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badrabbits's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
An analysis of Black Sabbath and their album Master of Reality from the perspective of a fictional teenager locked up in a mental institution, without access to his music. A must read to those who have music as an essencial part of their lives, and who wish other people would understand when they try to communicate through song recs
corncobwebs's review
5.0
Amazing! I love this series, and also wish that John Darnielle would write more books. The way he wrote about Master of Reality totally made me want to listen to it, and I have it out from the library right now.
codalion's review
5.0
I opened up my eyes, and I wondered whether my younger self was actually somebody who's still inside me at all--maybe the person who wakes up sometimes isn't really like the younger person at all. Maybe that younger person died when he became this older person, and now when I think I'm feeling his emotions and sharing his rage, I'm really just mourning his death. If that's true, I don't know how I can stand it. I'm 26, but I'm not ready for my 16-year-old self to be dead.
I think hardly anybody in those places really knew what was going on out on the unit. The nurses stayed in the office or ran groups, and you guys had your sessions, but we lived in our rooms and in the classes and the hallways. So, it might surprise you when I tell you that the main thing we all thought and talked about, amongst ourselves when you weren't listening, was death. Everybody talked about death all the time. It didn't scare us. We knew you were all terrified that something was going to happen to us and you'd have to pay for it, and that gave us power. If one kid with enough charisma had floated the idea past us, I'm sure we would have all killed ourselves on the same day just to spite you all.
John Darnielle's work is like a thready signal from another planet somewhere out there in the galaxy, letting me know there's life in the universe. I feel this way about Wolf in White Van and also a lot of his musical work. But Master of Reality might be my favorite now--I guess apart from "Cry For Judas"--because it is a grand, holy gesture of compassion for oneself and for every other fuckup, a beacon for every miserable lonely alienated piece of shit in the world, and a middle finger to a social world of relentless performativity and irony. But that's not really what it is, that last thing, because expressing anger--being okay with anger--is not the same as focusing on hating somebody else. That makes it about them, right? And this kind of thing isn't about them, it's about us.
Also, it is wonderful music criticism! Master of Reality is also an unapologetic demonstration of earnest investment in music, in talking about music and the way words and sound interact, the way listeners construct their own images and stories, the very strange synaesthetic experience of loving art.
People always talk about good time rock and roll, Chuck Berry or whatever, like this liberating force for feeling good. But what I need in my life is to be liberated into feeling bad. Not sad. I have plenty of sad. What I need is a place where I can spray anger in sparks like a gnarled piece of electrical cable. Just be mad at stuff and soak in the helplessness.
Black Sabbath was never my Black Sabbath when I was a teenager--that was Metallica, probably, and many other things; some haunted acoustic folk and some hard rock; though I've always felt burnt by the acid disregard of those who think, or seem to think, that suffering is acceptable packaged elegantly but not loudly, noisily, coarsely. That's something I've always appreciated about good old JD. He doesn't just talk to the kinds of people who self-select to listen to, well, JD.
Anyway, I'm glad I've embarked upon looking into 33 1/3 and I have a little trepidation about how the writers who are actually addressing my favorite albums will measure up! I also have an ambition of writing one of these about Different Class someday.
But, more than anything, I feel a little better.
There will be feasting and dancing in Jerusalem next year. Thank you, John Darnielle.
jamieclark's review
4.0
This was really well done. I’m a fan of The Mountain Goats, so I’m probably a little biased, but I really liked this. For his first book, it’s astonishingly good. I knew he could write, from his lyrics, but I was still blown away by this. The text explores the experiences of our Black Sabbath-loving protagonist in a psychiatric facility. Darnielle’s exploration of the feelings of alienation that those who suffer from mental illness feel is compelling.
I especially enjoyed the pieces towards the end. I think that Darnielle’s ruminations on the mundane nature of everyday life combined with his introduction of a perspective counter to the traditional narrative of “it was all worth it” w.r.t. treatment and mental health is especially potent.
4.
I especially enjoyed the pieces towards the end. I think that Darnielle’s ruminations on the mundane nature of everyday life combined with his introduction of a perspective counter to the traditional narrative of “it was all worth it” w.r.t. treatment and mental health is especially potent.
4.
verkisto's review
4.0
Well, this is an odd book. If you're not familiar with 33⅓, it's a series of books written by music critics about albums in the same way that literary critics write about literature. I've known of it for a while, and I've even known that John Darnielle wrote this one, but I didn't think anything of it because I figured I wasn't interested in reading what some dude thought about Black Sabbath, even if he wrote Wolf in White Van. What I didn't realize is this isn't a nonfictional piece.
Darnielle writes his appreciation of this album through the voice of Roger Painter, a sixteen-year-old who has been sent to a psychiatric hospital for being a teenager. It's not clear what happened to send him there, but what's important to him at that time of his life is Black Sabbath, specifically their album Master of Reality. In a journal that he's expected to keep as part of his therapy, he talks about its importance, and how he really needs to hear it, even though his tapes and Walkman have been confiscated.
The story is told in two parts, first from Roger's perspective at sixteen, though his journal, and the second also from Roger's perspective, ten years later. Darnielle does a convincing job of showing how the record has had an effect on him, namely because he's considered a misfit, and Black Sabbath is made up of misfits. He writes about them being successful despite their backgrounds, not due to it, and Roger, sent to a psychiatric hospital and later doing what he can to get by, can relate to that. He talks about the emotion of the album, despite the ridiculous subject matter, and how the music itself is what speaks to him. It's a familiar refrain for anyone who is really into music, and it's easy to relate to Roger through that passion.
In some ways, the discussion of the album interferes with the story (and folks reading this for Darnielle's appreciation could legitimately argue that the story gets in the way of the appreciation), but the story can't exist without that appreciation. It's Roger's therapy to write what he feels, and what he feels is tied in with Master of Reality. The author writes a convincing character in Roger, and it's easy to sympathize with him, as, for at least part of the story, he's helpless to prevent what's happening to him.
Folks who found a good story in Wolf in White Van owe it to themselves to read this book. I believe that readers who already are familiar with the album will get the most out of it, but anyone who has ever grown up with an album that helped define them will recognize the importance that Darnielle puts on music in this book. I think it could be easily overlooked due to it being fiction in a series of nonfiction books, which is a shame. The style he used to great success in Wolf in White Van is evident here.
Darnielle writes his appreciation of this album through the voice of Roger Painter, a sixteen-year-old who has been sent to a psychiatric hospital for being a teenager. It's not clear what happened to send him there, but what's important to him at that time of his life is Black Sabbath, specifically their album Master of Reality. In a journal that he's expected to keep as part of his therapy, he talks about its importance, and how he really needs to hear it, even though his tapes and Walkman have been confiscated.
The story is told in two parts, first from Roger's perspective at sixteen, though his journal, and the second also from Roger's perspective, ten years later. Darnielle does a convincing job of showing how the record has had an effect on him, namely because he's considered a misfit, and Black Sabbath is made up of misfits. He writes about them being successful despite their backgrounds, not due to it, and Roger, sent to a psychiatric hospital and later doing what he can to get by, can relate to that. He talks about the emotion of the album, despite the ridiculous subject matter, and how the music itself is what speaks to him. It's a familiar refrain for anyone who is really into music, and it's easy to relate to Roger through that passion.
In some ways, the discussion of the album interferes with the story (and folks reading this for Darnielle's appreciation could legitimately argue that the story gets in the way of the appreciation), but the story can't exist without that appreciation. It's Roger's therapy to write what he feels, and what he feels is tied in with Master of Reality. The author writes a convincing character in Roger, and it's easy to sympathize with him, as, for at least part of the story, he's helpless to prevent what's happening to him.
Folks who found a good story in Wolf in White Van owe it to themselves to read this book. I believe that readers who already are familiar with the album will get the most out of it, but anyone who has ever grown up with an album that helped define them will recognize the importance that Darnielle puts on music in this book. I think it could be easily overlooked due to it being fiction in a series of nonfiction books, which is a shame. The style he used to great success in Wolf in White Van is evident here.
sleaterkenneth's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A bit of a novelty in the 33 1/3 series as a fictional edition. I like John Darnielle's writing enough that I am excited to pick up Devil House but I was more connected to the adult perspective in the second half, I almost wish they were flipped since reading the thoughts of an angry teenager does get very repetitive.
jessrezac's review
3.0
I found this enjoyable and a quick read but I think that the 33 1/3 series sometimes emphasizes novelty over quality. This, I've heard, is one of their better submissions, and I'm sure I'll read more but I think it really just appeals to people who love John Darnielle's music or possibly the Black Sabbath Master of Reality album... I suppose that is the target demographic though.
sushai's review
3.0
Found the series by accident as I was looking for an introduction to this author. Each book in the series is a take on a favorite album (may be seen as extended liner notes) by a famous author. Though I'm not a huge Ozzy fan, I did enjoy reading about him through the eyes of a teenage boy.