In my previous book trailer review, I opined that the purpose of a trailer was to give you a preview of a book. But I may have been wrong about that. The purpose of a book trailer is really to get you interested in a book by piquing your curiosity, and sometimes the best way to accomplish that is via a clever, quirky gag that sets a certain tone.

The trailer for Sorry Please Thank You, a collection of short stories, seemingly has little to do with the actual book. It’s supposedly a commercial for a service that allows you to outsource your suffering and negative experiences via “consciousness transfer.” In a split screen, stressed-out customer service representatives grimace and massage their foreheads while happy customers blissfully close their eyes and zone out of whatever’s going on around them: excruciating meetings, dental procedures, or other stressful encounters.

The only actual mention of the book comes at the very end, when the commercial cheekily mentions that they are a proud sponsor of Sorry Please Thank You, and an image of the cover art pops up briefly. So unless this scenario is the premise of one of the short stories, then it’s just a witty way to get your attention — and if you’re amused by the trailer, you’ll probably like the book.

It’s not perfect: there are some weird font choices (no one should ever use Hobo, ever) and the voice-over is a little shaky. But as an original way to snag a viewer’s interest and make them wonder what the rest of a book might hold, this trailer does a lot with a little.

Grade: B+

Stephanie Perry
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