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A review by romanaromana
I'm Not with the Band: A Writer's Life Lost in Music by Sylvia Patterson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
DNF @ page 105.
Typical. I pick up a nonfiction book for the first time in forever, thinking I'm ready, and it's boring.
This book packaging worked its magic on me. i'm not with the band appears to be right up my street - a book about music and writing, infused with nostalgia and humour. But the reality was far from the fun read I wanted.
Admittedly, Sylvia Patterson's idea of nostalgia was never going to match up to mine given that we grew up decades apart. But I was hopeful that this nostalgia and revisit to the past would be well-written and inclusive enough to help me enjoy it regardless, as I did in Ready Player One and Daisy Jones & The Six. Evidently, without the freeform of fiction, this wasn't realistic. I really struggled to understand any of Patterson's references and they are constant, so entire pages of writing were completely lost on me.
This isn't helped by Patterson's writing style, which is dominated by long-winded and rambling sentences. I think this contributed to the humorous tone, but in the meantime complicated and tangled her references so they were even harder to decipher.
As a final point, I also didn't much enjoy the nonchalant chaos of Patterson's early life and career, which I felt was romanticised. When I'm expecting to read about someone's life and career in a rapidly changing and exciting industry, reading of parties and smoking and purposelessness is boring. I don't know how things progress, but Patterson's attitude towards life would have had to change quite dramatically to actually get me interested in reading about it.
The search for enjoyable nonfic continues. This blip will probably delay my endeavours by another few months though. Oops.
Typical. I pick up a nonfiction book for the first time in forever, thinking I'm ready, and it's boring.
This book packaging worked its magic on me. i'm not with the band appears to be right up my street - a book about music and writing, infused with nostalgia and humour. But the reality was far from the fun read I wanted.
Admittedly, Sylvia Patterson's idea of nostalgia was never going to match up to mine given that we grew up decades apart. But I was hopeful that this nostalgia and revisit to the past would be well-written and inclusive enough to help me enjoy it regardless, as I did in Ready Player One and Daisy Jones & The Six. Evidently, without the freeform of fiction, this wasn't realistic. I really struggled to understand any of Patterson's references and they are constant, so entire pages of writing were completely lost on me.
This isn't helped by Patterson's writing style, which is dominated by long-winded and rambling sentences. I think this contributed to the humorous tone, but in the meantime complicated and tangled her references so they were even harder to decipher.
As a final point, I also didn't much enjoy the nonchalant chaos of Patterson's early life and career, which I felt was romanticised. When I'm expecting to read about someone's life and career in a rapidly changing and exciting industry, reading of parties and smoking and purposelessness is boring. I don't know how things progress, but Patterson's attitude towards life would have had to change quite dramatically to actually get me interested in reading about it.
The search for enjoyable nonfic continues. This blip will probably delay my endeavours by another few months though. Oops.