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mollybonovskyanderson's review against another edition
5.0
I don't usually read fast, but I read this in two sittings. It's not what I expected--less outright humor and more nostalgia and affection, and meditation on death and tragedy. It's written very simply but evoked very solid images for me. The author admits, in the appendix, to combining characters and their quirks and stories but I appreciated his honesty and that knowledge didn't detract from the overall feel I took from the book. I think Crapalachia is summed up well in this passage that concludes a story about the author's friend breaking into school and causing lots of damage, only to steal several boxes of salt and vinegar chips.
"There was only thing to learn from this.
The world was a weird world.
The world was a joke.
Oh well."
I wouldn't even necessarily call this "Southern literature." It's about those people you knew and loved and sometimes couldn't figure out and shook your head at and did stupid things but you still cared for them and you still think of them from time to time. It happens everywhere, to everyone, and Scott McClanahan writes about it in a way that makes it feel like it could have happened to you. He writes with affection not only for the subjects, but for the reader.
"There was only thing to learn from this.
The world was a weird world.
The world was a joke.
Oh well."
I wouldn't even necessarily call this "Southern literature." It's about those people you knew and loved and sometimes couldn't figure out and shook your head at and did stupid things but you still cared for them and you still think of them from time to time. It happens everywhere, to everyone, and Scott McClanahan writes about it in a way that makes it feel like it could have happened to you. He writes with affection not only for the subjects, but for the reader.
angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
2.0
Nothing amazing. Thoroughly disjointed (which is explained in the Appendix and Notes), that section is also perhaps the best of the whole book. I’m not sure great books are meant to be that way; meandering, mediocre stories punctuated by the best blurb at the end. Just okay for me.
ngallion's review against another edition
2.0
Well, the appendix is good. The rest of this is strange stories of life in poor, rural West Virginia in search of a point. The stories don’t really come together to say anything profound even though they clearly are trying to. It seems to be aiming at being a love letter to life in this overlooked part of America, but there’s not a lot that makes most of the characters sympathetic. Rather than making me feel nostalgia for a place I’ve never been as a good memoir does, this one made me glad that my ancestors left this part of the country two generations before I came along. Very much a missed opportunity.
nderiley's review against another edition
2.0
A stream of consciousness catharsis for the author that doesn't translate to a cohesive story for the reader
abbeyhar103's review against another edition
4.0
Really unique, touching, and funny writing. He uses a combination of memoir and mythologization to write about his past growing up in West Virginia.The concept of writing about something to make sure that places, memories and faces don't fade really resonated, and the unique writing style kept it from being at all schlocky, overwrought or anything but completely its own thing. Can't wait to read more by him.
ohmygollylibby's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
5.0
readingissosexy's review against another edition
3.0
Parts of this felt a bit ~John Green, with a few passages I would've posted on Tumblr in 2011 but roll my eyes at now. Other parts were beautiful, earnest, & funny.
Scott McClanahan is a sentimental; so am I. We are kindred spirits, terrified by the passage of time. Every few pages or so, he'd express something just the way I feel it.
That being said, I did sorta have a hard time staying fully invested in a story neither completely real nor completely made up, where truth existed in some unknown middle.
I had a hard time with it, even while recognizing it as the only real way to tell a story. The separation between memory & the stories we want to be true are paper thin.
Scott McClanahan is a sentimental; so am I. We are kindred spirits, terrified by the passage of time. Every few pages or so, he'd express something just the way I feel it.
That being said, I did sorta have a hard time staying fully invested in a story neither completely real nor completely made up, where truth existed in some unknown middle.
I had a hard time with it, even while recognizing it as the only real way to tell a story. The separation between memory & the stories we want to be true are paper thin.
mattleesharp's review against another edition
4.0
Occasionally very funny. Occasionally very touching. I have really loved everything I have read by Scott McClanahan. I definitely recommend him as an author. This book is a little try-hard on the capital m message it wants the reader to take away, but it really succeeds as a "biography of place." The characters ring true. The world feels honest. The integration of West Virginia history lessons into the narrative is inspired.