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A review by willkay
Oh the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey
1.0
Oh the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey is an autobiography. In theory it has the potential for a good story. Sean Wilsey and his parents are not people I have heard of before but they have travelled in circles that include the rich and the famous. Sean's parents divorced when he was young and the story of their divorce was a major news event in San Francisco. His father went on to re-marry (an evil step mum), his mother went on to set up a Children for Peace organisation (and has now written her own reply: Oh the Hell of It All), Sean ended up dropping out of school after school.
The beginning of the book, the story of his parent's divorce, the moving between houses is interesting. You can understand his desire to be liked, to be loved. You follow his problems at settling in and school and you agree with his hatred of life in expensive private schools - it appears that lacrosse players have always been bastards! The book follows his descent into alcohol, drugs and skateboarding. His descent through schools that were full of over-privileged children who were going to somewhere to schools full of young adults who were going nowhere to a small school of eight who were trying to find their way back into society. The methods used in each of these schools to help Sean find himself are extreme - much worse than the military school that he ran away from before he even entered the door. And so, as a novel it has its interesting moments.
However, this was the 100 word synopsis that Mr. Wilsey used to sell the book to his publishers. Unfortunately, round about page 300, he gives up on this story and spends the next 150 pages telling the story of his relationship with his father/evil step-mother. Although this could have been a good story it isn't. Instead of writing a tale that is complicated and complex, he just whines and whines and whines. I finished the book but I sped-read the last 100 pages, turning over quickly and reading the odd paragraph here and there, trying to find something that might hold my attention. I didn't.
I finished the book (mainly because I didn't want to abandon another book in mid-stream) but it was with no sense of longing (wishing that I could follow more of the story, more of the characters), nor did I finish it with any sense of joy (feeling uplifted). I finished with more of a sense of "I've finished!"
The beginning of the book, the story of his parent's divorce, the moving between houses is interesting. You can understand his desire to be liked, to be loved. You follow his problems at settling in and school and you agree with his hatred of life in expensive private schools - it appears that lacrosse players have always been bastards! The book follows his descent into alcohol, drugs and skateboarding. His descent through schools that were full of over-privileged children who were going to somewhere to schools full of young adults who were going nowhere to a small school of eight who were trying to find their way back into society. The methods used in each of these schools to help Sean find himself are extreme - much worse than the military school that he ran away from before he even entered the door. And so, as a novel it has its interesting moments.
However, this was the 100 word synopsis that Mr. Wilsey used to sell the book to his publishers. Unfortunately, round about page 300, he gives up on this story and spends the next 150 pages telling the story of his relationship with his father/evil step-mother. Although this could have been a good story it isn't. Instead of writing a tale that is complicated and complex, he just whines and whines and whines. I finished the book but I sped-read the last 100 pages, turning over quickly and reading the odd paragraph here and there, trying to find something that might hold my attention. I didn't.
I finished the book (mainly because I didn't want to abandon another book in mid-stream) but it was with no sense of longing (wishing that I could follow more of the story, more of the characters), nor did I finish it with any sense of joy (feeling uplifted). I finished with more of a sense of "I've finished!"