A review by abbeyjfox
Woke Up Lonely by Fiona Maazel
2.0
Oh man, I wanted to love this book. Sincerely. I love the concepts - exploring loneliness within the context of community - the power dynamics of loneliness between leaders & followers - political conceptions of loneliness (and East vs. West). The idea behind this book is SO strong and interesting.
And yet, the delivery is treacherous to get through. Maazel is a talented writer, no doubt. Amazing imagery, fantastic one liners; but this book was trying to do TOO much. It was mostly confusing, stuck between wanting to be a philosophy book or just fiction, and just chaotic- but not in an intended or satisfying way.
I would have preferred an unpacking of just one of the characters or story lines instead of minimal information about over 10 people with many different plots and chaos.
That being said, I finished it - which I normally don't do when I'm feeling frustrated. That's because I feel so much promise in the ideas behind this book. It made me conceptualize & think about loneliness (and togetherness) in very specific ways...but something important was off. I am so sad to report this!
And yet, the delivery is treacherous to get through. Maazel is a talented writer, no doubt. Amazing imagery, fantastic one liners; but this book was trying to do TOO much. It was mostly confusing, stuck between wanting to be a philosophy book or just fiction, and just chaotic- but not in an intended or satisfying way.
I would have preferred an unpacking of just one of the characters or story lines instead of minimal information about over 10 people with many different plots and chaos.
That being said, I finished it - which I normally don't do when I'm feeling frustrated. That's because I feel so much promise in the ideas behind this book. It made me conceptualize & think about loneliness (and togetherness) in very specific ways...but something important was off. I am so sad to report this!