Scan barcode
nickdleblanc's review
3.0
I’d read “You We’re Never Really Here,” I’d seen Bored to Death, and I’d heard a few interviews with Jonathan Ames before so I had a good idea about the scope and skill of his writing, but this collection, his first, really drives that point home. It’s a collection of micro-stories and reminiscences from a neurotic, queer, and most likely bipolar narrator. More of a character study than a proper novel with a plot, the only real beats of the story being sordid tales of sexual dalliances and complicated family memories. I like his style, his dialogue is great, the writing is frank, and he wastes no time getting to the meat of a situation. Besides a bad habit of ending each piece with stinger sentences—which is endearing at first but becomes grating once you notice it, I have nothing but good things to say about the prose. I think this collection was about exploring the inner life of someone clearly suffering from bipolar disorder and a sex addiction. The narrator, Alexander, overthinks and lets irrational worries cloud his mind, like his eyelids getting burnt from squinting on a sunny day. Then, he’ll spend a day compulsively masturbating, getting out of bed at night, buying himself an onion roll at a deli and talking with bums in the street until the next morning. In one section he hates his old alcoholic grandfather and prays for his death while he sits at the side of his hospital bed, and in another he beams and tells people proudly that he is wearing his grandfather’s old hat. Some of the stories read like thinly veiled nonfiction, and it feels a little icky at times, but his writing is so charming and funny you quickly forgive it. It’s sort of like a light beer version of early William Burroughs novels, but in a good way. A good quick and dirty read. I’ll check our more of his stuff, enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. -
-
tl;dr—Confessional fiction about a troubled guy, written in such a way to make it relatable. You’ll find bits of your own thinking throughout the book—especially the type of private thinking you do when no one else is around, they type of stuff you generally don’t share with anyone. Good stuff.
-
tl;dr—Confessional fiction about a troubled guy, written in such a way to make it relatable. You’ll find bits of your own thinking throughout the book—especially the type of private thinking you do when no one else is around, they type of stuff you generally don’t share with anyone. Good stuff.
jassmiim's review against another edition
2.0
I found this on a train, and I kinda regret taking it home with me, because this book is filled with disgusting details about a men's sex life, and I honestly didn't wanna know all of that. The writing style is a little bit bland and the whole book is just depressing.
djrmelvin's review against another edition
3.0
The main character of this book is self hating, self destructive, and has massive mommy issues. And that is pretty much all the book is about. This is a character study told in what would be a journal style if the chapters/entries were dated and we follow Alexander Vine through a series of interactions with girlfriends, friends that would be boyfriends, hookers, pickups, and the one group of people he seems to be at peace with - homeless beggers. There is an arc to the story, a very gentle one, but we're not given the ending. Despite the darkness, the lack of character development (Alexander is what he is, even if he can't admit it to himself), there's something very readable about a character who is so easy to see through. We don't have to discover what makes this man tick, instead, we follow along to see if he'll ever figure it out.
More...