Hilarious! A collection of funny stories on David's life and family. What was really important besides the entertainment value is a perspective of someone living in and out of the United States during some major cultural points around 2020. There's a whole story dedicated to guns, another about lockdowns while living in NYC. Also what it was like during the BLM protests in NYC. And then there's a whole bunch of stories of Sedaris reflecting in painful detail his family and the heavy dynamics and personalities all with a witty sense of humour. I would gladly recommend to anyone who would listen to "This American Life" podcast, where I've listened to several of his stories. Without a doubt he's gifted and this was a beautiful collections of personal stories. I'm currently reading another of his books, "The Best of Me", which is honestly a collection of humourous writing that was thrown against the wall to see what would stick (not the recommended method of cooking or writing these days). It's okay, but I've skipped a a few chapters which appear to be fake parody letters to a newspaper or similar comedy writing exercises.
I've read a few of Moore's novels as he's remained one of my favourite authors in comedy sci-fi/fantasy category. This one was, after reading the author's afterward notes in the back, a retake on Shakespear's King Lear. I'm not a fan of Shakespear, and thus some setup and scenes I could've cared less. That being said it was the same pose and pacing I expected with filthy dialogue and scenes all humourously tied together. The actually storyline and plot was loss on me at times because the characters were so close in naming and personalities I didn't try too hard to keep track. I find this common in books that require a map and list of main characters listed at the front. If this were a movie and you were watching with someone there might be lots of pausing to ask, "Who the fuck is this person again?" As it was a wind down book before bedtime I read it with asumed interest until the annoying jumping around and details every night. It was still a decent read, but I still perfer Moore's contemporary setting books instead.
Just finished this book last evening and decided I had to capture my thoughts (hence this list). The book is a fascinating story telling behind the headlines and perceived scenes of Elon Muck's takeover. There's been quite a bit of artistic liberty taken re-telling teh scenes and details as though this was a treatment for a future movie deal. I have watched the movie "Dumb Money" which was based on a book by the same author. It's written appropriately for the non-techie audience, but there's plenty of details and bits of what it's like to work at a big tech business in SF and NYC. Most evenings I'm re-reading "Ego is the Enemy", by Ryan Holiday to my son as he drifts off to sleep. "Breaking Twitter" is an excellent case study of someone falling intoxicated by the thrill of the egotism and all that Twitter's business model encourages in people. Doing and saying outrageous things for attention. My opinion is still uncertain about Elon Musk, for instance I did not know he was on the spectrum with Asperger’s. And the managemnt style is very similar from a book I read about Donald Trump while I was in college. The unpredictable whisms of the wind and self destructive nature of self importance and treating people as a means to an end. Overall, I could not put the book down when I had a chance, very similar to how I treated Twitter back when it was fun and useful for someone interested in tech.