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3.55 AVERAGE

chloekg's profile picture

chloekg's review

4.0

Master of the epigram, hilarious, insightful, art history in the making, but a book's worth of short-form was too long.

"La pace interiore non esiste. Ci sono solo ansia e morte. Qualsiasi tentativo di provare il contrario costituisce un comportamento inaccettabile."

♠ Vorrei avere un decimo della voglia di cagare il cazzo che ha la Lebowitz. La ammiro. Mi ha stancato anche solo leggere le sue tirate verso qualunque cosa e chiunque, figuriamoci farle. Veramente l'unica cosa che sentivo di dover fare era consigliarle di lasciar perdere. Volevo metterle una mano sulla spalla, guardarla negli occhi e dirle "Ma chi se ne frega!?". Non è che bisogna necessariamente sentirsi il dovere di avere un opinione su tutto e il dovere di esprimerla, oltretutto con ingiustificata strafottenza, come a volerci insegnare come funziona la vita. Il tutto con l'arroganza di chi è convinto di conoscere la verità assoluta, di avere ragione su tutto e per fartelo pensare deve metterci quella punta di cattiveria gratuita mista ad insulto perchè lei è meglio di te perchè i suoi pensieri vanno controcorrente e non c'ha sbatta di essere una persona un minimo educata e tu, comunque, non capisci un cazzo. 
funny lighthearted medium-paced

treading's review

3.5
funny lighthearted fast-paced
wilde_read's profile picture

wilde_read's review

1.0
lighthearted fast-paced

I thought I would love this book, but NO! The introduction showed promise and quickly petered out from there. The essays are extremely dated, very offensive and too New York City specific. Some people are into that. Thankfully, I'm not one of them!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
funny lighthearted fast-paced

Fran is my kind of person. 

Her sense of humor is witty, dry, and smart. Her complaining is downright hilarious and enjoyable to read. I only wish I could catch her skulking outside smoking just once in my life. I like to imagine that I would comment to her about someone's irritating behavior across the street. She would affirm my irritation, of course, and, leaning in, confide in me that she, too, could think of 100 better ways to do what the poor sap was doing. 

I consumed the first half of this via the audiobook and the second half via paperback. It's fun to hear her narrate her own writing, but it's a much slower listen than it is a read.
funny
funny reflective fast-paced
funny lighthearted medium-paced

reads outdated at times but at most, surprisingly relevant. fran is a hilarious personality (i saw her live half-way through reading this) and her humour and outlook hasn't aged at all.

Fran is witty as advertised and in a way that stands the test of time. Definitely recommend reading this traditionally rather than listening to the audiobook as she makes a lot of lists and other things that are hard to follow when listening. Rating is personal because I'm not a huge nonfiction/essay fan. For those who do like that, this is a firm 4+ stars.