Reviews

All That Man Is by David Szalay

myles79's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

tomstbr's review against another edition

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5.0

Goddamn masterful.

iains33's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

canjackread's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

While this book was incredibly written, I found myself searching for reasons to care about many of the characters. Selfish, sex obsessed, disloyal men repeatedly disappointed me while reading. I feel that this book paints a portrait of masculinity that is pessimistic and wasteful. I would have liked to see some positive models of masculinity at least sprinkled through out. Despite this, I was taken aback with how easy to read and vividly illustrative this book was. Every character was written with such depth of feeling which made me feel like I was every age from 17 to 73. Great writing, awful characters. But I guess that’s the point. 

spacebee's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

spearingsam's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

krobart's review against another edition

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3.0

See my review here:

https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2019/02/19/review-1318-all-that-man-is/

gzs_h's review

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reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

lspargo's review against another edition

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4.0

This is a set of nine unrelated stories about men at progressing ages and stages in their lives. Very well written, and I immediately felt invested in each new story.

chrisb0905's review against another edition

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4.0

Beautiful, beautiful writing, but such a bleak image of manhood that it was a bit hard to connect with. So much aloneness and very little consideration of family relationships.