read through it, smile at the lines you find amusing (your mileage may vary on this), and you move on. It's cute but no big deal. The book will likely appeal to nostalgia fans of the old game. I'd say this is one to borrow rather than buy. Heck, it is so short you can likely read it in the bookstore standing in front of the shelf and then move on. In the end, I liked it, but no big deal.

3 out of 5 stars.