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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
i loved the essay from metropolitan life “manners: a manual: training for landlords.” still very relevant today. overall lebowitz has such a strong, funny personal voice, but i found some of her essays demeaning and pretentious. some were also quite dated so i tried not to judge too harshly, but lebowitz seems like one of those people who thinks she’s being funny but is actually mean.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
I had no idea who Fran Lebowitz was before watching the Netflix special Pretend It's a City. Fran entered immediately the surprisingly vast cast of the "people I find talented and attractive yet would rather never meet in person" clique.
As a 30-something European who's never been to the USA, let alone New York, much less New York in the 70s and 80s, I feel first that this book wasn't written for me, second that is hasn't really aged well. I found it sporadically sharp and funny nonetheless, not the "ahah" kind of funny, more the "exhaling air through your nose whilst making a sound resembling 'hnff'" funny. In its overall it felt like the same punchlines were thrown around in each and every chapter, there's the "my way of living is clearly the best one", the "homosexual", the "call me crazy but you're crazy", the "let's make up a story based on this little detail" and so on. What I liked the most is her way to say simple things I would say in... simple terms I guess, in a way that is unnecessary long yet compelling. That and the expected yet always out of place deadpan witty joke.
As I said I feel like this hasn't aged well, and the format is clearly not meant to be in a book but in magazines. It's a strange thing to write, but this is a weird book. Another reviewer pointed out that it's the kind of book an established author writes after getting famous, but this apparently is what cemented her fame in the first place. In fact while watching the Netflix episodes I wondered what kind of fiction book she might have written, but it turns out it's really the same stuff: personal observations, opinion and more opinions. Considering the content I'm afraid to say I enjoyed the episodes more than the chapters.
As a 30-something European who's never been to the USA, let alone New York, much less New York in the 70s and 80s, I feel first that this book wasn't written for me, second that is hasn't really aged well. I found it sporadically sharp and funny nonetheless, not the "ahah" kind of funny, more the "exhaling air through your nose whilst making a sound resembling 'hnff'" funny. In its overall it felt like the same punchlines were thrown around in each and every chapter, there's the "my way of living is clearly the best one", the "homosexual", the "call me crazy but you're crazy", the "let's make up a story based on this little detail" and so on. What I liked the most is her way to say simple things I would say in... simple terms I guess, in a way that is unnecessary long yet compelling. That and the expected yet always out of place deadpan witty joke.
As I said I feel like this hasn't aged well, and the format is clearly not meant to be in a book but in magazines. It's a strange thing to write, but this is a weird book. Another reviewer pointed out that it's the kind of book an established author writes after getting famous, but this apparently is what cemented her fame in the first place. In fact while watching the Netflix episodes I wondered what kind of fiction book she might have written, but it turns out it's really the same stuff: personal observations, opinion and more opinions. Considering the content I'm afraid to say I enjoyed the episodes more than the chapters.
Perhaps my expectations were too high. Perhaps I needed to read the whole thing through instead of letting my library loan expire.
Fran is a gifted list writer. At times, it's engaging and entertaining. Then it gets old. Fran seems to think she is superior to all others, the definition of an artist and a New Yorker. And she might be right. But her writing is not for me.
Fran is a gifted list writer. At times, it's engaging and entertaining. Then it gets old. Fran seems to think she is superior to all others, the definition of an artist and a New Yorker. And she might be right. But her writing is not for me.
funny
reflective
medium-paced
funny
lighthearted
reflective
really enjoyed this. there are some very observant and smart pieces in there (and some that didn’t speak too much to me but I still enjoyed). Will definitely reread at some point, or treat myself to the audiobook!
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced