moogen's review against another edition
2.0
I was hoping to read essays on praiseworthy messy lives... and I enjoyed the few that answered that brief - the rest not so much. I did find the author grating - even when I agreed with her opinions. There was something brattish and morally superior about her tone that didn't sit well with me. The themes and sidebars tended to repetitious as well.
samandtheirbooks's review
4.0
It was good! I want to reread it at another time. I don't fully have my thoughts yet but maybe that will come for the reread.
The section about the internet is so dated it's kinda unreadable
The section about the internet is so dated it's kinda unreadable
kbratten's review against another edition
2.0
Katie Roiphe is a talented writer with a way with words. She comes off as smart, savvy, and personable. Some essays are better than others. Some I cringed through. I just don't like her very much after reading them, so I stopped.
jaclynday's review against another edition
3.0
Roiphe is an extremely problematic fave, but this collection of her previous essays is worth a read, especially when she turns to her own life for material. (Her literary analysis can be fascinating, but the forced seriousness is…not.) Stay for the commentary on parenting and motherhood. I’m biased, I know, but I’d rather read Roiphe’s intense and sometimes cutting views on the modern state of those things than her thoughts on Joan Didion’s refusal to get too personal in her work. (I got my 600+ page fill of Didion recently, though. Didion fatigue.)
colls's review against another edition
3.0
Some of her essays were interesting and I didn't find her societal commentary as offensive as I had expected to based on some of the hype. She does seem annoyed with modern life at times - but in a way that being childless in a sea of child-rearing friends I can appreciate. Her essays on some books and authors weren't fascinating at all and I admit to skimming portions of those out of boredom.
vkm13's review against another edition
3.0
This book was interesting and there were a lot of fascinating ideas in it. I wanted to like it more but ultimately it just felt a little too messy, ironically enough.
This book is made up of a collection of essays and I feel like they didn't all go together that well. The theme of messiness was introduced at the beginning but I feel like there should have been more done to give a the book some extra cohesiveness. It really felt as though in some ways the theme was just an excuse to put all these essays together for the first time. And, while there's nothing wrong with that, I just expected more out of the reading experience.
Still, there were a lot of really great moments in there, which is why I still rank it as three stars. And I do want to check out some of Katie Roiphe's other writing as well. So in that way, In Praise of Messy Lives was successful and I did enjoy reading it. I just expected a bit more.
This book is made up of a collection of essays and I feel like they didn't all go together that well. The theme of messiness was introduced at the beginning but I feel like there should have been more done to give a the book some extra cohesiveness. It really felt as though in some ways the theme was just an excuse to put all these essays together for the first time. And, while there's nothing wrong with that, I just expected more out of the reading experience.
Still, there were a lot of really great moments in there, which is why I still rank it as three stars. And I do want to check out some of Katie Roiphe's other writing as well. So in that way, In Praise of Messy Lives was successful and I did enjoy reading it. I just expected a bit more.
sallyeh's review
3.0
What a strange collection of essays. First it's disappointing how few if any are original to the book; you can almost hear an editor suggesting current topics for her to rather superficially write about. And, in that way, Roiphe lost me in the last quarter of the book and I nearly stopped reading. I didn't need to spend time reading about her lightweight commentary about Facebook or Internet commenters. That said, I loved the section on writing women, liked the (very few) essays that actually reflected the title--redefinition of tradition and expectation, and the book closed strong with the essay about Alexis the dominatrix.
andrewbenesh1's review
4.0
One of the more complicated reads I've had lately. I find myself agreeing with and wishing to challenge Roiphe in equal measure, and totally out of my depth during her excursions on Mailer and Updike. I can see why she's controversial, and am impressed by her skillful critiques. Worth a read, even if she's not your favorite person.
dennisdiehl's review
4.0
4 1/2 stars. As collections of essays go, aside from Hitchens and Klosterman, it doesn't get much better.
erincook's review
4.0
It's a good rule to never ever read goodreads reviews unless it has been written by your friends. I don't know what the beef with Katie Roiphe is (I didn't get as much from the Gawker essay or the Mrs C lark as I imagine I should've) and I got this one from the library because I borrowed a whole lot from a very specific subsection of 'essay -- 21st century'. This was fantastic, some of it hasn't stood up so well over time (I had to skip the Hillary Clinton section because I was cringing so hard) but other parts really, really have. I liked it a lot and I'm going to read more of her.