Operating Instructions Style

Operating Instructions Style

Humor

One aspect of Operating Instructions that many reviewers commented on, and which will likely strike many readers as well, is its humor. Lamott's reflections are witty, irreverent, and astute. She uses humor as a means of expressing her thoughts about life, which are often earnest and somber, without becoming pedantic or heavy. For example, in the book's first few pages she wonders how anyone can have a child knowing that eventually that child will have to go through the seventh and eighth grades. "The seventh and eighth grades were for me, and for every single good and interesting person I've ever known, what the writers of the Bible meant when they used the words hell and the pit." In the midst of her humorous ruminations about the difficulties of seventh and eighth grade, Lamott shares a simple truth: "But more than anything else, they were about hurt and loneliness."