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A review by laurarosenberg
The Night the Lights Went Out: A Memoir of Life After Brain Damage by Drew Magary
5.0
I subscribe to (one of my favorite authors) Samantha Irby's weekly-ish newsletter, and in one of them, she linked to Drew Magary's "Hater's Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalogue", a piece that comes out annually around The Holidays. The guide is, to put it simply, laugh-out-loud funny. He cherry-picks specific items ($60 macarons, $450 coffee makers, $50 cookie tins *without cookies*, etc) and rips not only Williams-Sonoma to shreds for selling $50 decorative tins, but also the people who actually buy those cookie tins. It brought me a LOT of joy. Magary is currently a writer for Defector, and was previously a writer for Deadspin, and to my absolute delight, is also an author. The reason I give it 5 stars isn't for the content, even though the content is note-worthy.
One night while at a work holiday party, Magary collapses and turns sickly white and starts speaking in gibberish; the lead up to the collapse, the episode itself, the ambulance ride to the hospital, and then throughout his time in the hospital is told (very cleverly) through the voices of his loved ones, as he was in a coma for a large portion of his stay. He suffered from traumatic brain damage, which he explains in-depth in a way that isn't too scientific but is clearly told from the mind of someone who understands what they are talking about, which.. of course.
The 5 star rating is more for his voice as an author which is smart, hysterical, clear, engaging, relatable, topical, empathetic, and unflinchingly honest. As an aside, it's really refreshing reading a book by a straight white male (a demographic of authors that I actively avoid) who gets it; Magary understands his privilege and is able to make fun of himself for it throughout his story in ways that are both very intelligent and very funny. What a joy to read. I can't wait to dive into his other books.
One night while at a work holiday party, Magary collapses and turns sickly white and starts speaking in gibberish; the lead up to the collapse, the episode itself, the ambulance ride to the hospital, and then throughout his time in the hospital is told (very cleverly) through the voices of his loved ones, as he was in a coma for a large portion of his stay. He suffered from traumatic brain damage, which he explains in-depth in a way that isn't too scientific but is clearly told from the mind of someone who understands what they are talking about, which.. of course.
The 5 star rating is more for his voice as an author which is smart, hysterical, clear, engaging, relatable, topical, empathetic, and unflinchingly honest. As an aside, it's really refreshing reading a book by a straight white male (a demographic of authors that I actively avoid) who gets it; Magary understands his privilege and is able to make fun of himself for it throughout his story in ways that are both very intelligent and very funny. What a joy to read. I can't wait to dive into his other books.