steph

Review posted to Bookshelf Bombshells at http://bookshelfbombshells.com/review-more-curious-by-sean-wilsey/

In this collection of essays, Sean Wilsey travels across the United States, recounting stories from Marfa, Texas, to post 9/11 New York City, over to San Francisco, and back again to Marfa. Covering a wide range of topics, More Curious has something written with such style and humor as to entertain anyone. As the McSweeney's Store points out, “These essays—originally published in Vanity Fair, GQ, McSweeney's, and elsewhere—comprise nearly fifteen years of Wilsey's most vital work on the glory and the misery, the beauty and absurdity of contemporary America.”

I have to admit, I had this collection of essays pegged all wrong. Halfway through the first essay, “The Republic of Marfa,” I felt like I was undertaking the long, arduous process of driving across country myself... without any music or books on tape to keep me company. I won't lie, I was bored. After getting out of Marfa, however, this book opened up in a way that kept me entertained and wanting to read more.

Between the essay on skateboarding, “Using So Little,” and the essay on being an American World Cup fan, “The World I Want to Live In,” I was able to find enough gas in my tank to keep driving through to the end of More Curious. In fact, it was “Using So Little” that made me feel like I had completely misjudged More Curious. When Sean Wilsey decides to start writing about what he is most passionate about, in this case his time spent skateboarding and his love of Thrasher magazine, he gives it his all. “Using So Little” is one of the best written pieces in the whole collection; I recommend reading it even if you don't have any interest in the rest of More Curious.

“Some of Them Can Read” is a surprising short and delightful tale about being an expectant father and rats (um, yes, rodent rats) that had me laughing so hard that I dropped the book on my face in bed. Sadly, “Some of Them Can Read” was the only essay that got much of a reaction out of me at all.

While I enjoyed Sean Wilsey's tales of traveling across the country at 45 miles per hour in an old truck with his dog and friend Michael in “Travels with Death,” this collection of essays never felt purpose driven. As a reader, I felt like I, too, was rambling down side roads at 45, aimlessly trying to get somewhere but with no real care as to how quickly it would end. If you like clever and well-written, Sean Wilsey's essays would be a nice grab-it-and-go read for you. This reader, however, needs to be going 70 on the interstate.

Dan & I saw this on quite a few staff picks or suggested reading displays, listed as a “whimsical” or “comforting” read. Dan was upset about this, and said it was nothing of the sort.

So I offered to read it and tell him if he was remembering it correctly.

While the childlike wonder of Piranesi is really wonderful, and probably lends itself to the whimsical label people give it .. it is not a comforting or whimsical tale. It's about deceit, and betrayal, and loneliness.

As usual, Dan is correct.

The shortest review I can give:
DNF at, like 10%. We get it, authors. You feel the need to show people we're supposed to dislike as physically repulsive to you (re: fat, with elaborate, unkind descriptions), because there's no way skinny, pretty people do evil things.

I'm glad I went into reading this without any information. I read it based on a recommendation, and I didn't read the description before diving in. I'm having a hard time writing a review that doesn't contain spoilers.

Can I just say I liked it a lot?

I think I hate this book.
But then I think that I don't hate this book.
And then I get confused.

I didn't like Cheryl Strayed. I had, and still don't really have, any sympathy for her as a person. Everything that happened to her, aside from her mothers death, was her own fault.

I also think that I'm just not Cheryl. I don't tend to like women like Cheryl – women who are constantly evaluating the men that they're standing near, women who are constantly thinking about sex. That's not me, so I don't understand it.

And still, even though I don't like Cheryl, and can't sympathize with her, I thought this was a pretty solid account of what it's like to undertake a big adventure, expecting that you know what it will be like, and being so horribly wrong. Her descriptions were on point – I felt her blisters, i knew her exhaustion.

This review isn't very helpful. Mostly I'm trying to sort out my own feelings, because I still can't really pinpoint how I feel about this book.