Scan barcode
starfall's review
emotional
reflective
3.75
Made me feel so nostalgic about experiences that aren't mine + thought about how my own 20s would look like when I look back at them in 10 years + made me realize how time really is fleeting + gave me confirmation that people really do come and go from your life
overall, it gave me a major existential crisis
overall, it gave me a major existential crisis
maybebil's review against another edition
3.0
“my yoga teacher at the time (who was straight edge, and in the metal band Youth of Today) loved telling our class that what feels like nectar in the beginning turns into poison in the long run, and what feels like poison in the beginning is nectar in the end. the greatest calamity, he liked to say, is not knowing when is enough.”
i didn’t relate to much of this and there wasn’t anything really meaningful to take away but i don’t think that was the writer’s intent anyway. the essays were engaging and funny.
i didn’t relate to much of this and there wasn’t anything really meaningful to take away but i don’t think that was the writer’s intent anyway. the essays were engaging and funny.
victorianshelf's review
This feels like a diary/journal of someone. I was hoping to learn something from this book, but all that. I've gathered are Chloe's problems with drug use and depression but she never really talked about how it affected her and I didn't felt any emotions.
smae4444's review against another edition
2.0
the essays rely on an anemic sentimentality and an unchanging, insipid persona (there is a difference between unlikable and intolerable). awkward phrasing and an uninspiring vocabulary often left me confused -- "Sara was the first person I experienced different feelings and emotions on and for, and the first human I knew outside of my family" ?????? endings shoot for poignance and end up stumbling over cliches. it is fortunate that the essays are bound together by this book because some are too flimsy to stand on their own.
noumi's review against another edition
1.0
I'm not very familiar with personal essays so when I saw this book hoping up in my recommendations and after reading some great review I thought I would pick it up. Now I love reading essays. They basically allow you to learn about not only the experiences of another human being but also about his/her reflection on those experiences. It's basically a condensed answer to the following question "What I've learned from life ". At least that's how I see personal essays and what I want to read about.
I'll admit the title hugely influenced me to buy this book because to me it said " This book is about my life and experiences and what I learned from them". And in a way I guess it was about Chloe caldwell's life. The only problem is I discovered her life was not something I was interested in reading about. I don't mind reading about a boring life I'm not looking for entertainment when I reach for personal essays. I want to learn about what kind of life people live and what they've learned from it. I learned nothing from this. No scratch that, I learned that Chloe felt depressed and miserable most of the time but never really talk about depression and how it made her feel expect that it made her want to sleep all the time and smoke weed. That's basically what she does. She goes to yoga gets addicted to all kind of things have a lot of sex and likes to talks about it, feels depressed and sleepy, is not capable of being responsible knows about her flaws but is too lazy to do anything about it. Likes to complain about how inferior she feels and how she eats too much and is not skinny enough. All in all I didn't mind hearing about somebody who felt miserable if only she would have offered some kind of reflections , structured thoughts on what it is like to feel depressed, insecure, and addicted. She only describes her life and that's it. At one point it really got frustrating and I don't know how I finished the book. I felt forced to judge her when all I wanted was to learn from her. I came to the conclusion that I couldn't stand her as a person. I didn't like the person I was being told about. She was shallow and selfish and a complete jerk. She only cared about herself and complained all the time about what a she failure she was.
I learned nothing meaningful from this book expect that next time I shouldn't let a title and a cover fool me and actually do my own research before buying it.
I'll admit the title hugely influenced me to buy this book because to me it said " This book is about my life and experiences and what I learned from them". And in a way I guess it was about Chloe caldwell's life. The only problem is I discovered her life was not something I was interested in reading about. I don't mind reading about a boring life I'm not looking for entertainment when I reach for personal essays. I want to learn about what kind of life people live and what they've learned from it. I learned nothing from this. No scratch that, I learned that Chloe felt depressed and miserable most of the time but never really talk about depression and how it made her feel expect that it made her want to sleep all the time and smoke weed. That's basically what she does. She goes to yoga gets addicted to all kind of things have a lot of sex and likes to talks about it, feels depressed and sleepy, is not capable of being responsible knows about her flaws but is too lazy to do anything about it. Likes to complain about how inferior she feels and how she eats too much and is not skinny enough. All in all I didn't mind hearing about somebody who felt miserable if only she would have offered some kind of reflections , structured thoughts on what it is like to feel depressed, insecure, and addicted. She only describes her life and that's it. At one point it really got frustrating and I don't know how I finished the book. I felt forced to judge her when all I wanted was to learn from her. I came to the conclusion that I couldn't stand her as a person. I didn't like the person I was being told about. She was shallow and selfish and a complete jerk. She only cared about herself and complained all the time about what a she failure she was.
I learned nothing meaningful from this book expect that next time I shouldn't let a title and a cover fool me and actually do my own research before buying it.
joycnakang's review against another edition
2.0
This was okay. I enjoyed the essays, but none of them were exceptional. They were mostly indistinguishable from other essay collections about being a twenty-something written from the perspective of a white woman. Totally on me since I'm the one who picked this out, but I found it hard to relate to and was just bored of the same stories over and over again. Also, was super put off by the essay where the author fawns over a certain famous celebrity writer (I won't spoil who it is, but it's not that hard to fio) whose own brand of white feminism I just can't get behind.
Overall a fine read but left me craving more diverse stories moving forward.
Overall a fine read but left me craving more diverse stories moving forward.