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Rating: Summary: very true - but very sad Review: I have never read any of Spike's work before but also born in Jersey - and by chance going to USF in Tampa - as she had - the book held a lot of promise... The beginning is great - the honesty and plain english makes it very easy to read. It also makes it easy to connect with and understand. Although I agree with other readers that she should not simply blame her father, complain about others drinking habits, and then go on binges herself - but... for some reason i could not stop reading (towards the end i really wanted to) but maybe that says more about my personality than it does about this book. The beginning is filled with great "real" excerpts of Jersey life at the shore AND the relationships - but as the story goes on - all that is explained is her relationships - in sad - depressing detail. I understand the need to be loved but - it doesn't take 276 pages to bash the idea into my head! I just feel bad that she had to go through all of this without resolving any of it. Very readable - but overall frustrating - because she does not learn from her mistakes.
Rating: Summary: A Sad Story, but readable Review: It's all true. She does not learn from her mistakes, so the reader may find themselves wanting to hurl the book at the wall when she once again falls into her own traps. There were many times while reading that I found myself saying out loud, "Oh Spike! Why?" Especially when the topic of Dad came up - poor Dad, who buys her cars, who provides her with a summer house; poor Dad who doesn't understand rebellion. If you like contemporary memoirs, and I do, I still found this a compelling read. I ignored the one star reviews, because while I agree that her constant missteps are tiresome, she is a good writer. She shares a lot about herself - could you be so open about your own mistakes?
Rating: Summary: A Sad Story, but readable Review: This is a beautifully told story of how a strictly controlled exuberant & gifted character can resemble an over-pruned tree ~ it loses it's shape & grows every which-way ~ but grows a strong deep tap-root to compensate. Spike Gillespie has a lovely talent to hook the reader at once ~ like the Ancient Mariner ~ there was no way I could stop listening until she had finished her tale; I read it at a sitting. It documents the growth of a huge personality, blind to the powers she had & that everybody else recognises. Everybody assumed she knew how strong she was & probably feared her strength, wanted control over it or hoped they could lean on her. The book is also a testimony to the friends who supported her trying to cope with her amazing talent to communicate. Fate kindly sent her a sweet son in compensation. Fate also simultaneously dropped on her the worst of modern calamities ~ divorce, house-moving, major surgery & a persistent stalker, but like a Phoenix she has risen to soar over it all to record it all in this brilliant (& beautifully produced) book. Her column is a joy ~ long may she soar over us.
Rating: Summary: Wrong men? That depends on what you want from them Review: This memoir was not such a bad one as other reviewers condemned. The way she writes is so smooth that I actually could not stop although I found it a bit dull in the middle of the long series of her seemingly endless WRONG MEN tour. The biggest climax of the story, though, as told from her perspective was the point where she finally acknowldged that she had been unconsiously looking for all the wrongness in men, instead of goodness, as evidences to prove that ALL MEN are BAD, which was her life long hyperthesis originally drawn from an early relationship with her father that fatally formed her identity as a woman. That makes sense and sounds sensible enough. For this valuable recognition, the documentations of all the wrong men weren't useless. On the contrary, they are so important. However, the description of her drunk & one night stand session was unnecessarily interminable. It did not seem to be so essential to name all of them. That almost made the whole book pointless. (I know. She nailed them down even they looked too much.) The other thing I found problematic was how she concluded the story; she actually sounded as if she hurriedly and forcefully made herself to have made a reconciliation with the haunting hate for her father. I was not quite convinced,though. It sounded as if she jumped to an easy solution because she had to put an end to the story just to close the draft. It depends on what readers want from the book wheather they like it or not and if they finish the book with resentment or satisfaction. I found it OK. At least, that presented one grown up but confused female figure just like anyone else with almost brutal honesty. She did not even hesitate to reveal her weak points such as over self-pity and insecurity, just as a great number of typical young women today. That's what counts most when we read this. The next book I expect to read is her "How I made the internet writing career from nothing, nowhere". I am ready, Spike!
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