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A review by thogek
The Art of Failing: Notes from the Underdog by Anthony McGowan
3.0
This was a rather unusual read.
First of all, my copy of The Art of Failing is an "advance uncorrected proof", so the final publication might be slightly different, although I don't expect large or significant differences. That said...
I didn't realize when I first saw this oddly-covered book (that banana does show up, BTW) that it would be in the form of a sort of daily diary of occurrences, presumably logged by the author as he went about his life over the course of a year, focusing on a wide assortment of odd and often embarrassing moments. One thing that would have helped enormously, IMO, is a brief forward giving some context for what I was about to read and why. Stepping right into diary mode on page one without explanation was a little disorienting; not seriously so, but a little preamble would have been helpful.
The dailyish stories themselves ranged anywhere from a paragraph to a few pages in length, and were quite eclectic, ranging from everyday sightings and happenings while walking his dog, to author publicity events, etc. The author either has a fantastic talent for thrusting himself into embarrassing situations or an artistic license that loves to embellish toward the humiliating, but either way, he does have a talent for depicting himself stumbling into all sorts of odds oopses large and small, like some sort of erratic sit-com series of one-acts, and for doing so with great tongue-in-cheek flourish.
The various stories vary in success, some of them quite entertaining, others much less so. In fact, I often felt as though each story was a bit of a dice roll, with random results along the lines of:
1: LMAO!!
2: Heh. That's some real crazy. Chuckle.
3: Surprise poignant moment. (Awww.)
4: Meh.
5: Euw.
6: What the heck did I just read?
Thus my middle-of-the-road overall rating. (YMMV.) In short, I did find it a reasonably entertaining read overall, with some real LOL moments.
Oddly, given the nature of many of the embarrassments depicted, this might be a particularly interesting reading experience for sufferers of significant social anxieties, although I'm unsure whether the experience would be more akin to a dark comedy vs. a personal horror vs. a voyeuristic sort of immersion therapy. Maybe all three.
First of all, my copy of The Art of Failing is an "advance uncorrected proof", so the final publication might be slightly different, although I don't expect large or significant differences. That said...
I didn't realize when I first saw this oddly-covered book (that banana does show up, BTW) that it would be in the form of a sort of daily diary of occurrences, presumably logged by the author as he went about his life over the course of a year, focusing on a wide assortment of odd and often embarrassing moments. One thing that would have helped enormously, IMO, is a brief forward giving some context for what I was about to read and why. Stepping right into diary mode on page one without explanation was a little disorienting; not seriously so, but a little preamble would have been helpful.
The dailyish stories themselves ranged anywhere from a paragraph to a few pages in length, and were quite eclectic, ranging from everyday sightings and happenings while walking his dog, to author publicity events, etc. The author either has a fantastic talent for thrusting himself into embarrassing situations or an artistic license that loves to embellish toward the humiliating, but either way, he does have a talent for depicting himself stumbling into all sorts of odds oopses large and small, like some sort of erratic sit-com series of one-acts, and for doing so with great tongue-in-cheek flourish.
The various stories vary in success, some of them quite entertaining, others much less so. In fact, I often felt as though each story was a bit of a dice roll, with random results along the lines of:
1: LMAO!!
2: Heh. That's some real crazy. Chuckle.
3: Surprise poignant moment. (Awww.)
4: Meh.
5: Euw.
6: What the heck did I just read?
Thus my middle-of-the-road overall rating. (YMMV.) In short, I did find it a reasonably entertaining read overall, with some real LOL moments.
Oddly, given the nature of many of the embarrassments depicted, this might be a particularly interesting reading experience for sufferers of significant social anxieties, although I'm unsure whether the experience would be more akin to a dark comedy vs. a personal horror vs. a voyeuristic sort of immersion therapy. Maybe all three.