abroadwell's review against another edition
2.0
About the lives of three 20ish grad students on the East Coast. --mostly NYC. (if you have a low opinion of Syracuse, you might find the description of life there amusing.). I could identify with the trouble in finishing a dissertation; this is a universal of grad student life. But I couldn't identify with these students, who are all heterosexual former athletes pining after women and spending their free time lifting weights. I've never known any grad students at all like this.
And they don't really do anything either, they just spent time agonizing over what they ought to do. Should I be with this hot girl or that hot girl? Should I spent time withe Prof X or Prof. Y?
Feh...
emma_sky's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide, War, and Torture
chloelikedolivia's review against another edition
5.0
It will come as a surprise to exactly no one that I loved this book. Sad and pretty and deeply satirical, it's the story of overeducated boys who can't figure out what to do about girls or their lives. It was kind of written just for me.
nanikeeva's review against another edition
1.0
awful, would give zero stars if i could - expected better from Gessen based on "a terrible country."
robinpiereads's review against another edition
1.0
I had to stop reading this. It did not live up to the numerous hyped-up book reviews. Bummer.
corrompido's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book, Gessen's first. It definitely wasn't perfect, despite my 5 star rating, but overall I thought that it was excellent. It is a great portrayal of your 20s as an upper middle class male intellectual (note that since I more or less belong to that class this book may have resounded with me more than others, fair warning.) The writing was mostly great, with some truly standout lines.
The story itself follows 3 main characters through college and post-college lives, mostly focusing on love relationships and job insecurity. Despite being hard to follow at a few small areas (not obvious which character was which early on,) and Gessen's choice to stay away from the female character's point of view, it did a great job of telling a revealing story.
The story itself follows 3 main characters through college and post-college lives, mostly focusing on love relationships and job insecurity. Despite being hard to follow at a few small areas (not obvious which character was which early on,) and Gessen's choice to stay away from the female character's point of view, it did a great job of telling a revealing story.
thirdcoast's review against another edition
1.0
Wow - where to start? How much time do you spend on a bad review? Do you go over each fault, watching as you rip apart someone's work, or do you move on quickly and spare yourself any more wasted time?
This could be called: The Sad Literary Man Who Can't Write Believable Female Characters.
Every female character in this novel is like a cross between Pinocchio and a sex doll, something inanimate that is there for the male characters to speak and have sex with. I am aware that implies something wrong happened between Pinocchio and Geppetto and now that I think about it, that could be true; I'm okay with that implication for the sake of this description.
The main male characters are three men in their late twenties who all went to Harvard and are pretty much identical. Okay, let’s see if I can even keep it straight. One is grad student in Russian history. One is a political blogger. The other one --- (it’s like trying to name all seven dwarves) --- oh yeah, I had to look at a chapter title, the other one is writing a great Zionist epic. They (unknowingly) interchange women and are all pretty much passive, indecisive, and pretend they are victims while being shallow and shitty toward the people that love them.
If I had to assign a genre to this novel it would be Literary Fiction Lite - picture a commercial for Bud Light spouting about drinkability. This has readability, but that's about all.
Don't waste your time on this one.
This could be called: The Sad Literary Man Who Can't Write Believable Female Characters.
Every female character in this novel is like a cross between Pinocchio and a sex doll, something inanimate that is there for the male characters to speak and have sex with. I am aware that implies something wrong happened between Pinocchio and Geppetto and now that I think about it, that could be true; I'm okay with that implication for the sake of this description.
The main male characters are three men in their late twenties who all went to Harvard and are pretty much identical. Okay, let’s see if I can even keep it straight. One is grad student in Russian history. One is a political blogger. The other one --- (it’s like trying to name all seven dwarves) --- oh yeah, I had to look at a chapter title, the other one is writing a great Zionist epic. They (unknowingly) interchange women and are all pretty much passive, indecisive, and pretend they are victims while being shallow and shitty toward the people that love them.
If I had to assign a genre to this novel it would be Literary Fiction Lite - picture a commercial for Bud Light spouting about drinkability. This has readability, but that's about all.
Don't waste your time on this one.