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Byron

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Larson’s Failure: a COVID Creation

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Story
1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-20-24

I’ve read all of Larson’s books, so I preordered this one. Unfortunately, a strange combination of COVID-fueled tedium and January 6 mania drives this narrative. The tone whenever Larson describes The South and Southerners is oddly personal in its scorn, as though the author is virtue-signaling across time to the dead. The Audible performer follows these cues, reading with forced mockery that quickly becomes tiresome. Unfortunately, this book is a total failure as a story. It bores the reader and sold only because Larson’s previous work is strong. Hoping he recovers enough equanimity to avoid self-indulgent enmity next time.

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2 people found this helpful

Boring, plagiarized, silly reading with fake deep voices for men, brainless for women.

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-27-24

Waste of time and money. Sloppy writing, repetitious vocabulary, tedious sex scenes, ripped off everything from 50 Shades. Just awful. I’m annoyed with Fleur du Mal lingerie for recommending it.

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Tedious, repetitive book about a fascinating man by an unimpressive author

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-04-24

Walter Isaacson should not be allowed to profile people with minds far more complex and developed than his. He uses no more than a dozen adjectives; he’s never clever, and he editorializes in the most banal ways. The book feels rushed and unedited with its unnecessary repetition of mini-themes and anecdotes. Isaacson has the dumbest, most reductive question throughout the book: “Is Musk’s ‘bad’ behavior justified by his accomplishments?’” “No, of course not,” the tiresomely supercilious Isaacson pronounced in the last few minutes of the book. What a waste of time. Musk deserves better. Isaacson is not smart enough, imaginative enough, empathetic or psychologically astute enough to write about intelligent, driven people.

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1 person found this helpful

Prejudiced, ignorant, unhelpful

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Story
1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-01-22

Packer is an angry hack who spends half this poorly-written book on Trump. Bad writing usually comes from bad thinking, and Packer admits his mind suffered during Covid. His categories of Americans are cheap stereotypes. The only thing he gets right is the obvious: education matters, but he does not hold the Ivy League accountable for its dangerous Woke politics or refusal to admit more Southern students. Nor does he address the lack of trade schools needed to supplant the pervasive fallacy that a 4-year+ college education is necessary for economic success. Painfully myopic, Packer knows neither America nor other countries, so please don’t give this benighted, parochial, Covid-and Trump-deranged bigot your time. I’m sorry I wasted mine on his words.

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1 person found this helpful

Stereotypical pablum

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-01-22

This is one of the worst books I have encountered about "race" in America. Why are people reading this drivel instead of anything by James Baldwin or Zora Neale Hurston? Every character in "Dear Martin" is a paper doll; the dialogue is embarrassing, full of "Yo dog" vocabulary in the mouths of black personages or obtuse white kids. There are many lines about black males liking big buttocks on females, and S.J. is pretty "for a white girl." Despite being written by a woman, this book is notably derogatory towards females almost throughout. The main character, Justice, has some depth and legitimate struggles, but no other character does. There is Martin (Martin Luther King, Jr.) and Martel, leader of the violent black gang the Jihad, the only group that delivers "justice" in the plot-by burning down a stereotypical evil white policeman's house and later killing him while he is in jail. Does this halfwitted author even know the meaning of jihad? Oh, and according to the book, Jews (the only decent white characters in the book are Jewish) aren't white because they too were enslaved. This is the kind of demagogic, highly divisive pseudo-literature that American high school students are being forced to read these days. Martin Luther King, Jr. would find this book appalling and counter to his views, so shame on you Nic Stone for using the great man to justify your screed. The narration is uninspired; every female voice sounds fake, silly, and falsetto. Read Baldwin and Hurston, not this trash. High school teachers, please don't impose this book on your students.

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Tedious and cliché

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-28-21

This book has no new good advice and is not funny. It feels like it was written/dictated in two days. Moreover, the author irritatingly refers to herself as “She” or “You,” and there is no discernible logic to the sequence of topics. A total waste of time and money.

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1 person found this helpful

Needed an editor

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-28-21

The parts about self-care and self-love are helpful and well-described, but the book lacks appropriate emphasis. Installing an air conditioner takes about the same time as the moving description of Jonathan's step-father's death. It reads like an extended therapy session rather than a thoughtful, well-organized work.

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