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mehilbert's review
3.0
I appreciate his honesty, but I don't find him sympathetic, which is problematic because going into the book (knowing the premise) he had it...and lost it. He has some nice writing, though in parts he is trying too hard to sound writerly.
brookeworm88's review
5.0
Beautifully written memoir about one man's grief over a tragic accident. Portrays how the loss of one life shapes and directs the course of his own and how the ambiguity of the accident led him to question himself until "half a life" had passed by.
swoody788's review against another edition
3.0
Sad but interesting and thought-provoking. I wish it had been longer.
dilan11's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
3.0
There is a point early on in the book (at Celine's funeral) where Darin's dad says "keep your head up, just keep your head up." That is incredibly poignant and perhaps what Darin finally achieved by the end.
eileen_critchley's review
3.0
Sad memoir and a reminder that an event can happen at any time, which could change the course of our lives and stay with us forever. The writing itself was nothing extraordinary (although it wasn't awful either) but I did find myself reading a few sentences a few time. I have a feeling it's the sort of book which will stay with me for a while. It's just hard to imagine something of this nature happening to you at a young age, and then continuing to haunt you as part of your life.
anngarth8's review
I wouldn't say I necessarily enjoyed this book -- I shouldn't have read it right now, I wasn't in the mood -- but I really appreciated hearing Strauss' experience with shock and memory and the performative nature of grief.
harbo101's review
3.0
While I appreciated the honesty with which Strauss presents his story, it seemed that he missed an opportunity to bring some closure to it.
mfcotter's review
5.0
Anyone who’s experienced any complicated grief will find themselves here. This is an astonishing, vulnerable and aching book, filled with a longing to understand. Only wish it’d been longer.
bonnieelise's review
4.0
Bittersweet book about an author who inadvertantly killed a classmate a few weeks before their high school graduation (not his fault). This is a true story and was written many years after the incident when he could finally tell the story.
dylanperry's review against another edition
4.0
Reread: August 2019
It didn't have the emotional impact of the first reading, however my thoughts and feelings remain mostly unchanged. I honestly wish I had more to say but the review below covers it pretty well. (Go Past Me.) 4/5
Original Review: December 2016
4/5
I love the feeling when books come out of nowhere and surprise you, nestling into your brain like an old friend you never suspected you were missing.
This was a random pick from the Dollar Tree. I didn't mean to buy anything, I just needed to use the restroom, but on my way out I saw this and started leafing through the pages and soon I was through the first few chapters and I knew what would be taking over my free time over the next few days.
Half a Life is Darin Strauss' heart-wrenching tale of hitting a girl with his car when he was a teenager, and what happens after she dies. I won't say much more because I believe this is best to go into blind. But I will say Strauss captures and portrays the feeling of survivor's guilt vividly, and the dry, almost stilted writing style in this helped set the mood well.
My only complaint--and what docks a star--is that the book lost steam for me in the second half. After a certain point I felt he didn't go deep enough into his life. In one of the last chapters he mentions how he edited out stories to help keep the emotional heart of the piece intact, and while I appreciate that, it made the second half feel less substantial than the first. Maybe that's wrong to expect of a memoir, but it was my reaction as a reader.
Still, this book has stayed with me, and will make it on my Best of 2016.
It didn't have the emotional impact of the first reading, however my thoughts and feelings remain mostly unchanged. I honestly wish I had more to say but the review below covers it pretty well. (Go Past Me.) 4/5
Original Review: December 2016
4/5
I love the feeling when books come out of nowhere and surprise you, nestling into your brain like an old friend you never suspected you were missing.
This was a random pick from the Dollar Tree. I didn't mean to buy anything, I just needed to use the restroom, but on my way out I saw this and started leafing through the pages and soon I was through the first few chapters and I knew what would be taking over my free time over the next few days.
Half a Life is Darin Strauss' heart-wrenching tale of hitting a girl with his car when he was a teenager, and what happens after she dies. I won't say much more because I believe this is best to go into blind. But I will say Strauss captures and portrays the feeling of survivor's guilt vividly, and the dry, almost stilted writing style in this helped set the mood well.
My only complaint--and what docks a star--is that the book lost steam for me in the second half. After a certain point I felt he didn't go deep enough into his life. In one of the last chapters he mentions how he edited out stories to help keep the emotional heart of the piece intact, and while I appreciate that, it made the second half feel less substantial than the first. Maybe that's wrong to expect of a memoir, but it was my reaction as a reader.
Still, this book has stayed with me, and will make it on my Best of 2016.