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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
I liked this book, but the format was so disjointed. It was like reading blog posts. It’s a glimpse of the NYC that’s going away and I really wish it was a bit deeper.
I can't recall how I caught wind of this quirky little memoir but it was a complete hoot. Great read even if you don't know Greenwich Village - funny, bittersweet and a kick ass quick read.
Too rambly, too disconnected, and the formatting on the Kindle is very very weird.
Maybe I just hate memoirs, but I think that I got 90% of the value that some reviewers in my RSS feeds promised in the first ten pages.
Maybe I just hate memoirs, but I think that I got 90% of the value that some reviewers in my RSS feeds promised in the first ten pages.
4.5 This book was a joy to be apart of. I felt like I was apart of it and couldn’t wait to pick it back up.
There is something so heartwarming about this quirky memoir describing the author's unconventional childhood in Greenwich Village. Really more of a story about a place, Shopsin describes the characters who were part of her larger than life family's, owners of an oddball corner grocery turned diner. It's a love letter to a bygone time.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Totally original memoir about life, family and a changing New York. It’s written in a kind of scattershot style that feels very un-precious. That makes its deep moments land even harder. Only knocking it a bit because there were some sections where I nodded off.
Completely concerned with and illustrative of place and time. Immersive in a way I've never been immersed before. L o v e d it.
Pretty near perfect - fun, clever, and whip-smart. It made me want to re-read her wonderful previous book, Mumbai New York Scranton. Brilliant.
Arbitrary Stupid Goal is the memoir of illustrator Tamara Shopsin, daughter of the owner of New York restaurant Shopsin's. I wasn't familiar with her or her family's restaurant and had no idea what the book would be like when I started reading it.
Visually, it's an odd book to read. Many of the pages only have a paragraph or two of text on them, with big stretches of white space at the bottom. There are photographs and illustrations throughout. The book is told in an anecdotal, meandering style that is mostly enjoyable but occasionally frustrating when it wanders too far into an aside that has no guarantee of ever tying back to the narrative surrounding it.
The book does a very good job of giving a snapshot of a New York that doesn't really exist anymore, though it all feels rose-colored, like the author is giving us the best parts of her memories and glossing over the grittier parts of living in Greenwich Village in the 80s. For example, there's a passing reference to the store being robbed frequently when she was little - one time twice in the same day, at gunpoint - but this is presented as if it were a fun, trivial quirk of the era, not something that anyone in her family was fazed by.
There's nothing noteworthy enough here for me to specifically recommend it to anyone, but if you like memoirs, or tales of New York as it once was, this is a pretty solid choice.
Visually, it's an odd book to read. Many of the pages only have a paragraph or two of text on them, with big stretches of white space at the bottom. There are photographs and illustrations throughout. The book is told in an anecdotal, meandering style that is mostly enjoyable but occasionally frustrating when it wanders too far into an aside that has no guarantee of ever tying back to the narrative surrounding it.
The book does a very good job of giving a snapshot of a New York that doesn't really exist anymore, though it all feels rose-colored, like the author is giving us the best parts of her memories and glossing over the grittier parts of living in Greenwich Village in the 80s. For example, there's a passing reference to the store being robbed frequently when she was little - one time twice in the same day, at gunpoint - but this is presented as if it were a fun, trivial quirk of the era, not something that anyone in her family was fazed by.
There's nothing noteworthy enough here for me to specifically recommend it to anyone, but if you like memoirs, or tales of New York as it once was, this is a pretty solid choice.