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matt_hedgpeth's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
mars_loves_books's review against another edition
slow-paced
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
angela_doolin's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
annexelizabeth's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
i'm torn between finding lauren oyler's voice wry and engaging and unbearably smug. she can definitely write an entertaining essay, and there are times when her contrarianism is compelling, but the way she pretty much like. backs away from any sincere or earnest thought she might have is pretty frustrating. she seems much more comfortable tearing into other people's opinions than developing any sharp, unique opinions of her own.
however, despite my reservations, i did find this essay collection to be an enjoyable read. her more Online essays are brisk, funny reads if not exactly enlightening in their observations on internet culture in the 21st century. my favorite essays here were definitely the berlin essay (i will choose to ignore that line that's like "it's striking because, well, lights" out of the kindness of my heart. it was good other than that) and the anxiety essay, probably because they were not so drenched in terminal onlineness.
overall, i did like this essay collection, though it's certainly not perfect. will probably pick up more of oyler's work in the future
however, despite my reservations, i did find this essay collection to be an enjoyable read. her more Online essays are brisk, funny reads if not exactly enlightening in their observations on internet culture in the 21st century. my favorite essays here were definitely the berlin essay (i will choose to ignore that line that's like "it's striking because, well, lights" out of the kindness of my heart. it was good other than that) and the anxiety essay, probably because they were not so drenched in terminal onlineness.
overall, i did like this essay collection, though it's certainly not perfect. will probably pick up more of oyler's work in the future
gorgeousgirlslovebooks's review against another edition
Nothing very profound, somewhat pedantic, and very much a book about Lauren Oyler which is hard to be engaged in if you don’t know who Lauren Oyler is.
kaitlynisliterate's review against another edition
4.0
Some of the essays are good, some are tedious. Did finding out that she sourced large portions of the historical background from Wikipedia ruin it? A little.
Some of the best one-liners to be found though.
Some of the best one-liners to be found though.
rachelnevada's review against another edition
No Judgments is an essay collection from sharp literary critic Lauren Oyler, who is apparently online and has written some very popular critical reviews. I had not encountered Oyler before reading this book (other than glancing at Fake Accounts in a used bookstore near me), but read many of her online reviews throughout the course of reading (and attempting to understand) this book, including her thoughts on Trick Mirror and Sally Rooney.
The collection is comprised of six very long essays on gossip, Goodreads, Berlin, autofiction, vulnerability, and anxiety. StoryGraph seems to imply that an alternative title for this collection was My Perfect Opinions and while I can't seem to find anything to corroborate this it does feel apt. In the introduction, Oyler describes the origins of at least two of her essays as "a growing agitation about what I perceived to be misunderstandings and fallacies spreading in cultural criticism and commentary, and a resulting feeling that I must say something to attempt to intervene." All this to say that Oyler has very strong opinions about these somewhat trivial things (her concession, not mine) band we are all along for a long meandering ride to maybe glean the entirety of her thoughts.
Oyler makes it clear in her essays that she sees merit in ambiguities; it is why she seems to enjoy both gossip and autofiction as forms. The same is true for close reading, something that clearly underpins her literary criticism and the way she reads. However, while the ambiguities and the close reading may make for excellent autofiction and literary criticism (respectively), they play out less well in essay form. Each essay is long and meandering and while I found myself highlighting useful bits and pieces, I also found myself writing "why??" over and over again in the (digital) margins of my book. (If interviews with Oyler are any indication, I'm guessing her response would be Who Cares?, another (confirmed) alternative title for her book).
If these essays are meant to be persuade the audience to her opinion (rather than merely to share it in a vaguely entertaining way), they seem to fall short. For example, while her essay on Goodreads touches on the problems of Goodreads being tied to a commercial market completely elides the existence of other book social media platforms. I would be curious what Oyler thinks of the more affect based StoryGraph and it's omission feels particularly stark. I have so! many! thoughts! on the anxiety article (which what take far too much time to articulate in a StoryGraph comment). In short, I am often left unconvinced.
I told a friend of mine that I thought she would find these essays interesting, but maybe not worth her time and that honestly sums up my writing experience. Was I intrigued? Yes. Did I learn something? Maybe. Was my worldview challenged? Not really, which is deeply disappointing.
A good collection for folks who live for literary criticism (and maybe Berlin), otherwise I'd recommend doing something else with your time.
The collection is comprised of six very long essays on gossip, Goodreads, Berlin, autofiction, vulnerability, and anxiety. StoryGraph seems to imply that an alternative title for this collection was My Perfect Opinions and while I can't seem to find anything to corroborate this it does feel apt. In the introduction, Oyler describes the origins of at least two of her essays as "a growing agitation about what I perceived to be misunderstandings and fallacies spreading in cultural criticism and commentary, and a resulting feeling that I must say something to attempt to intervene." All this to say that Oyler has very strong opinions about these somewhat trivial things (her concession, not mine) band we are all along for a long meandering ride to maybe glean the entirety of her thoughts.
Oyler makes it clear in her essays that she sees merit in ambiguities; it is why she seems to enjoy both gossip and autofiction as forms. The same is true for close reading, something that clearly underpins her literary criticism and the way she reads. However, while the ambiguities and the close reading may make for excellent autofiction and literary criticism (respectively), they play out less well in essay form. Each essay is long and meandering and while I found myself highlighting useful bits and pieces, I also found myself writing "why??" over and over again in the (digital) margins of my book. (If interviews with Oyler are any indication, I'm guessing her response would be Who Cares?, another (confirmed) alternative title for her book).
If these essays are meant to be persuade the audience to her opinion (rather than merely to share it in a vaguely entertaining way), they seem to fall short. For example, while her essay on Goodreads touches on the problems of Goodreads being tied to a commercial market completely elides the existence of other book social media platforms. I would be curious what Oyler thinks of the more affect based StoryGraph and it's omission feels particularly stark. I have so! many! thoughts! on the anxiety article (which what take far too much time to articulate in a StoryGraph comment). In short, I am often left unconvinced.
I told a friend of mine that I thought she would find these essays interesting, but maybe not worth her time and that honestly sums up my writing experience. Was I intrigued? Yes. Did I learn something? Maybe. Was my worldview challenged? Not really, which is deeply disappointing.
A good collection for folks who live for literary criticism (and maybe Berlin), otherwise I'd recommend doing something else with your time.