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A review by freshjai
How to Ruin Everything by George Watsky
3.0
I gave this book 3 stars, but a very high 3 stars, lets just call it 3.5 stars.
I've seen Watsky in concert 8 times starting in 2012 and during the not-so-die-hard following of his career I've heard him tell lots of stories, many of them featured in this book. Watsky is the kind of artist who shares a lot of himself within his art and doesn't like separate himself from his music.
I loved following the different parts of these stories from a alternate point of view, like when he describes the weather on tour and how cold it was in a broken tour van, I was standing in that cold freezing my toes off with my best friend, so I could be front row like always. Or how he told us in the crowd not to tell a certain story because it was kinda or very much illegal and then makes it the first story in his book. It's like we're all connected and that to me feels hella special.
If you've only dabbled in his work, than this book is great and gives funny and real insight into his life. I on the other hand just got fuller versions of several stories that I had already briefly heard before, between going to his shows and listening to all of his music. It doesn't make them any less interesting or special, it does give them all context and definitely makes them more personal though. I wouldn't call it repetitive because 1) not everyone, including myself knows or knew everything in this book and 2) when you're constantly writing and speaking about your life in everything that you do, it's hard to come up with new material.
So all in all I enjoyed the book and think it's a good read for someone who wants to like the man more, I know I do.
I've seen Watsky in concert 8 times starting in 2012 and during the not-so-die-hard following of his career I've heard him tell lots of stories, many of them featured in this book. Watsky is the kind of artist who shares a lot of himself within his art and doesn't like separate himself from his music.
I loved following the different parts of these stories from a alternate point of view, like when he describes the weather on tour and how cold it was in a broken tour van, I was standing in that cold freezing my toes off with my best friend, so I could be front row like always. Or how he told us in the crowd not to tell a certain story because it was kinda or very much illegal and then makes it the first story in his book. It's like we're all connected and that to me feels hella special.
If you've only dabbled in his work, than this book is great and gives funny and real insight into his life. I on the other hand just got fuller versions of several stories that I had already briefly heard before, between going to his shows and listening to all of his music. It doesn't make them any less interesting or special, it does give them all context and definitely makes them more personal though. I wouldn't call it repetitive because 1) not everyone, including myself knows or knew everything in this book and 2) when you're constantly writing and speaking about your life in everything that you do, it's hard to come up with new material.
So all in all I enjoyed the book and think it's a good read for someone who wants to like the man more, I know I do.