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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
This was a fun memoir with some very deep revelations interspersed with witty tweets. It made me wish I were on Twitter and that I had been part of the early Duchess Goldblatt days. But even without having read her (or heard of her) prior, I found this an entertaining read. I’m sure it’s even better for her fans.
So touching, and funny. It almost makes me wish I was on twitter, just to follow Duchess Goldblatt. The personal story of the character's creator was so relatable, from her divorce experience, her mother relationship, friend relationships; I felt a true kinship. I want to be her best friend!
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I really struggled to finish this and I did not enjoy it. I listened to the audiobook and had it jacked up to 2x so I could get through it as fast as possible (I should have just left it unfinished, but a part of me kept thinking: this can't be it?)
Why is there an entire transcript between the author and Lyle Lovett? A few conversations might have made sense - like a "look we built a real friendship from this fake internet personality I created!" but it is literally a transcript (read by Lyle Lovett in the audiobook) and it is incredibly self indulgent.
I like Duchess Goldblatt. I like the concept of a fake twitter account meant to uplift and connect people. And I like the idea that a woman going through a hard time created this as a distraction from her own difficult life and as a way to connect with others. But there is no Duchess Goldblatt in this book aside from quotes pulled directly from twitter. It is all the author. And instead of following her initial instincts and channelling her unhappiness into a positive result, the author uses this book to highlight her own flaws, personal failings, and continuous struggles. It's hard to read.
It's even harder when the book is full of the worst kind of humble brags. "I'm not competitive but I can finish my work faster than anyone else"... "I'm a guys girl"... sigh.
And reading it I can understand why she struggles to maintain real friendships. She admits that she doesn't pay attention or try to retain information about the real people around her. She doesn't know what her best friend does for a living (?!). She says her husbands family abandoned her after the divorce, which sounds impossibly hard, but I do think therapy would do wonders in helping the author figure out why these relationships also failed and a constructive way to reach out to the people from her past.
Overall Duchess is a thoughtful, fun, funny, and good friend who is capable of maintaining relationships (albeit online). There is a lot the author could learn from the Duchess.
Why is there an entire transcript between the author and Lyle Lovett? A few conversations might have made sense - like a "look we built a real friendship from this fake internet personality I created!" but it is literally a transcript (read by Lyle Lovett in the audiobook) and it is incredibly self indulgent.
I like Duchess Goldblatt. I like the concept of a fake twitter account meant to uplift and connect people. And I like the idea that a woman going through a hard time created this as a distraction from her own difficult life and as a way to connect with others. But there is no Duchess Goldblatt in this book aside from quotes pulled directly from twitter. It is all the author. And instead of following her initial instincts and channelling her unhappiness into a positive result, the author uses this book to highlight her own flaws, personal failings, and continuous struggles. It's hard to read.
It's even harder when the book is full of the worst kind of humble brags. "I'm not competitive but I can finish my work faster than anyone else"... "I'm a guys girl"... sigh.
And reading it I can understand why she struggles to maintain real friendships. She admits that she doesn't pay attention or try to retain information about the real people around her. She doesn't know what her best friend does for a living (?!). She says her husbands family abandoned her after the divorce, which sounds impossibly hard, but I do think therapy would do wonders in helping the author figure out why these relationships also failed and a constructive way to reach out to the people from her past.
Overall Duchess is a thoughtful, fun, funny, and good friend who is capable of maintaining relationships (albeit online). There is a lot the author could learn from the Duchess.
What a weird and surprisingly vulnerable memoir of the anonymous author’s use of her character to help her navigate a difficult time. As an active Twitter user, I would see her tweets, but I never really got caught up or followed Duchess. It seemed odd in the way that her account was portrayed as high art. But the way that it’s a journey of self discovery was lovely. Not at all what I expected, and the audiobook includes Lyle Lovett reading his own dialogue. Yes, Lyle Lovett figures into this story.
Witty and poignant and fascinating. It’s a must-listen. Because Lyle Lovett.
I'm not sure why I'm so impatient with a book/story/author that is nothing but gracious, but I am.
The memoir part, about the author's turbulent growing up, her marriage's dissolution, her connection with her son, I found harrowing, poignant, to the point that I found myself tearful for her. The decision/accident/whatever of creating Duchess, I found twee as shit. And Duchess herself, though I get that she's not overly precious, just doesn't move my 'twee as shit' needle either. Maybe I should be a better person. People who don't like Duchess Goldblatt or Ove from A Man Called Ove should maybe just sit in a room together and glare.
The memoir part, about the author's turbulent growing up, her marriage's dissolution, her connection with her son, I found harrowing, poignant, to the point that I found myself tearful for her. The decision/accident/whatever of creating Duchess, I found twee as shit. And Duchess herself, though I get that she's not overly precious, just doesn't move my 'twee as shit' needle either. Maybe I should be a better person. People who don't like Duchess Goldblatt or Ove from A Man Called Ove should maybe just sit in a room together and glare.
I had no knowledge of this Twitter phenomenon, but that didn’t matter I enjoyed this book thoroughly.
Read a second time. I’ve not read more than three titles a second time.
Ordered more copies than I’ll admit to give my loved one’s: “Here. This is my heart in a book. I won’t tell you to read a book if you don’t want to, but now you have my heart and can keep it on your shelf, should you feel so inclined.”
This is why we word.
cannot rate this, seriously. It’s in a class and discussion all of its own.
But I can say it was Good Read.
Ordered more copies than I’ll admit to give my loved one’s: “Here. This is my heart in a book. I won’t tell you to read a book if you don’t want to, but now you have my heart and can keep it on your shelf, should you feel so inclined.”
This is why we word.
cannot rate this, seriously. It’s in a class and discussion all of its own.
But I can say it was Good Read.