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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
If your heart is also an idiot, you'll relate with this book.
Davy Rothbart seems to get passed over by the ladies more often than most. Maybe it's because he's so earnest about falling in love with almost every girl he meets that the girls sense it is impermanent? Or just because nice guys finish last? Or because he seems to be on the road so often? I suspect it's a combination of these things, and also that, as he posits toward the end of the book, it's the chase he's really after. He loves falling in love constantly.
From one woman's point of view, the fact that a book like this exists speaks to a number of possibly-important lessons. One, that there are men out there whose hearts are as soft and squishy as our own hearts. Two, that there are at least a couple intelligent, weird, kind men over the age of 30 who would send pee to a stranger, travel immense distances more than once in his life to meet with someone he never met before who could just maybe be "the one," and who would befriend someone in prison who was wrongfully convicted of murder and help try to free him--and yet isn't married. And three, that men really are cheating scum. Even when they seem to be on a constant search for a good girlfriend and they find one, they'll cheat on them. Of course, I already knew this, both from experience and also from reading the excellent book Sex at Dawn, which, to be fair, teaches us that all humans are cheaters, regardless of gender.
In any case, this is an entertaining, quick read where some really crazy, unexpected stuff happens. Odd friendships are forged quickly, drunken shenanigans result in waking up naked on the streets of NYC, and a dead body is found. No joke! You should probably read it.
Davy Rothbart seems to get passed over by the ladies more often than most. Maybe it's because he's so earnest about falling in love with almost every girl he meets that the girls sense it is impermanent? Or just because nice guys finish last? Or because he seems to be on the road so often? I suspect it's a combination of these things, and also that, as he posits toward the end of the book, it's the chase he's really after. He loves falling in love constantly.
From one woman's point of view, the fact that a book like this exists speaks to a number of possibly-important lessons. One, that there are men out there whose hearts are as soft and squishy as our own hearts. Two, that there are at least a couple intelligent, weird, kind men over the age of 30 who would send pee to a stranger, travel immense distances more than once in his life to meet with someone he never met before who could just maybe be "the one," and who would befriend someone in prison who was wrongfully convicted of murder and help try to free him--and yet isn't married. And three, that men really are cheating scum. Even when they seem to be on a constant search for a good girlfriend and they find one, they'll cheat on them. Of course, I already knew this, both from experience and also from reading the excellent book Sex at Dawn, which, to be fair, teaches us that all humans are cheaters, regardless of gender.
In any case, this is an entertaining, quick read where some really crazy, unexpected stuff happens. Odd friendships are forged quickly, drunken shenanigans result in waking up naked on the streets of NYC, and a dead body is found. No joke! You should probably read it.
A mental road trip with all the same thrills and frustrations. While the author's character was occasionally distasteful to me, his writing is engaging and honest.
Davy Rothbart's memoir/essay collection was really good! I'd recommend "Human Snowball", the essay that got me to buy the book, above all others, but almost all the essays are funny, thoughtful, and memorable. I wasn't a huge fan of the last essay in the book, which I had to reread to remember what it was even about, but otherwise I loved his stories. The structure of the book also deserves some mention - most essayists seem to structure their collections somewhat haphazardly, but Rothbart intersperses his longer pieces with a few short works, so you only have time to read 3 or 4 pages, those are your go-tos. These shorter pieces really shine, from the heartwarming (Rothbart spends time with an old hitchhiker whose life goal is to see the Grand Canyon) to the ridiculous (Rothbart wakes up on a Central Park bench in the middle of the day with nothing but his socks and a pizza box). The reviews on the back cover are a testament to his work - read My Heart Is an Idiot if you want to hear the stories of love and adventure of today's generation.
I am confused, I didn't got what I thought but it was okay and slightly unbearable at times.
3.5/5
I enjoyed this book, some of the stories more than others. I often found myself getting bored in the middle of the longer stories and wanted to fast forward through some of the descriptions and side tracks the author takes.
I really enjoyed the way the author seems to get himself into things. It sounds like he lives a very interesting life. I think I liked the short stories the most though.
The way he dealt with time was interesting. The stories didn't seem to have any chronological order, they jumped around quite a bit. It made it difficult each time to figure out when in his life we were at and how the stories related to one another.
In all it was interesting and I'm glad I read it but I probably won't read it again.
I enjoyed this book, some of the stories more than others. I often found myself getting bored in the middle of the longer stories and wanted to fast forward through some of the descriptions and side tracks the author takes.
I really enjoyed the way the author seems to get himself into things. It sounds like he lives a very interesting life. I think I liked the short stories the most though.
The way he dealt with time was interesting. The stories didn't seem to have any chronological order, they jumped around quite a bit. It made it difficult each time to figure out when in his life we were at and how the stories related to one another.
In all it was interesting and I'm glad I read it but I probably won't read it again.
Ugh, this book...it's fairly well written, to be sure, but Rothbart is just such an entitled, awful person (at least when it comes to women), that it was really difficult to like this book. I liked the essays that were less about him, and more about other people. The essay about Byron Case was my favorite. Rothbart is just unlikable, and worse, doesn't seem to see his own faults clearly.
Bigger and Deafer is definitely my favorite. Ninety-Nine Bottles of Pee on the Wall doesn't sound real to me as well as the Human Snowball. But anyway, it was entertaining.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
My youngest brother saw me laughing while reading an essay of the book:
Jed: So I see, you are enjoying that book, ate? What's that?
Ella: (shows the cover)
Jed: You have all these literature about this love - love lost, love in any form, failed relationship of sorts. Kumusta ka ngayon, anong sitwasyon mo?
Ella: ito, lost love of some sort.
Jed: kaya ka walang boyfriend, ate eh.
Ella: (what?!)
Jed: (exits)
Jed: So I see, you are enjoying that book, ate? What's that?
Ella: (shows the cover)
Jed: You have all these literature about this love - love lost, love in any form, failed relationship of sorts. Kumusta ka ngayon, anong sitwasyon mo?
Ella: ito, lost love of some sort.
Jed: kaya ka walang boyfriend, ate eh.
Ella: (what?!)
Jed: (exits)