ASK Musings

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Daily Archive: 09/03/2013

Saturday

9

March 2013

0

COMMENTS

Gone Girl

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Okay, everyone’s read this right? No? Briefest of synopses: woman goes missing, leaving behind cleaned-up blood and a possibly-staged crime scene, and husband is the suspect. The first chunk of the book is told alternatingly from his perspective and then from her diary entries. The rest … I’ll leave for you to discover.

So here’s my take. It’s really good. I read it in about three days, and screwed up my sleep by staying up about two hours later than I should have because I go so into it. I was really able to picture this couple, both in happier times and during the years leading up to the woman’s disappearance. The author did a really great job in creating different voices, making the characters stand out. It wasn’t quite like two different authors wrote it, but it was enough to make me believe these two different people and their perspectives.

Complaints? Hmmm. There are some super unsatisfying moments where I wish things went a different direction, but I think that’s good for a book. If I go along assuming X will happen because that’s what I want to happen, that doesn’t make for a very interesting read. Pleasant and mindless, sure, but not interesting. And I like interesting.

I borrowed this from the library and might re-read it again in a year. I have a feeling that, like The Sixth Sense, it will be kind of fun to go back and reread parts knowing how it ends.

gone_girl_original

Saturday

9

March 2013

0

COMMENTS

The Bedwetter

Written by , Posted in Reviews

This is the second audiobook I’ve ‘read’ for the Cannonball Read. Sticking with my idea of listening to female comic memoirs read by the authors, I picked The Bedwetter. I chose it with a bit of trepidation, as while I’ve found myself laughing at some of Sarah Silverman’s work, I recalled that she’s said some things that left a bad taste in my mouth. In general I think people are pretty torn on Sarah Silverman. They either find her funny or find her annoying / inappropriate. After listening to this memoir I’m definitely more of a fan of her work.

bedwetter

The book has a very sincere tone to it without being annoying. She sounds like herself, but not like a character version of herself, if that makes sense. Whether it was an act or not, I imagined that this is what she’d sound like talking to her friends. She shares some stories that would clearly be mortifying for a child or teenager, making her quite relatable, and sheds some light onto both the world of making a sitcom-style show and working at Saturday Night Live as a writer.

I think my favorite parts were where she discussed jokes she’s told that were not well received. Probably the best-known instance of this was when she was on Conan O’Brien and made a joke that used a racial slur for Asian people. Many people I know would probably stop listening there, but I was in the middle of a run and so didn’t really have a choice. And by that point I’d also felt like I’d invested enough in the book to want to hear her discussion of it. You know what? It was a very interesting, well-thought out discussion. Yes, she is a comic who make jokes about poo, but she’s also a thoughtful person interested in social commentary.

The audio book is about six hours in length, so just long enough for me to listen to it over about a week’s worth of runs. I’m glad I purchased it instead of borrowing it from the library because it’s the kind of book I could see myself listening to again in the future.