Four out of Five Stars
"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers
I had a little trouble with this book.
I gave it Four Stars because it did make me laugh out loud at parts, the story was interesting enough, and for the most part, I liked being in his head. But "being in his head" often made me exhausted -- punctuation, PLEASE! I realize that was his unique way of writing, but I swear sometimes one thought would go an entire page without a punctuation mark, and that just exhausted me and hurt my head.
Sometimes I felt like the story was a little too "precious", but I still rather enjoyed it for what it was.
I gave it Four Stars because it did make me laugh out loud at parts, the story was interesting enough, and for the most part, I liked being in his head. But "being in his head" often made me exhausted -- punctuation, PLEASE! I realize that was his unique way of writing, but I swear sometimes one thought would go an entire page without a punctuation mark, and that just exhausted me and hurt my head.
Sometimes I felt like the story was a little too "precious", but I still rather enjoyed it for what it was.
4 out of 5 stars
"A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey
I read this knowing about the controversy around it -- was it true, was it partly true, was it total fiction?
I enjoyed it regardless -- but then, I liked "Girl, Interrupted", too. Any story where the protagonist lifts themselves out of a crap life is a decent story to me. If I had read this thinking the entire thing was real, I think I'd feel the same way, and consider any fabrications an issue with a completely trashed mind from all the drugs and alcohol. Of course, I only read one article about the many discrepancies, so if you have others I should read, please let me know!
I enjoyed it regardless -- but then, I liked "Girl, Interrupted", too. Any story where the protagonist lifts themselves out of a crap life is a decent story to me. If I had read this thinking the entire thing was real, I think I'd feel the same way, and consider any fabrications an issue with a completely trashed mind from all the drugs and alcohol. Of course, I only read one article about the many discrepancies, so if you have others I should read, please let me know!
4 out of 5 stars
"A Bum Deal" by Rufus Hannah
I picked this up on my Kindle during one of their sales.
It's interesting that the last two books I've read have been about either addiction or some sort of misery, true, or in some cases, nearly true.
This book is about the controversy of a group of college boys who thought it would be fun to hire bums (with booze and a free hotel room) purely to see what stupid and dangerous thing they could get the homeless to do, and then record it and sell it.
The way these idiots treated human beings, human beings incredibly down on their luck, is nauseating. Rufus Hannah writes about his rise from homelessness to the courtroom when the men who profited handsomely from their ridiculous videos were brought to trial.
An interesting read about homelessness.
It's interesting that the last two books I've read have been about either addiction or some sort of misery, true, or in some cases, nearly true.
This book is about the controversy of a group of college boys who thought it would be fun to hire bums (with booze and a free hotel room) purely to see what stupid and dangerous thing they could get the homeless to do, and then record it and sell it.
The way these idiots treated human beings, human beings incredibly down on their luck, is nauseating. Rufus Hannah writes about his rise from homelessness to the courtroom when the men who profited handsomely from their ridiculous videos were brought to trial.
An interesting read about homelessness.
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Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off. She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.
The book is mostly fabricated. I read it when it first came out thinking it was true--it is well written. I was so disappointed to find out it is mostly fiction. I would have been fine with it if I had known it was fiction from the start, but I was so disappointed to find that it was mostly lies. You might want to read this: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/million-little-lies
ReplyDeleteThe thing I liked about Dave Eggers' book was that it perfectly captured, for me, the feeling of living in the SF Bay Area in the 90s, when so much was going on with the (first) rise of the dot.coms. I read this a couple of years after I moved home after living in the Bay Area for pretty much the entire 90s. And I was a similar age to Dave in the book. But yes, I remember his writing style was pretty exhausting!
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