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somanybookstoread's review
3.0
Joseph was clearly influenced by David Sedaris, but almost too much to make her work lack original flair. I loved the humor and her writing style was strong. I didn't want to put this book down because I loved the personality there, I just thought it was Sedaris's!
romyschnaiberg's review
4.0
Took me a while to see where this book was going, but I really enjoyed the ride. Like able and mature, honest story
loridk's review
4.0
I don't know about "astonishing" but this book was very funny. Very real, great writer.
trike's review
1.0
You know how they say, "Everyone has a story to tell?" It's not true. This book proves that.
This memoir -- which, despite being labeled as an "astonishing true story" -- feels like it's half bullshit. It's certainly not astonishing in any wise. It's basically the plot of any sad reality TV series you can name.
It's an attempt at portraying the seedy underclass of America, trying to do Dickens or Frank McCourt, but without their command of the language.
“Karl Bennett can’t hold his liquor. Scotch makes him mean. He faints at the sight of his own blood. He’s never surfed the Internet and he doesn’t own a dictionary.”
Joseph doesn't either, apparently. Her writing frequently sounds like Howard Cossell, slinging incorrect words around. During one passage she writes "snookered" when she means "schnockered". It's annoying, almost as annoying as her tumble-down life.
I'm not burdened the way some people are by a desire to like the people I'm reading about, but Jesus this is a sorry collection of individuals. The only person I was halfway empathetic toward was Al of the murdered son, but she eventually paints him as another loser when they visit his aging parents.
“Going home means regressing to the boy whose job is to take out the trash or the girl who sets the table. No matter how old you are, home is the place where the grown-ups still get to decide what’s on TV and when it’s lights-out. If they let you borrow the car, they want to know where are you going, when will you be back. Going home means going back in time. It’s not a trip you care to take alone, and anyway, isn’t that the main reason to take a mate? So you have an ally in the civil war against your parents?”
I feel sorry for people who think this way. Adults who have never grown up, who have never renegotiated their relationship with their parents, the way you're supposed to.
But aside from that, this book is simply annoying. You might as well watch the latest episode of Honey Boo Boo for all the insight into life you'll find.
This memoir -- which, despite being labeled as an "astonishing true story" -- feels like it's half bullshit. It's certainly not astonishing in any wise. It's basically the plot of any sad reality TV series you can name.
It's an attempt at portraying the seedy underclass of America, trying to do Dickens or Frank McCourt, but without their command of the language.
“Karl Bennett can’t hold his liquor. Scotch makes him mean. He faints at the sight of his own blood. He’s never surfed the Internet and he doesn’t own a dictionary.”
Joseph doesn't either, apparently. Her writing frequently sounds like Howard Cossell, slinging incorrect words around. During one passage she writes "snookered" when she means "schnockered". It's annoying, almost as annoying as her tumble-down life.
I'm not burdened the way some people are by a desire to like the people I'm reading about, but Jesus this is a sorry collection of individuals. The only person I was halfway empathetic toward was Al of the murdered son, but she eventually paints him as another loser when they visit his aging parents.
“Going home means regressing to the boy whose job is to take out the trash or the girl who sets the table. No matter how old you are, home is the place where the grown-ups still get to decide what’s on TV and when it’s lights-out. If they let you borrow the car, they want to know where are you going, when will you be back. Going home means going back in time. It’s not a trip you care to take alone, and anyway, isn’t that the main reason to take a mate? So you have an ally in the civil war against your parents?”
I feel sorry for people who think this way. Adults who have never grown up, who have never renegotiated their relationship with their parents, the way you're supposed to.
But aside from that, this book is simply annoying. You might as well watch the latest episode of Honey Boo Boo for all the insight into life you'll find.
tsunanisaurus's review
3.0
Labeled an "Astonishing but true" story is a misnomer. Nothing about this book is astonishing sans its mediocrity.
an_enthusiastic_reader's review
5.0
Diana Joseph's funny, sweet, and sometimes cynical essays inhabit this collection about the significant men in her life. Joseph's stories add up to a wonderful recounting of love (and its necessary and complicated twin, pain.) Some of the reviews here complain that "nothing happens." But there is an arc that rides from the first essay to the last, and "what happens" is an awakening that comes from the author and channels right into the perceptive reader. Does every memoir have to have some extraordinary (and possible contrived) event that shapes the work? Or can a series of stories about fierce and messy love shed a recognizable light?
sjurban's review
4.0
This was enjoyable. If I were a college professor, I don't think I would want my students knowing these details of my life though.
odearrr's review
2.0
To be honest I have already forgotten what this book was about and I just finished it last week.