ktscarf's review against another edition
2.0
I would count 'Stuart: A Life Backwards' by the same author as one of my favourite books, but unfortunately won't be adding A Life Discarded to that list. I found the concept intriguing but struggled to stick with it while reading - at various times I felt lost, and that the author was referring to points or people in the life of the diarist that I couldn't remember being mentioned before or couldn't work out how they fitted in. Around 4/5s of the way through the book, the author reveals that he hadn't yet read all of the diaries and, more importantly, had never arranged them into chronological order - which explained my confusion! Even a small reference to this near the start of the book would have made my reading experience much more pleasurable, and although I did find the eventual conclusion of the story satisfying, it didn't do enough to make up for my disengagement during the first section.
gemmaduds's review against another edition
5.0
‘A Life Discarded’ begins with Alexander and his friends finding 148 journals discarded in a skip. From there on, Alexander attempts to unravel the mysterious writer of these journals – leading us into the oddly fascinating life of an entirely unremarkable person.
There are moments throughout Alexander’s work that are really astonishing, reminding us that at times the truth (and life) can be entirely unexpected.
A few previous reviews of this book mark Alexander down because his narrative surrounding the journals is often more appealing than the journal itself. I think that they have completely missed the point – his argument throughout is exactly that; works of fiction, newspaper articles, biographies, are all written for an audience and are supposed to be entertaining. The mundane ramblings of an ordinary person struggling through their life in their journals is not intended to be for an audience – and Alexander has done such a wonderful job of moulding the subject’s life workings into something that we can really read and enjoy.
It took me quite a long time to finish this biography despite it being a quick read; after every few pages I suddenly felt the urge to write in my own journal – and although I am not quite as dedicated to mine as the subject of this biography, it certainly helped me to get more words down onto paper.
This is a really enjoyable read – very funny, entertaining and strangely suspenseful.
There are moments throughout Alexander’s work that are really astonishing, reminding us that at times the truth (and life) can be entirely unexpected.
A few previous reviews of this book mark Alexander down because his narrative surrounding the journals is often more appealing than the journal itself. I think that they have completely missed the point – his argument throughout is exactly that; works of fiction, newspaper articles, biographies, are all written for an audience and are supposed to be entertaining. The mundane ramblings of an ordinary person struggling through their life in their journals is not intended to be for an audience – and Alexander has done such a wonderful job of moulding the subject’s life workings into something that we can really read and enjoy.
It took me quite a long time to finish this biography despite it being a quick read; after every few pages I suddenly felt the urge to write in my own journal – and although I am not quite as dedicated to mine as the subject of this biography, it certainly helped me to get more words down onto paper.
This is a really enjoyable read – very funny, entertaining and strangely suspenseful.
plaidpladd's review against another edition
3.0
The premise of this book is really interesting. I'm a faithful diary keeper myself, and often wonder what a stranger would think upon reading my journal--especially all the definitely TMI descriptions of my health problems, so the subject of this book and I have things in common! The format and structure were so... odd? It was meant to mimic the author's own journey of discovery about the author of the diaries, but it didn't work for me. Also could have done without the asides about the author's personal life, particularly the details about his friend dying of cancer. Usually once someone gets cancer, I immediately stop reading a book, but I figured since it was tangential to the narrative at best it wouldn't come up much here. I was wrong!
lola425's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting study of a life, unremarkable, disappointing, yet still lived, still worthy of examination. Also a study of scholarship, why something grabs someone's imagination, the thrills and disappointments of discovery, the absolute sureness of your determinations that turn out to be both true and completely false.
richardpierce's review against another edition
3.0
Actually 3.5 stars. Very readable. Sobering, really, as it just emphasises how little time we have and how easily we can let our lives drift by. A must-read if the human condition is something you ponder on.
girgir81's review against another edition
5.0
I picked this book up from a book fair back in February of this year (along with at least a dozen more, you know how it’s like :p) and when I started reading it, I knew very little about it.
Frankly, initially, I thought the 148 discarded diaries belonged to more than one person and, in my typical fashion, I started to imagine scenarios as to how and why this happened.
Right from the very first few pages, I knew this book was different. It hooked me. It tickled my curiosity and made me unable to put it down. With the turn of every page came new pieces of information that slowly helped build that amazing story layer by layer.
The way Alexander Masters approached this biography was just genius! You read and read and feel like you’re not reading fast enough to get to the character reveal. You’re cheated and misguided along the way and keep expecting that you won’t get to the truth or that character, but… you do! And it’s climactic and fun and thrilling!
It was among the most fun books I’ve read in a very long time - not one dull moment honestly.
What I enjoyed most about this book is that it’s so human, so real and so relatable. We all think we process things differently and think and feel differently but we really don’t. Reading the innermost thoughts and feelings of that character made me realize we are all more alike than we think, though sometimes a little less neurotic than the character.
I never thought I would enjoy a biography but Masters turned me. I am now a fan and have since bought two of his other books “Stuart: a Life Backwards” and “Simon: the Genius in my Basement”. I look forward to reading and enjoying those as much as I enjoyed this book.
I will leave you with 2 quotes from the book that I really liked:
“To get away from the living is easy, but the dead follow you everywhere.”
“Her drama is that she is not fiction.”
Frankly, initially, I thought the 148 discarded diaries belonged to more than one person and, in my typical fashion, I started to imagine scenarios as to how and why this happened.
Right from the very first few pages, I knew this book was different. It hooked me. It tickled my curiosity and made me unable to put it down. With the turn of every page came new pieces of information that slowly helped build that amazing story layer by layer.
The way Alexander Masters approached this biography was just genius! You read and read and feel like you’re not reading fast enough to get to the character reveal. You’re cheated and misguided along the way and keep expecting that you won’t get to the truth or that character, but… you do! And it’s climactic and fun and thrilling!
It was among the most fun books I’ve read in a very long time - not one dull moment honestly.
What I enjoyed most about this book is that it’s so human, so real and so relatable. We all think we process things differently and think and feel differently but we really don’t. Reading the innermost thoughts and feelings of that character made me realize we are all more alike than we think, though sometimes a little less neurotic than the character.
I never thought I would enjoy a biography but Masters turned me. I am now a fan and have since bought two of his other books “Stuart: a Life Backwards” and “Simon: the Genius in my Basement”. I look forward to reading and enjoying those as much as I enjoyed this book.
I will leave you with 2 quotes from the book that I really liked:
“To get away from the living is easy, but the dead follow you everywhere.”
“Her drama is that she is not fiction.”
curlykew's review
The discovery of the diaries is intriguing, solving the mystery as to who authored the diaries felt engaging, but the format of the telling of these things just didn't work for me. I felt like I was reading an author's overworked notes before actually starting the first draft. I finally stopped bc I didn't even care who she was after a time.