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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
I wanted this book to be something that it wasn't. There were moments that were funny and other moments that really just felt like reading stories that should have stayed in the groupchat.
I don't want these kinds of vacations, but this was fun to read!!
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Funny but oftentimes ignorant and hypocritical. Writing style is fun, so it kept me hooked, but I cringed through some of the racism, fatphobia and misogyny.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism
Minor: Cancer
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
medium-paced
Hard to note this book. First, the writing itself is truly built on some stellar humor. I find myself envious of the author's say with words, and that has to count for something.
HOWEVER, and that is a big one. We do not separate the author from the person, especially when it comes to memoirs, which are all about the person itself. That's where we run into an especially wild amount of just unacceptable things. Yes, this is mostly about the life of a young, uneducated american woman; does not change anything. Here comes, some fine american "braining" :
"She shared with me that she had had more than thirty sexual partners in her twenty years. Since, at twenty-six, my sex number was three, this caused me to see little cartoon STDs float around her head" here, we see some very unacceptable sex shaming, from someone who made a whole book about her sexual adventures. The problem is not that she's herself aventurous in the bedroom; it's the fucking hypocrisy.
"let’s just say Sheryl Sandberg had some points about the likability of successful women. Also, not unrelated: Nell Scovell, the cowriter of _Lean In_, was a successful female sitcom writer.)" reading this right after Careless People, where I learned who Sheryl Sandberg really is, tells it all. Read these books in this order, you'll get it.
"He told me in kilos, so maybe it was forty, or two hundred, I’m not really sure. The metric system is stupid. But a lot." suffice to say that I have nothing more to add. Americans.
And the worse of it all :
"It turned out that the Israelis were fresh out of the military, where one of them had flown F-16S [...]
Anyway, wherever in the world you find these ex-soldiers, they’re always up for a good time." nice, we've got a lover of the psychopathic army over here.
It does not get better later, with more defending of a "two state party" whatever that means in the case of a genocide, or "Israel is the best place on Earth for me", which at this point, makes perfect sense. Though, as we see, it's also the way the author's homeland is built on : " Let me tell you, a couple of people in Hollywood know a couple of people in Israel." No wonder.
"And … commence death threats. " she also wrote, right after saying some particularly incredibly obnovious thought, and which might still be the most educated part of this very, very american (we all know what I mean) book.
Finally, as if all of it was not enough, the greatest part is coming.
"A lovely family of five ran our bed-and-breakfast, and the family’s sixteen-year-old daughter seemed interested in starting a little side business that involved procuring one of my thirty- and fortysomething male friends for her own use. Apparently lots of girls in town had these much older international “boyfriends,” who brought their wallets to visit a few times a year."
I'm seeing a whole lot of blaming poor girls having to sell themselves, whole lot of accepting of riches pedophiles free to use and abuse precarious people they, themselves, are creating through capitalism.
Fantastical. As I said, the writing itself is quite nice. The thoughts of the author, unexisting. Which is a confirmed theory, by the way :
"I think that, generally, most of us have a total of about twenty thoughts." also concluded this part, proving my theory that the majority of americans should just NOT be allowed to speak.
I'm giving it a 1, for that writing style. Still feels generous, seeing as the book itself is the most obnoxious, american way of "living" (aka abusing and exploiting) I've ever had the displeasure of seeing.
HOWEVER, and that is a big one. We do not separate the author from the person, especially when it comes to memoirs, which are all about the person itself. That's where we run into an especially wild amount of just unacceptable things. Yes, this is mostly about the life of a young, uneducated american woman; does not change anything. Here comes, some fine american "braining" :
"She shared with me that she had had more than thirty sexual partners in her twenty years. Since, at twenty-six, my sex number was three, this caused me to see little cartoon STDs float around her head" here, we see some very unacceptable sex shaming, from someone who made a whole book about her sexual adventures. The problem is not that she's herself aventurous in the bedroom; it's the fucking hypocrisy.
"let’s just say Sheryl Sandberg had some points about the likability of successful women. Also, not unrelated: Nell Scovell, the cowriter of _Lean In_, was a successful female sitcom writer.)" reading this right after Careless People, where I learned who Sheryl Sandberg really is, tells it all. Read these books in this order, you'll get it.
"He told me in kilos, so maybe it was forty, or two hundred, I’m not really sure. The metric system is stupid. But a lot." suffice to say that I have nothing more to add. Americans.
And the worse of it all :
"It turned out that the Israelis were fresh out of the military, where one of them had flown F-16S [...]
Anyway, wherever in the world you find these ex-soldiers, they’re always up for a good time." nice, we've got a lover of the psychopathic army over here.
It does not get better later, with more defending of a "two state party" whatever that means in the case of a genocide, or "Israel is the best place on Earth for me", which at this point, makes perfect sense. Though, as we see, it's also the way the author's homeland is built on : " Let me tell you, a couple of people in Hollywood know a couple of people in Israel." No wonder.
"And … commence death threats. " she also wrote, right after saying some particularly incredibly obnovious thought, and which might still be the most educated part of this very, very american (we all know what I mean) book.
Finally, as if all of it was not enough, the greatest part is coming.
"A lovely family of five ran our bed-and-breakfast, and the family’s sixteen-year-old daughter seemed interested in starting a little side business that involved procuring one of my thirty- and fortysomething male friends for her own use. Apparently lots of girls in town had these much older international “boyfriends,” who brought their wallets to visit a few times a year."
I'm seeing a whole lot of blaming poor girls having to sell themselves, whole lot of accepting of riches pedophiles free to use and abuse precarious people they, themselves, are creating through capitalism.
Fantastical. As I said, the writing itself is quite nice. The thoughts of the author, unexisting. Which is a confirmed theory, by the way :
"I think that, generally, most of us have a total of about twenty thoughts." also concluded this part, proving my theory that the majority of americans should just NOT be allowed to speak.
I'm giving it a 1, for that writing style. Still feels generous, seeing as the book itself is the most obnoxious, american way of "living" (aka abusing and exploiting) I've ever had the displeasure of seeing.
Heel leuk en herkenbaar boek voor meiden die van reizen houden!
The beginning of this book felt like it was written for the single, sex crazed, wanderlusting, cliche, POS, college grad I'm about to turn into. Kristin was charming and interesting and I connected to her anxious, winded way of writing. She was trying to get everything in and although it took a couple re-reading of sentences, I enjoyed it. The second half of the book was just sad. It turned into a hybrid study abroad recap meets mommy and me blog. She transformed into an older woman looking for meaningful and mature relationships through broken old habits. Her hilarious pursuit of fun became so pointed and strained that it lost its appeal. Of course she has the happy, coupled up ending. The ending that no single person really wants to fucking read about. I think already married women will love this book all the way through. They'll connect with the transformation in a way that my "forever alone" mentality really can't right now.
Definitely read the chapter on Russia though because that shit is hilarious.
Definitely read the chapter on Russia though because that shit is hilarious.
adventurous
funny
slow-paced