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discoveringpeace's review against another edition
2.0
Holy cow. The entire time I slogged painfully through this book, I imagined myself as a therapist, listening to the most self-absorbed, overanalyzing, dreary, grating rich kid one can possibly imagine. No depth or personality whatsoever. After each session, I felt a visceral need to slam my head repeatedly against a wall just to remind myself that I'm still alive. Oy! I never did figure out where the family romance came in. There was nothing romantic or even particularly loving about any of it. Just another dysfunctional family with a son who takes everything personally when so little had anything at all to do with him.
jaclynday's review against another edition
3.0
Marco Roth, co-founder and editor of n+1 magazine, begins this memoir discussing his father’s slow decline from AIDS. It’s not a long book, but it is sharp and poignant. There is something really irresistible to me about memoirs that discuss how relationships and feelings toward parents change and grow. Describing the moments when a child realizes that parents are not impermeable, perfect beings can make for a really wonderful book—if done properly. This is a good one.
kaitlinmcnabb's review against another edition
1.0
Ugh. Why do I keep deciding to read books written in the voice of 30 year old entitled white dudes?
anarag's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. The first few chapters were intriguing and heartbreaking--the perspective of an adolescent whose father is dying of AIDS and carrying the burden of that dreadful family secret. But then he goes on...When friends told him he reminds them of Woody Allen, I don't think they meant his looks. I think they meant his neurotic tendencies. In grad school, he intended to write a book that would explore his father's psychology through books. He never completed the project but devotes several chapters to those themes which, frankly, I skimmed. The essence of this book would have made a very solid magazine article.
catherinefisher55's review against another edition
4.0
"I began to wonder whether the seminar papers we wrote and the monographs we cited revealed actual truths about earlier periods and writers or were merely accounts of those periods and writers reflected through the complex prisms of self-censorship and position jockeying of the contemporary academy where we found ourselves."
bluepigeon's review
5.0
I got a copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads. Thanks!
The first thing I should say about Roth's memoir is that it is very well written. Roth is an expert in his language, and uses his words in ways that flow as well as twist. To this, I should add that if you are not familiar with literary criticism, or "theory," or philosophy, and it irritates you that a writer uses references to the likes of Benjamin, Mallarme, and to other books, like the Red and the Black and Oblomov, then I suspect that you may not enjoy this memoir as much as others who are familiar with this turf. If you are not at all familiar with academia and the humanities, you may miss out on some satisfactory laughs.
I found Roth's voice, and Roth as the teenager, and then the lost 20-something-year-old man, to be perfectly likable. Even his mother, his father, and his aunt, as well as his various friends, seemed to be well flawed, yet likable characters. Sure, Roth does go through the expected teenage rebellion in his own way that perfectly suits his family, and sure he is privileged, and he knows it, and he is, luckily, half troubled and half thankful for it, and sure he is angry at his father and his mother and his aunt at different points in his life, but none of this makes him unlikable. It all just makes him and those surrounding him more human.
Anyone who is familiar with the academic humanities circles, especially in the Ivy Leagues, will find a lot of familiar scenes in this memoir. Roth's depiction of social events, as well as classes and discussions are very accurate. Even to the point of ridiculously familiar, like when the department head orders too many bottled of wine and the grad students take some home after the department party. Wow, takes me back! There is plenty for those familiar with the academia on the science end of things to nod knowingly, too (though we'd always have some hard liquor, because despite common opinion, us scientists always party more/harder and jollier than those humanities people!)
All prospective graduate students, graduate students, and postdocs should read page 141-142. When I read the lecture the person who is trying to unionize grad students gives them, I could not believe how Roth's account was almost EXACTLY the same as the conversations I have had with academics in the past. And yes, my graduate student friends all believed that they would be the 1 out of 5 who would become that hot shot professor at a good university; and no, none of them managed to achieve their lofty, irrational goal. There are some sad truths in Roth's account of the state of academia and research that apply to the humanities and the sciences alike, and I am afraid this is nothing new to those of us who have lived in academia, though it may be an eye opener for those who are not in those circles.
Overall, Roth's memoir is a painfully personal, cathartic, and introspective account of a family's past, and a light, stronger than expected, illuminating its present and future.
Recommended for those who like Fun Home, Fairyland, those who love or hate academia, the humanities, literary criticism, and philosophy, and New York City. Oh, and how can I forget; recommended for those who like reverse transcription, hematology, immunology, and malaria research.
The first thing I should say about Roth's memoir is that it is very well written. Roth is an expert in his language, and uses his words in ways that flow as well as twist. To this, I should add that if you are not familiar with literary criticism, or "theory," or philosophy, and it irritates you that a writer uses references to the likes of Benjamin, Mallarme, and to other books, like the Red and the Black and Oblomov, then I suspect that you may not enjoy this memoir as much as others who are familiar with this turf. If you are not at all familiar with academia and the humanities, you may miss out on some satisfactory laughs.
I found Roth's voice, and Roth as the teenager, and then the lost 20-something-year-old man, to be perfectly likable. Even his mother, his father, and his aunt, as well as his various friends, seemed to be well flawed, yet likable characters. Sure, Roth does go through the expected teenage rebellion in his own way that perfectly suits his family, and sure he is privileged, and he knows it, and he is, luckily, half troubled and half thankful for it, and sure he is angry at his father and his mother and his aunt at different points in his life, but none of this makes him unlikable. It all just makes him and those surrounding him more human.
Anyone who is familiar with the academic humanities circles, especially in the Ivy Leagues, will find a lot of familiar scenes in this memoir. Roth's depiction of social events, as well as classes and discussions are very accurate. Even to the point of ridiculously familiar, like when the department head orders too many bottled of wine and the grad students take some home after the department party. Wow, takes me back! There is plenty for those familiar with the academia on the science end of things to nod knowingly, too (though we'd always have some hard liquor, because despite common opinion, us scientists always party more/harder and jollier than those humanities people!)
All prospective graduate students, graduate students, and postdocs should read page 141-142. When I read the lecture the person who is trying to unionize grad students gives them, I could not believe how Roth's account was almost EXACTLY the same as the conversations I have had with academics in the past. And yes, my graduate student friends all believed that they would be the 1 out of 5 who would become that hot shot professor at a good university; and no, none of them managed to achieve their lofty, irrational goal. There are some sad truths in Roth's account of the state of academia and research that apply to the humanities and the sciences alike, and I am afraid this is nothing new to those of us who have lived in academia, though it may be an eye opener for those who are not in those circles.
Overall, Roth's memoir is a painfully personal, cathartic, and introspective account of a family's past, and a light, stronger than expected, illuminating its present and future.
Recommended for those who like Fun Home, Fairyland, those who love or hate academia, the humanities, literary criticism, and philosophy, and New York City. Oh, and how can I forget; recommended for those who like reverse transcription, hematology, immunology, and malaria research.
alanfederman's review
3.0
This is a memoir of growing up in the privileged world of the Upper West Side, intellectual parents, posh private schools and ivy league universities. It's also the story of uncovering family secrets. Very early in the book the writer, while in high school, learns his father has AIDS and this being in the 1980s you know very soon his death will be slow and painful.
I thought the writing was amazing - the writer really let you into his head without becoming sappy or self-pitying. He also didn't sensationalize a topic or gossip about what may or may not have been the cause. He examines his father's life through the books he recommended and that gives some great insight into the characters.
At times it read too much like a dissertation and name-dropped a few too many philosophers, but otherwise, a very good book.
I thought the writing was amazing - the writer really let you into his head without becoming sappy or self-pitying. He also didn't sensationalize a topic or gossip about what may or may not have been the cause. He examines his father's life through the books he recommended and that gives some great insight into the characters.
At times it read too much like a dissertation and name-dropped a few too many philosophers, but otherwise, a very good book.
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