I started my blog five years ago (!), and I sometimes look back on my reviews, thankful that I can relive both the book and the time period in which I read it. There are plenty of reviews that embarrass me-- the writing is clunky, I come across as too try-hard, my jokes don’t land, etc. Whatever. I’m just trying to do the damn thing without taking the plunge into an overly self-critical headspace, ya know?
One post that gives me pride rather than embarrassment is my review of Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York. I read the book and wrote the review when I was moving from NYC after 4.5 years. Many of the reasons why I wanted to leave matched with sentiments expressed by writers in the collection. So, it felt fitting that on my first real trip back to visit the city precisely a year after my departure, I read Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York*.
After publishing Goodbye to All That in 2013, Sari Botton got complaints from whiny NYC die-hards. Her response: publish a collection of stories by writers who love New York and want to stay. The result: a fairly redundant set of less interesting stories. Most of the writing in Never Can Say Goodbye is still heavily anti-NYC. So much for “unshakable love”. It also comes across as formulaic: [insert bit about how NYC is so expensive], [insert bit about how it’s hard to find love in NYC], [insert bit about how I have these beautiful, exciting, specifically New York nights that make me stay despite the aforementioned expenses and lack of connection], [insert bit about how, through some lucky break, I finally stumble upon reasonable rent and a stable relationship]. All in all, it is boring, which is a pitiful depiction of a very non-boring city.
To my surprise, the only piece I really love in the collection is Elizabeth Gilbert’s. I’ve never read Eat, Pray, Love, but the judgmental streak in me assumes it is very cheesy. Turns out, she has some serious edge. Never Can Say Goodbye details her time working as a bartender for the Coyote Ugly Saloon-- as in, the one that inspired the movie. Her piece is unique and well-written amidst the cookie-cutter blandness. Other contributors that slightly pique my interest include Whoopi Goldberg and Nick Flynn, whose memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, still haunts me on a regular basis (in a good way).
Overall, I’m disappointed in Never Can Say Goodbye, especially given how much I love Goodbye to All That. It comes across as forced, and I think the collection should have been more carefully curated considering the fact that a few of the writers did, in fact, love and leave New York. New York will always feel a little bit like home to me and I’m happy that I too can love and leave. Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York receives 2 out of 5 camel humps.
After publishing Goodbye to All That in 2013, Sari Botton got complaints from whiny NYC die-hards. Her response: publish a collection of stories by writers who love New York and want to stay. The result: a fairly redundant set of less interesting stories. Most of the writing in Never Can Say Goodbye is still heavily anti-NYC. So much for “unshakable love”. It also comes across as formulaic: [insert bit about how NYC is so expensive], [insert bit about how it’s hard to find love in NYC], [insert bit about how I have these beautiful, exciting, specifically New York nights that make me stay despite the aforementioned expenses and lack of connection], [insert bit about how, through some lucky break, I finally stumble upon reasonable rent and a stable relationship]. All in all, it is boring, which is a pitiful depiction of a very non-boring city.
To my surprise, the only piece I really love in the collection is Elizabeth Gilbert’s. I’ve never read Eat, Pray, Love, but the judgmental streak in me assumes it is very cheesy. Turns out, she has some serious edge. Never Can Say Goodbye details her time working as a bartender for the Coyote Ugly Saloon-- as in, the one that inspired the movie. Her piece is unique and well-written amidst the cookie-cutter blandness. Other contributors that slightly pique my interest include Whoopi Goldberg and Nick Flynn, whose memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, still haunts me on a regular basis (in a good way).
Overall, I’m disappointed in Never Can Say Goodbye, especially given how much I love Goodbye to All That. It comes across as forced, and I think the collection should have been more carefully curated considering the fact that a few of the writers did, in fact, love and leave New York. New York will always feel a little bit like home to me and I’m happy that I too can love and leave. Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York receives 2 out of 5 camel humps.
*Botton, Sarah. Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York. New York: Gallery Books, 2014. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment