Ms. Barreca points out that using humor is to have control of the situation. Instead of being embarrassed into silence or laughing along with a joke or situation that is not funny, coming back with a humorous statement puts the woman in control. Since our book group meeting was held after the Snappy Comebacks general meeting, we discussed the point that a snappy comeback will take control of the situation 'right now' but it may not help in the long run. We also discussed the fact that some personality types are more comfortable joking around. The reserved woman will not have the same reaction as the expressive woman.
This book is more serious than the title implied, which was disappointing to those who were expecting a lot of humor. It is not a 'one-joke after-another' type of book. In several chapters, Ms. Barreca seemed to focus more on a group of women in the workplace using humor where in engineering it is still uncommon to find a 'group' of women in the same department.
Ms. Barreca also focused on the act of taking woman's humor 'out of the kitchen.' Apparently, in her youth, the women were in the kitchen and the men in the living room. The women told jokes and poked fun in the kitchen, but in the dining room they kept quiet. That is not necessarily the case in all homes; many times women crack jokes and laugh at the table. Overall, this is a good book that illustrates many of the differences between woman's humor and men's humor, and encourages women to laugh.