4.25 stars. A fun read and a great premise. Bought it in an Amsterdam airport bookstore because my kindle broke and I finished it the next day because I was in transit most of that time. A great travel read

September 16, 2023

I think I just really love Michael Pollan. He's a great writer and a great mind.

July 17, 2021

4.5 stars, rounded down. Bleak bleak bleak book but really interesting, filled with some really great writing and ideas. Brave of the writer to write such fucked up characters, especially Bruno the sex pest.

June 29, 2023

4.5 stars. Loved the concept and the direction the story takes. Loved the characters and the political message. Really my only qualm was the “silver-system”...idea was amazing, execution felt a little half baked.

May 8, 2024

God i loves this book. Franzens best since The Corrections. Better in many ways. I just want to live in the world he's created and the minds of his characters. Already looking forwards to re-reading.

November 2, 2021

I think Karl might be an alcoholic

September 19, 2022

4.5 stars. Had a hard time reading this book because I found it very triggering which means there's probably lots of parts inside me that need healing. Has inspired me to find an IFS therapist.

February 19, 2025
August 25, 2024

She's not wrong. I found this both entertaining and informative and I agreed with most of it, despite being a man. My favorite bits though were her arguments that men cannot be groovy in the way a woman can. Very 1968

March 5, 2025

God this book is bleak. While I knew most of the stuff in here, seeing it all in one place makes you realize what a truly evil empire the US is.

November 30, 2024

Such a good and honest book about being over your head in love in an unhealthy way. Every chapter has a line that took my breath away. Bad title though.

June 11, 2024

This book resonated with me. That Jung, he might be on to something.

Don't judge this book by it's cover, the writing quality and message are phenomenal.

May 26, 2022

Wow I loved it. Really nailed everything that's wrong (and right) about Silicon Valley. Anna is an amazing writer and there were times I was floored, or burst out laughing. I can't wait to read more of her work.

April 7, 2022
August 15, 2024

I really love everything I've read of John Williams. Such a simple story, simply told. But beautifully written. The adult version of a Jack London book or something like that. Captures the human condition and human history in such a small story about hunting buffalo.

May 7, 2025

3.5 stars. Parts of it are amazing, and parts of it make me cringe so hard like an Andy weir book.

January 8, 2022

4.5 stars. Very readable book where nothing much happens.

July 23, 2024

3.5 stars

August 8, 2022

There were brief moments where I got lost in the prose, and found it like a beautiful dream. Moments. But mostly I found myself rolling my eyes. It's like if you gave a 16 year old a really good vocabulary and tasked him with writing literary fiction. I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't.

July 9, 2021

I forgot that I actually read this when I was like 16, but it came back to me when I was reading it. It must not have made much of an impression on me back then and I can see why. It's an interesting story but I was so bored of it the whole time. Good ideas, bad writing.

July 4, 2022
October 11, 2022
October 2, 2022

If there was any justice in the world this book would be taught in every school in America. But of course there isn't any justice in the world. This book is about that and how families can love each other despite that, because of that.

January 31, 2024

The title and topic of this made me really excited to read it but I'm not sure I learned anything? It felt like a combination of common sense and long since rejected psychological theory.

March 31, 2025

God, so good. A blistering read. What's that George RR Martin quote, the only story worth telling is the human heart in conflict with itself, or something like that. Was completely blown away by this book.

March 19, 2023