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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
I'm a fan of Acaster. Love his brand of comedy, his wit, and his quirkiness. And boy, does he bring that all to this book. It's pretty funny if you enjoy his comedy. But I did get pretty weary about halfway through. It just got quirkier and quirkier. A little too long for this brand of comedy, in my opinion.
funny
fast-paced
Definitely worth listening to the audiobook as it's more like a stand-up set. The whole thing was a little long-winded but I still enjoyed it.
It hurts me to give anything from James Acaster 2 stars but this was the first of his material - be it stand-up, podcasts or books - that I did not enjoy and struggled to finish.
Part of this is on me, I expected it to be more like Perfect Sound Whatever and learn a bit more about his genuine perspective on quitting social media.
But the other part is me wondering, why this wasn't a stand-up special, since it is one long surreal bit about a fictitious James Acaster's shenanigans. For me, it felt too drawn out in a 260+ pages book. I read the first third of the book super quickly because that is exactly the kind of humour I enjoy from him, but it kept going too long for my personal preference.
Really sad that this is the first of his material I wouldn't recommend unreservedly.
Part of this is on me, I expected it to be more like Perfect Sound Whatever and learn a bit more about his genuine perspective on quitting social media.
But the other part is me wondering, why this wasn't a stand-up special, since it is one long surreal bit about a fictitious James Acaster's shenanigans. For me, it felt too drawn out in a 260+ pages book. I read the first third of the book super quickly because that is exactly the kind of humour I enjoy from him, but it kept going too long for my personal preference.
Spoiler
I was still hoping for a big plot twist at the end of the book, like a lot of his stand-up routines end up circling back to, but for me, that wait was in vain.Really sad that this is the first of his material I wouldn't recommend unreservedly.
Weird and not in a good way. Glad it was a free Spotify audiobook cos I can’t imagine actually reading this without James’s delivery.
For some reason, I thought this book would be a comedic take on giving up social media... and it was, but in a extreme way. Acaster takes us on a flight of fancy which serves, in part, as an extreme satire on the way people behave online.
A fun read for fans of James Acaster. I was a little confused when I started reading as I had been expecting a self help book - but it’s actually comedic fiction masquerading as self help. After a couple chapters I watched an interview where Acaster explained that when he quit social media a couple years ago, interviewers kept asking him tons of questions about it like it was the most groundbreaking thing ever, but it made for morally boring interviews because all he really had to say about it was that he quit for his mental health and life continues. So, to make things more interesting, he started responding to these questions by making up ways he replaced social media IRL. This turned into the book.
Even though it was meant as a joke, it made me finally take the plunge and delete several of my social media profiles. Something about having the absurdity of it all reflected just made me go yeah, I’m done. I recognize the irony that I’m posting this on a social media site, but this is one I chose to keep since it’s not one I get sucked into and it has a lot of utility for me.
I went the audiobook route, which I do think affected my rating of the book. It’s comedy, so it really benefits from Acaster’s delivery. I’m not sure I would have been as engaged with a print version.
Even though it was meant as a joke, it made me finally take the plunge and delete several of my social media profiles. Something about having the absurdity of it all reflected just made me go yeah, I’m done. I recognize the irony that I’m posting this on a social media site, but this is one I chose to keep since it’s not one I get sucked into and it has a lot of utility for me.
I went the audiobook route, which I do think affected my rating of the book. It’s comedy, so it really benefits from Acaster’s delivery. I’m not sure I would have been as engaged with a print version.
