I loved this! This is a book about everything. It's "creative nonfiction" that moves from memoir to journalism and is informed by women, theory, movies, everything. It's all the big brains of "litratshure" and none of the b.s. It's subjective and personal and all the more trustworthy for being honest. Good, great, fantastic. Such a welcome relief from grad school. ( )

Star-rating does not apply to this work. The best of it is flat-out stunning - funny and brilliant and thrilling as a new truth, like a joke that cuts so surprisingly deeply laughing is not enough. It is, however, a bit uneven, occasionally cruel, and sometimes over-reaching in either technique or conclusion. Still, a colossal achievement and absolutely worth reading. ( )

I am just gonna have to accept that there is a certain kind of writing, a certain kind of way of making art and text, that just does not do it for me. At all. Because I don't consume media to become intimate with the creator of the media I'm consuming. I want to get into the actual media itself. I don't go, oh look at the creative person's intelligence, their emotions, their sensitivity and cleverness. I don't care. At all. I know this is at odds with the way some people, the tasteful people, prefer to consume media. For them, watching movies and TV and reading books is, on some level, enjoying the sweetness of a relationship, so the author, the auteur is important because that is the person they are having a relationship with. So they know writers' biographies! They decide to watch a director's movies without knowing what it's about beforehand! They have listened to a band's entire catalog, even the shit albums! I cannot understand this, beyond having a crush on someone's image, because come on, that is all that you are really doing, right? I notice these people also have the most difficulty with video games. ANYWAY. This book is for those people. This book is nothing but intimacy with Hilton Als! Must be like candy to them.

I didn't really care though. I actually prefer discussions on race, gender, pop culture, etc. to state their purpose and ideas explicitly, like in academic writing. Or as themes in straight forward fiction.

Couldn't get into this one. ( )

This is THE best book of essays (a mashup of fiction, non-fiction, critique) by a fearless writer who can put words together that leave your jaw dropped. On top of that, Als is the queen of brilliant first sentences. ( )