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nickedkins's review against another edition
3.0
An uneven collection. The writing is always good - slightly showy, well-constructed, and honest. But this often masks ideas that don't seem that well thought out, or that are trivial.
For example, Havrilesky argues that "sitting at the bedside, holding the dying [spouse's] hand" is romantic. There are a million movies with this scene, but she is arguing as if this is a unique and brave argument that she is making.
In another essay, analysing the 2016 election, she asks, "[d]id the passivity of our screen-led lives slowly transform us into nihilists without our noticing?" As a throwaway observation, sure, maybe. As an explanation for the election of Donald Trump, I'd have to put it pretty far down the list.
There's a cluster of more personal essays at the end that are the strongest in the collection. Here the prose style suits the content very well, and Havrilesky is in her comfort zone.
For example, Havrilesky argues that "sitting at the bedside, holding the dying [spouse's] hand" is romantic. There are a million movies with this scene, but she is arguing as if this is a unique and brave argument that she is making.
In another essay, analysing the 2016 election, she asks, "[d]id the passivity of our screen-led lives slowly transform us into nihilists without our noticing?" As a throwaway observation, sure, maybe. As an explanation for the election of Donald Trump, I'd have to put it pretty far down the list.
There's a cluster of more personal essays at the end that are the strongest in the collection. Here the prose style suits the content very well, and Havrilesky is in her comfort zone.
bibliobrandie's review against another edition
3.0
Really enjoyed some of the essays, felt meh about the others.
tildahlia's review against another edition
4.0
A solid collection of essays about modern life, focusing particularly on the mirage of social media and the self-loathing it can engender. Havrilesky is an advice columnist and her understated wisdom comes through in some fantastic passages. A lot of the essays confirm things you already know about the modern condition, but in a very well-written and thoughtful way.
dilchh's review against another edition
3.0
A collection of essays from Heather Havrilesky that I bought during the time I was angry at the world and how most of the time we live in this world just trying to fulfill other people's expectations for us with no end in sight. •
The title of the book took me by surprise as I was just asking myself the same question. I just wished people ask this question more often. I also wished I had liked this book more, because I really did thought this was my cup of tea. Unfortunately it was not. •
Whilst there were definitely a lot of points that the author made that resonates positively with me, I can't help but not being able to enjoy her essays. There are more than one occasion where I felt she's using much too difficult and complicated words just to show that she can. She also referenced a lot of books and movies in an annoying way people criticised a book or movie so as to seem intelligent and different than the common folks. •
To be frank, I stopped reading just two essays away from actually completely finishing the book altogether. I didn't want to anger myself more by how I felt the author can be quite condescending at times, and how she sounded really pretentious with her big words.• It's not entirely bad. I'm sure most people would actually enjoy this book l, and I might actually be in the minority for not enjoying this book, that being said, to each their own, I suppose. •
The title of the book took me by surprise as I was just asking myself the same question. I just wished people ask this question more often. I also wished I had liked this book more, because I really did thought this was my cup of tea. Unfortunately it was not. •
Whilst there were definitely a lot of points that the author made that resonates positively with me, I can't help but not being able to enjoy her essays. There are more than one occasion where I felt she's using much too difficult and complicated words just to show that she can. She also referenced a lot of books and movies in an annoying way people criticised a book or movie so as to seem intelligent and different than the common folks. •
To be frank, I stopped reading just two essays away from actually completely finishing the book altogether. I didn't want to anger myself more by how I felt the author can be quite condescending at times, and how she sounded really pretentious with her big words.• It's not entirely bad. I'm sure most people would actually enjoy this book l, and I might actually be in the minority for not enjoying this book, that being said, to each their own, I suppose. •
treebark18's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
whoanelle's review against another edition
Wow, so many highlights and passages resonated with me. I was hoping this book would offer insight on how to counter our culture of mass consumption but it’s mostly critique. Honestly just not in the best place to be reading something that feels so depressing! But I’m gonna reflect with what I’ve read and sit with how I wanna show up more human and contented in my life!
khuizenga's review against another edition
3.0
This was interesting. Although I’m inclined to agree with a lot of the societal critiques in this book, Havrilesky sees things very differently than I do. She’s quite cynical to her core, and sometimes I would find myself chuckling at her complete horror at small descriptive scenes I wouldn’t have thought to be horrified by (“she’s so dark” I would murmur). And then she goes and writes an essay on true romance that is so beautiful in its description of daily love that I’m left in tears at the end so there you go. Not my favorite collection of essays, but I did enjoy them.
omp's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I read this in early February, and in a season of every social media influencer trying to persuade us to be more, do more, mean more, these essays were a balm. While I didn't agree with everything the author had to say, I am now flipping back and finding 32 pages flagged...so, there was a lot that resonated with me. Does this really say anything that we haven't heard before? Probably not. Is it sometimes overly broad and a bit callous? Most likely. Is it alright to just be OK? Absolutely.
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"...not many people seem interested in "what you're like." They just want to figure out what you're worth."
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"...not many people seem interested in "what you're like." They just want to figure out what you're worth."