Dry: A Memoir
Like I did Running With Scissors, I read this in one day, and I love his writing; it’s so conversational and clean, like a friend’s house where everything is just so, but lived in, too. But the last, say, quarter of the book kind of bothered me. It felt rushed, and I wasn’t sure what to make of his self-absorption re: Pighead. Is the part at the end supposed to make us feel sorry for him? Are we meant to think he’s, at bottom, still a bit of a dick? I don’t need everything wrapped up in a bow for me here, but the writing in the last part is also a bit…I don’t know. Not stilted, just kind of…not invested. Show-offy, like admiring your own handwriting in your journal. In a book that hadn’t started as strongly, this wouldn’t have bugged me, but it’s just a little weird. I really did like the book, though. (11/14/05)
Tags: books