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A review by laureltree13
The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan
3.0
I picked this book up after having heard so many people talk about how great an essay TOL was. People, including the great Oprah- I mean, when that girl talks I listen! So, I snatched it off the shelf, headed for the cash, and began reading it in the way home.
Now, the problem with hyped-up books is that we subconsciously set a bar so unattainably high that most reads don't meet these ridiculous expectations we've set. It's sad really, but it happens. (A lot more than I'd like)
I wanted to love this book, to have become enthralled and inspired by Marina like so many others had. She was seemingly wise beyond her years; her tragic death at twenty-two punctuating her mention of being so young and having a lifetime ahead of her. If anything, I should have found common ground being we're the same age.
Yes, it's a sad story- her biography showing how much promise she had, her spunk and optimism, But I wasn't INSPIRED or ENTHRALLED. If anything, what I got from this book was a reminder of how short life can be, an affirmation to live life to the fullest. Because we can never know what tomorrow will bring.
"We're so young. We're so YOUNG. We're twenty two years old. We have so much time."
A mere three pages made up her TOL essay, the other 204 were dedicated to her short-story fiction and non-fiction essays, which I forced myself to read for the sake of counting it in this year's Goodreads Reading Challenge.
She had definite potential as a writer- and undoubtedly a great future ahead of her being a Yale graduate with a job lined up for her at the New Yorker- but her stories seemed to reiterate the same things as the last, they lacked the fundamentals that made an okay story great. Again, she had potential.
But for me, it just wasn't enough.
You let me down, Oprah.
Now, the problem with hyped-up books is that we subconsciously set a bar so unattainably high that most reads don't meet these ridiculous expectations we've set. It's sad really, but it happens. (A lot more than I'd like)
I wanted to love this book, to have become enthralled and inspired by Marina like so many others had. She was seemingly wise beyond her years; her tragic death at twenty-two punctuating her mention of being so young and having a lifetime ahead of her. If anything, I should have found common ground being we're the same age.
Yes, it's a sad story- her biography showing how much promise she had, her spunk and optimism, But I wasn't INSPIRED or ENTHRALLED. If anything, what I got from this book was a reminder of how short life can be, an affirmation to live life to the fullest. Because we can never know what tomorrow will bring.
"We're so young. We're so YOUNG. We're twenty two years old. We have so much time."
A mere three pages made up her TOL essay, the other 204 were dedicated to her short-story fiction and non-fiction essays, which I forced myself to read for the sake of counting it in this year's Goodreads Reading Challenge.
She had definite potential as a writer- and undoubtedly a great future ahead of her being a Yale graduate with a job lined up for her at the New Yorker- but her stories seemed to reiterate the same things as the last, they lacked the fundamentals that made an okay story great. Again, she had potential.
But for me, it just wasn't enough.
You let me down, Oprah.