"How Should a Person Be?" -- Have you read this? Should I read it?

[nmoira]

This book wasn't even on my radar until I read this (guess this is my day for posting Slate articles):

 

"Listening to Women: Why smart, serious men have misunderstood Sheila Heti’s new book"

 

This is what caught my attention from the article: “He’s just another man who wants to teach me something.†So, should I read it? Does the fact that I am wary and want to hand off the decision to someone else mean I need to read it? :tongue_smilie: Will I be left wondering what David Foster Wallace has to do with anything?

[Bang!Zoom!]

Beats me, but the respondents in the comments section don't seem to care for Ms. Dean much.

 

You might want to fish around for a few more reviews before you give up time to read it.

 

There was a lot of vitriol present.

 

I personally didn't see anything but a huge one voice narrative that was hard to follow.

 

The Amazon reviews (be they good or bad, and only 5) outline a subject I would probably excuse myself from if it were being celebrated in discussion.

 

http://www.amazon.com/How-Should-Person-Be-Novel/product-reviews/0805094725/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

[Cammie]

I wanted to read it after reading the Slate article and the NY Times piece as well. From what I took away from the reviews, it is a novel written in a new/offbeat kind of voice. The complaint seems to be that when men use such techniques they are geniuses and when women do...they are less favorably reviewed. While I would like to support the author...I just don't have the interest in reading something that is "unique" just because it is "unique."

 

Let us know if you read it and what you think!