A world of difference

Molvania: a land untouched by modern dentistry

By Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner and Rob Sitch. Hardie Grant Books. 296pp. $26.95.

Reviewer :: Lt Simone Heyer

You know a send-up has done its job if you think it's the real thing, but there's just something slightly too amusing about it.

A Jetlag Travel Guide, Molvania: a land untouched by modern dentistry is a send-up of travel guides. You'll recognise the same names behind Working Dog, The Panel, Funky Squad and other clever Australian comedies.

Molvania is situated in Eastern Europe, its national drink is garlic brandy and the national anthem is sung to the tune of What a Feeling from Flashdance. It makes you want more doesn't it?

Molvania: a land untouched by modern dentistry is set out like a real guide, broken into sections and filled with maps and plenty of disturbingly real pictures.

It's so convincing that I thought there might actually be a country called Molvania that for some reason I'd never heard of before.