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muffmacguff's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I really did not enjoy this, except for maybe a small handful of moments. I had previously only read Portnoy's Complaint and Goodbye, Columbus of Roth's and like Portnoy's Complaint this felt so rambly and unfocused, like reading a first draft (which I don't think is the case! I just think he wrote like that? It made more sense in Portnoy's Complaint because the book was meant to feel like a monologue) and it definitely had Portnoy's Complaint's misogyny without even the misogynist dirty jokes of that book. It feels like a quintessential novel of its time, it's literally about a college professor/writer who hates his wife and fucks students. In this case, the book appears to be heavily autobiographical, and the hated wife based on his real-life hated wife. In this book, she dies in a car accident and he spends a few pages celebrating that his marriage is finally over. In real life, the hated wife died in a car accident, after a lengthy and explicit scene in which he beats her up and threatens to murder her (then spends a few pages celebrating).
There was one moment in the book that genuinely cracked me up but who cares? Otherwise I felt like I'd read this before, and better, in The Love Affairs of Nathanial P. Like in that book, this dude cannot fathom why he makes women so unhappy, he's such a good guy; unlike in that book, any animosity the author has for the protagonist of My Life as a Man is self-loathing and its attendant narcissism. This book starts with two different short stories, basically differently-fictionalized versions of the same story, and then it's like these short stories were written by the main character of this book isn't he talented?
I really can't imagine a world where I'd ever recommend this book to another person.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Incest, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Biphobia, Bullying, Violence, Death, Excrement, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual content
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