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bookslut007's review against another edition
5.0
What a crazy ride this book takes you on. Such an honest account of monogamy or lack there of and the insane adventure the author takes it work his shit out. Unreal! The ending made me super happy.
augmentedaugust's review against another edition
2.0
Definitely entertaining, but ultimately really disappointing with a pile of essentialist gender stereotypes that made me want to hurl. Ultimately I just think this guy is quite a good writer and also mostly an idiot.
meowmediareads's review against another edition
2.0
Point for Strauss’s always engaging writing style. What worked with The Game is that he took something odd and unseemly and surprised readers with how well it worked. In The Truth, he takes ridiculousness and pretty much shows how it doesn’t work...as expected. In areas where he ate popcorn during a woo woo orgy for laughs, it felt zany. When he constructed a five part symbolic mea culpa out of craft supplies to win back his love, it felt hokey. The potential for this being an interesting book for me was with his family issues and upbringing, but instead of weaving it into his mansplainy selfish attitude and how to better his life, his best gurus just kind of repeated over and over that his father was weak and he was enmeshed by his mother. I understood the first several times, even if Strauss didn’t. By all means though, if you liked “how to score a chick with magic tricks” you’ll love “how to marry a chick with labor intensive zany psychological evaluation over months and years...oh and f***ing!”
Bonus points for teaching me that “metamour” is a classy word for “Eskimo brother.”
Bonus points for teaching me that “metamour” is a classy word for “Eskimo brother.”
breenmachine's review against another edition
3.0
I'm impressed that he wrote what he felt and didn't hold anything back. Vulnerability to the extreme. Parts of it were very sad, but I liked how he explained his whole experience through every transition.
amber_lea84's review against another edition
5.0
lol, this book is amazing. Neil Strauss is a complete narcissist trying to figure out why his life is a disaster and he repeatedly goes through the cycle of thinking he's found THE ANSWER and realizing he has (surprise!) no idea what he's talking about. Like another reviewer said, he's "authentically inauthentic." He's utterly shameless about his terrible thoughts and feelings in a way that feels like it's intended to manipulate the reader into finding him charmingly honest.
Neil Strauss is a solid writer, and his books are a window into the mind of someone who overthinks every interaction and is neurotically seeking an edge in every situation. He's the kind of guy who thinks he's outsmarting everyone, including the reader, and I just...I love him in the worst way. He is a genuinely terrible person.
Neil Strauss is a solid writer, and his books are a window into the mind of someone who overthinks every interaction and is neurotically seeking an edge in every situation. He's the kind of guy who thinks he's outsmarting everyone, including the reader, and I just...I love him in the worst way. He is a genuinely terrible person.
poseidon9697's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
marina_dal's review against another edition
3.0
Solid three stars for 1. an engaging listen (Neil is nothing if not a great storyteller), 2. honest: there ar meant points where he could’ve painted himself in a better light and he did not, which I appreciated, and 3. centering the importance of trauma and healing from trauma in forming a health relationship. While I wish the book had spent just a bit more time exploring healthy relating, and a bit less time on detailing the author’s sexcapades (it read like erotica at times), I get that the stories are what’s engaging and what many many folks will connect with. If that’s what it takes for the message to land, so be it!
iabouzied's review against another edition
5.0
*This book is very graphic*
Wow, this book was just phenomenal.
While much of the book follows Strauss's excursions into exploring non-monogamy, it is ultimately about how unacknowledged childhood traumas prevent intimacy.
Strauss believes monogamy to be a broken system, restricting freedom and demonizing our most basic desires. After jumping around from non-monogamous relationship style to the next, he realizes that it is not the system that is broken, its him. Sex was his coping mechanism for trying to receive the love he was never given as a child. He is forced to confront his past and heal his childhood wounds.
Made my must-read list.
Wow, this book was just phenomenal.
While much of the book follows Strauss's excursions into exploring non-monogamy, it is ultimately about how unacknowledged childhood traumas prevent intimacy.
Strauss believes monogamy to be a broken system, restricting freedom and demonizing our most basic desires. After jumping around from non-monogamous relationship style to the next, he realizes that it is not the system that is broken, its him. Sex was his coping mechanism for trying to receive the love he was never given as a child. He is forced to confront his past and heal his childhood wounds.
Made my must-read list.