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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced
I realized this audiobook was causing me to suffer from a painful boredom when I turned it off and drove to work in complete silence and decided that the wiz of passing cars was more pleasing to the ear than listening to this book.
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
First, big thanks to Libro.fm and Harper Audio for the audio review copy of this book! I’d been looking forward to it for a while, because I’m a big fan of Jami Attenberg’s substack newsletter, “Craft Talk,” and her annual 1000 Words of Summer write-a-thon.
I Came All This Way to Meet You is one of my favorite kinds of memoirs: about an ordinary life, made meaningful in the details. There’s no denying that Attenberg is a great writer of words, and it shows here. The book is honest, funny, heartfelt, sincere, and very generous.
I will say that the narration style of the audiobook wasn’t my favorite. (She did not read it herself, FYI.) Some people may prefer it; I think it was meant to be a more expressive style. But for me, I think the intonation distracted a bit from what were, underneath, really resonant and hard-hitting sentences. I may decide to reread a print copy in the future. But the book itself is excellent enough that I really enjoyed it anyway.
Thank you, Jami, for sharing this gift with us.
First, big thanks to Libro.fm and Harper Audio for the audio review copy of this book! I’d been looking forward to it for a while, because I’m a big fan of Jami Attenberg’s substack newsletter, “Craft Talk,” and her annual 1000 Words of Summer write-a-thon.
I Came All This Way to Meet You is one of my favorite kinds of memoirs: about an ordinary life, made meaningful in the details. There’s no denying that Attenberg is a great writer of words, and it shows here. The book is honest, funny, heartfelt, sincere, and very generous.
I will say that the narration style of the audiobook wasn’t my favorite. (She did not read it herself, FYI.) Some people may prefer it; I think it was meant to be a more expressive style. But for me, I think the intonation distracted a bit from what were, underneath, really resonant and hard-hitting sentences. I may decide to reread a print copy in the future. But the book itself is excellent enough that I really enjoyed it anyway.
Thank you, Jami, for sharing this gift with us.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Suicide attempt
I have read many of the individual essays that make up this memoir about becoming a writer and finding a metaphorical home in books, friends, and places; seeing them all together in one book (and assuming they were transformed from single pieces to a cohesive narrative) was gratifying and emotional. I especially liked the last few chapters and the feelings of reconciliation and self-recognition in them. This is definitely an inward-looking examination of Attenberg's experiences writing novels and feeling untethered, so if that's something that bothers you about memoir in general, know that going in. But for me, I am all for the inward gaze especially if it all comes together in the end.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I didn’t expect that this book would speak to me on a personal level. I’ve shed a few tears because in some parts, I could totally relate to the author.