Diary of an Oxygen Thief
Ratings47
Average rating2.3
Very hate-able narrator that makes you consider what might be going on in the minds of bad people. Not an easy read from a content perspective, though. I didn't put down the book with sympathy for him or any particular action item, but it was still interesting. I also appreciate the lore around the author's anonymity, even though it may have been a publicity stunt like some have speculated.
This is the most disgusting but fascinating book I've ever read. Not many books were stuck in my mind after reading them for so long. People say it becomes boring, and yes, some parts are boring, but otherwise it's good. It made me think A LOT.
Why did I low key kind of like this?
I had read so many negative reviews of people hating this. But I didn't.
Maybe it's because I know the main character (not literally obviously) but I know the type of person he is. I know him. I've loved him. And relating the MC to someone I know so deeply helped me connect to the horrors of the book.
Maybe in 2006 this type of man was more shocking. But in 2024 this type of man is so common place in the world I wasn't really shocked by anything he said or did and I think that's the true horror of this book.
The fact that something that was created to be so horrific and shocking has become so commonplace that not only did the actions and thoughts of this man didn't phase me, but I felt as if I knew him intimately in the men I've dated.
I know that what I took from this book is very different from what most people probably have, but it allowed me the capability to actually sort of enjoy it so I'm okay with that.
I hate to be one of those people that are like you are missing the point but I feel many of the horrible reviews on this book went in with the expectations that were not apt. The first sentence for gods sake says that he like hurting women?? and y'all expected him to be likable and enjoy listening to his story?
This story is incredibly unique as it is an inner monologue of an absolute abysmal man who hurts women for the sake of seeing their pain, a drunk, and overall a shit person. You see him fall in love with hurting people and with a young lady who becomes the victim of his obsession. It is uneasy and will reminder you r/incels and that is exactly what I feel the author set out to do. You get to see this man indirectly go crazy and one women turn his similar tactics on him. He is unreliable and absolutely disgusting. Every moment of this book made me feel some emotions (mostly bad), that is a job well done.
this took me so long to finish it's not even funny, i was so bored of this from the first 20 pages. everything kind of goes no where and the writing is so quirky that anyone can just counter argue that it's supposed to be all over the place as if what the author did was actually impressive. the writing is boring, i couldn't give a shit about any of the characters, the ending sucks. there's nothing good about this book apart from the idea but the main character is so boring, he's not even dislikable. he's just a boring dude saying how he finds a nice girl, emotionally manipulates her, then repeats 5 times over. I DONT CARE
This book is amazing. It definitely isn't for everyone; you're going to be exposed to crude and abusive language and experiences being told by the narrator/mc himself. However, if you're able to get past the intentionally disgusting and dislikable mc, you're dropped within a story of pain, suffering, and revenge as you explore power dynamics within abusive and manipulative relationships and how trauma and pain can manifest its way as a projection onto other people; along with the unexpected switches between the predator and the prey.
Definitely a book that requires looking past outward characterization to truly understand and grasp the depth by exploring how such a vile and despicable being attempts to justify himself and redeem himself by expressing his pain when being faced with similar treatment to his own. The irony is what brings this book together.
I first heard of this book close to ten years ago and have been desperate to read it since seeing the opening page posted on Tumblr. I found this book compelling to begin with, I could see the foundations of the narrator being unreliable, narcissistic and a misogynist, well written too. Obviously the point of the novel is that the narrator is a dick and his ‘diary' is a love letter to his shitty behaviour. I put the book down on page 81, the beginning of chapter 3 and the final chapter of the novella (?), once I jumped back in I felt bored and almost robbed up until pages 130-151 which gave a sense of excitement before ending abruptly (he did warn us of this).
I'm torn, in one sense I feel that there could have been so much more yet I fear that could also have ruined it. I'm very much keen to read the following novels and hopefully by the end of the currently trilogy I can return.
Came into this one with the mindset of like, “oh this book got super popular and people are hating on it because it's offensive, it must be doing some cool modern transgressive shit that people don't understand”. I was hoping I'd like it and be one of the cool kids in my pretentious ‘you guys just don't understand art' club.
Nope.
It's not really that offensive and mostly just kinda reads like incel fanfiction. There's nothing transgressive about being a successful toxic white guy who treats women bad and is secretly kinda sad and lonely. Tucker Max ran this well dry like 15 years ago.
Guy mostly just has a bad personality and thinks he's cooler than he is. It's got big unreliable narrator vibes but not in the fun way where it makes you question the deeper elements at play, but in an annoying eye-roll way that makes you wanna pat the guy on the shoulder and say “ok champ, good luck with that”. It feels like you're being lied to by some sad incel dipshit who thinks he's some Machiavellian mastermind.
Got a bit better near the end where it seemed like he was actually being the tiniest bit vulnerable, but by then I was completely checked out.
the author should rename this “the diary of a time thief” because my biggest regret is reading this book. i hated every word, ever letter. it has to be the worst book i have ever read in my whole life. 151 pages of entitled, pretentious bullshit. it practically follows a cishet white man that thinks he is quirky as he emotionally manipulates and destroys girls. the “plot twist”, if you will, is that he ends up getting his own heart broken by a girl that does the exact same to him. good on her. i really hate how he kept repeating “if this gets published”, because really, how did this book ever see the light of day? i would rather sit through a lecture on the history of maths than put my eyes upon this book ever again. want to forget i ever read this book. i never want to think about it again. unworthy piece of shit.
This is a strange book. I don't mean it has endearing quirks or interesting oddball ideas – it's strange because the writing is irregular in tone and quality, the pacing erratic, the settings somehow clear yet myopic, rambling. Not bad per se, but definitely adventurous down the wrong fork in the road.
It's a book about a self-loathing and reads like an extended greentext. The author drags you through his demented world as if he's recanting the events to a therapist, complete with the expectation that you'll pick through the narrated wreckage and refrain from kicking him out in disgust.
Not that your disgust should be very visceral, that is. The infantile “beatdowns” delivered in the first half of the novel were so glib as to be almost not worth the space they take up. A simple “I like abusing women – that's the premise” would have been as effective.
As for the entire ending scene...if you were able to cultivate any sort of emotional response from beneath the author's hack affectations (switching to second-person? stripping dialogue? why, to illustrate his mental haze and absurd paranoia? He's sober for god's sake!) and bizarre chain of events, you would probably be left thinking...is that it? Is that all they can muster? He hurts them and they stage weird pantomimes about his manhood and spike his drinks? Why are there so many people just hanging around like villainous stooges, laughing like extras in a comedy?
The narrator is 35 or thereabouts by the time the novel ends, but I'm betting Anonymous is in his early twenties. If you want to real novel about sexist misanthropy read Mishima's Forbidden Colours instead.
http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-73-diary-of-an-oxygen-thief/
I just hated this book so much.