Nicole

Oh man this one deserves the popularity! It was vivid and immersive. It toed the line wonderfully between heavy and comedic. The characters were so well-rounded. They were perfect for the story but also believable. I especially liked how Garmus wrote Six-Thirty to have an entire mental life as a complete character.

I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I chose to read it mostly out of curiosity and slightly because I knew I needed a kick in the pants for a few things in my life. I really don't respond to blunt, tough-love advice to basically just suck it up, so I wasn't expecting to benefit much from the mentality. However, it came across as inspiring, overall.

There were many moments where I rolled my eyes or shook my head at how much unnecessary damage he did to his body by lack of preparation (as he even mocks the “nerds” who reasonably plan for the ultras) and how his support people have to handle the consequences - rushing to provide medical assistance and likely being concerned for his wellbeing the whole time. Even with all this, though, the advice doesn't seem to be, “Do what I did,” but rather, “You can do more than you think you can.” You can see this in the challenges, where you're asked to be better than you were before - not necessarily to conquer the world. Additionally, he does come around in the end, literally taking up stretching and mobility work for the first time nearing forty.

There IS some problematic stuff, though - misogynistic military language, the fact that this dude would've benefitted from therapy but likely felt it wasn't an option to keep being tough, and the consideration that most of us value our family/relationship obligations enough to prevent us from chasing our goals this hard.

That being said, It was casual enough to move quickly, which I enjoy. It approached the threshold of feeling unprofessional sometimes but didn't quite hit it. Luckily, he cools it on the f-bombs a bit as the book goes on. Cursing is great and all, but when it gets excessive it comes across poorly.

Definitely gonna take some notes before returning this one to keep in my back pocket.

I almost didn't read this book because the topics of celebrity and fame don't interest me. Luckily, BookTube convinced me to check it out and I'm so glad I did. It wrecked me in the best way. The characters are so well-crafted and I was completely invested in them. I kept looking forward to reading it. So if you're feeling lukewarm about it, I'd say it's worth your while.

Please don't be deterred by the length of this book, or concerns that it might be too dry or dense considering the subject matter. I kept putting it off because of those reasons, but I found it very engaging. I am a language fan, though, so that could have some influence. Until the revolution, it gives excellent dark academia vibes. I'm hesitant to say it, but it felt at times like a Harry Potter for folks who care about social justice issues 😬 but so much more. It's much more in-depth, educated, and intelligent. I found myself feeling blown away by Kuang's knowledge.

It's not quite one star because I spent most of my time going, "eh? 🤨" instead of, "ugh 😵‍💫" but it was another case of me putting a book on my tbr because I saw it somewhere once and didn't look into it. I don't know if it was because I had the audiobook, but the entire time I felt like I just wanted to ditch it and read a summary instead. I struggled to connect the stories with any actual point or takeaway. The conclusion at the end helped but otherwise I felt like, what are we doing here?