mbhernandez's review
4.0
What a great book! I wanted to give it five stars - but I did find a couple of the stories a tad bit boring. The rest of them were five star worthy! My favorite was My Republican Journey by Dan Savage. My favorite tidbit:
"When I was beginning to drift away from the Catholic Church, out of disgust with our holy mother's hypocrisy, sexism and homophobia, my biological mother implored me to keep the faith. "If everyone who isn't an asshole leaves the church," my momma told me, "the church will be just a bunch of assholes."
I also particularly loved the story The Ameican Man, Age Ten (as Kirsten said I would - this is why she loaned me the book - thanks Kirsten!). I found the story of Saddam Hussein fascinating as well.
"When I was beginning to drift away from the Catholic Church, out of disgust with our holy mother's hypocrisy, sexism and homophobia, my biological mother implored me to keep the faith. "If everyone who isn't an asshole leaves the church," my momma told me, "the church will be just a bunch of assholes."
I also particularly loved the story The Ameican Man, Age Ten (as Kirsten said I would - this is why she loaned me the book - thanks Kirsten!). I found the story of Saddam Hussein fascinating as well.
gajeam's review
5.0
The only common theme in these stories is that they are prime cut samples of narrative writing. Bill Buford, Michael Lewis, Jack Hitt, and David Foster Wallace are my favorites.
stacyjenson's review
4.0
This American Life in book form! I only actively disliked two of the pieces, but adored the other stories.
hcaliri's review
4.0
Ira Glass says this collection of reported storytelling is mostly bound together with its empathy. I'd say that -and- curiosity. Being willing to look into the strangest places for shared humanity is a good thing to take in 450 pages of.
literatehedgehog's review
4.0
Great reporting and great writing on a variety of topics, some that I expected to like (and did) and some that I didn't expect to like (and mostly did). I was entertained, I was informed, I was impressed by overall excellence.
Unfortunately, it's definitely a set of "kings" with only two women writers, one of whom wrote about the "American man, age 10." Hmm.
Since Ira Glass edited, I do wonder then if that implies more about his specific taste - that women writers write about topics that are inherently uninteresting to him, or if their writing styles are inherently less interesting to him. Or does it mean something about the general scope of reporting that he culled from - there are simply fewer women writers or fewer women writing in those venues and forums that are generally held to be respectable. Whatever the reason, it certainly cannot be that women aren't writing interesting, entertaining, informative, even ground-breaking articles and essays out there. I won't believe that, Ira Glass. Let's try for more diverse voices next time, please.
Unfortunately, it's definitely a set of "kings" with only two women writers, one of whom wrote about the "American man, age 10." Hmm.
Since Ira Glass edited, I do wonder then if that implies more about his specific taste - that women writers write about topics that are inherently uninteresting to him, or if their writing styles are inherently less interesting to him. Or does it mean something about the general scope of reporting that he culled from - there are simply fewer women writers or fewer women writing in those venues and forums that are generally held to be respectable. Whatever the reason, it certainly cannot be that women aren't writing interesting, entertaining, informative, even ground-breaking articles and essays out there. I won't believe that, Ira Glass. Let's try for more diverse voices next time, please.
solmaz's review
5.0
Fascinating compilation of essays by journalists and non-fiction writers — one of the most absorbing reads I've picked up lately, edited by the true king of non-fiction himself, Ira Glass.
abroadwell's review
4.0
As you would expect in a collection, some pieces are better than others. I particularly liked the David Foster Wallace essay on talk radio and the Susan Orlean on the mind of a ten year old boy.
hannahbrostrom's review
2.0
Some of these essays were phenomenal. Most were mediocre. Some, especially a certain 57 page essay about a painter that went absolutely nowhere, were abysmal.