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sarahscire's review
4.0
Quick and fascinating read (especially if you have read Lethem's fiction). Fortunately for the reader, it comes off as more 'obsession' than 'inspiration', the latter of which can seem overly self-indulgent. My favorite was probably the title essay but the boys in my life adored the sections more concerned with Star Wars and Phillip K. Dick.
andrewdeyoung's review
4.5
I love this book. For some, I suspect that the way Lethem obsesses over every book/movie/song/artist that has influenced him may grate, but I totally get what it's like to identify with art to the point of obsession, so I loved it. Plus, this is Lethem we're talking about. Whether he's writing fiction or nonfiction, he wears his cultural and artistic influences on his sleeve.
Being a collection, it has its low points and high points.
High points: the essays about The Searchers, Star Wars, the comics of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, "Lives of the Bohemians," and the coda.
Just OK: essay about the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station, and the title essay.
Low points: for me, the Cassavetes essay is practically unreadable if you haven't watched and obsessed over every single Cassavetes film, the way Lethem has (I've only seen Faces). The essay on Philip K. Dick is also strangely unsatisfying. I wish Lethem had really dissected PKD the way he did Kirby & Lee.
Overall, though, I love the collection enough that I'm willing to look past its faults.
Being a collection, it has its low points and high points.
High points: the essays about The Searchers, Star Wars, the comics of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, "Lives of the Bohemians," and the coda.
Just OK: essay about the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station, and the title essay.
Low points: for me, the Cassavetes essay is practically unreadable if you haven't watched and obsessed over every single Cassavetes film, the way Lethem has (I've only seen Faces). The essay on Philip K. Dick is also strangely unsatisfying. I wish Lethem had really dissected PKD the way he did Kirby & Lee.
Overall, though, I love the collection enough that I'm willing to look past its faults.
meganmagicmusings's review against another edition
4.0
I adore personal anecdotal essays. I adore pop culture essays. Finding a collection of personal anecdotal pop culture essays written by Jonathan Lethem was an absolute dream. Reading about his personal obsessions with various films, music, and books, my favourite story being about the summer he saw the original Star Wars 21 times, was refreshing and comforting, feeling at home reading about someone who lives a life engrossed in pop culture. This was such a quick read and definitely put a smile on my face. I wish we still lived in a time where we could go to a record shop and pick up a record we'd never heard of, discovering something eye-opening, unspoilt by reviews and constant plays on adverts.
mark5327's review against another edition
5.0
My favorite kind of writing: Pop-culture inflected memoir. Sublime, elegiac, hilarious, and beautiful. Time to read everything else by Lethem.
piccoline's review against another edition
4.0
Nice collection of essays about various types of art and the creative process. Recommended for a browse at least.
bibliocyclist's review against another edition
3.0
Life is an error and death the only truth.
In space, no one can hear the guitar squeak. Or see the paint drip.
No authority but in implements.
In space, no one can hear the guitar squeak. Or see the paint drip.
No authority but in implements.
jeffchon's review against another edition
5.0
Just reread this because last night because I couldn't sleep and was reminded how absolutely brilliant it is.
Beautiful fractured memoir about how the loss of Lethem's mother affected his family. For God's sake, the man wrote an essay about watching Star Wars 21 times during the summer he was 13 to cope with his mother's cancer and another essay about the subway stations of his New York childhood, how vulnerable he felt in the city, and seamlessly integrated the classic cult film The Warriors into the discussion--How could anyone not love this book?
Beautiful fractured memoir about how the loss of Lethem's mother affected his family. For God's sake, the man wrote an essay about watching Star Wars 21 times during the summer he was 13 to cope with his mother's cancer and another essay about the subway stations of his New York childhood, how vulnerable he felt in the city, and seamlessly integrated the classic cult film The Warriors into the discussion--How could anyone not love this book?
pearwaldorf's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this. I really did. Jonathan Lethem is a smart, articulate guy for sure, but his hyper-incessant intense focus on me, me, me and the way he presented himself to the world was just too much.
hollowspine's review against another edition
4.0
Each essay in the Disappointment Artist takes some aspect, movie, book, band, or person, that had for a span of time at least, become an obsession for Lethem and then explored how each led back to what was going on closer to home in his life.
The fact that he watched Star Wars 21 times may have more to do with his mother's illness than it had to do with his obsession with CP-30. His attraction to three bearded older friends to do with his anger at his father for surviving his mother's death. The book is about his relationships, his friendships and how they influenced his writing and his life and brought him to a few choice realizations.
The "Beards" we use in our lives to hide our true feelings, or at least make them more easily digestible for the outside world, each chapter, though sometimes written years apart definitely added to the overall collection. Very well written and thoughtful.
I'll always remember reading a book of short stories by Lethem with my brother while travelling around Europe and how I took solace in it, even when I was struck by depression in the middle of the trip. Funny how we associate these cultural landmarks with life events. I'll always remember the books I was reading at different times of my life too.
As I was listening I felt inspired to look at my own life, though unlike Lethem, I have always been too lazy and apathetic to be obsessed by many things, even books. I stopped re-reading books when I was a teenager and have only revisited a couple for nostalgia since then, as I listened Lethem read his essays I felt like I too should look back. Nostalgia contagion! I probably won't look back, but the melancholia conveyed in this book does give one that feeling.
The fact that he watched Star Wars 21 times may have more to do with his mother's illness than it had to do with his obsession with CP-30. His attraction to three bearded older friends to do with his anger at his father for surviving his mother's death. The book is about his relationships, his friendships and how they influenced his writing and his life and brought him to a few choice realizations.
The "Beards" we use in our lives to hide our true feelings, or at least make them more easily digestible for the outside world, each chapter, though sometimes written years apart definitely added to the overall collection. Very well written and thoughtful.
I'll always remember reading a book of short stories by Lethem with my brother while travelling around Europe and how I took solace in it, even when I was struck by depression in the middle of the trip. Funny how we associate these cultural landmarks with life events. I'll always remember the books I was reading at different times of my life too.
As I was listening I felt inspired to look at my own life, though unlike Lethem, I have always been too lazy and apathetic to be obsessed by many things, even books. I stopped re-reading books when I was a teenager and have only revisited a couple for nostalgia since then, as I listened Lethem read his essays I felt like I too should look back. Nostalgia contagion! I probably won't look back, but the melancholia conveyed in this book does give one that feeling.
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