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I Wish There Was Something That I Could Quit
Laura is in the middle of a torrid affair - with the trains that pass on the tracks at the end of her block. She is obsessed. She can't sleep. She sits on the porch all night lying in wait. Then she throws bricks, bowling balls, cans of paint. She loves the sound as they connect, meeting metal and glass.
- GenresFiction
100 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2006
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132 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
June 29, 2021
For awhile, I wished that there was something that I could quit. Then I realized there was, so I quit trying to “get” I Wish There Was Something That I Could Quit. I read 48 pages carefully. Then I haphazardly read paragraphs and pages, looking for good things to jump out at me. They did, but I might’ve gotten more compelling content from checking out my Facebook feed (something I really do wish I could quit).
I feel bad writing this, sort of bad, at least. Am I heartless? Well, so be it. Bottom line is that despite moments of interesting writing and beautiful concepts, the book begins and ends nowhere with very little movement in between. It’s like looking at an odd short film on loop at a modern museum: you feel uncomfortable, watching awkward, staged intimacy with strangers you don’t want to get to know any better, and you don’t get it 100%, so you keep watching a few more times in case you’re missing something. Then you realize you’re actually running late because you’ve sat at this one exhibit way too long, and the boredom has sunk into you like a mood, buzzing and bothersome. Who are these people? Why do they smoke so much? Why are they just sitting there in their sh*t (mental and physical) in shanties/broken down vehicles by the railroad tracks? And then the real question: who the f-ck cares?? Why am I wasting valuable moments of my life here?
I was not a Cometbus fan before. I am not into punk rock or the punk aesthetic. I have had punk friends. I really liked them, and they were more interesting and MUCH more fun to be with than the characters in this book.
Random thing I liked: the scenes with cats with the main characters. Cometbus writes well about cats and I think maybe his mistake is that the book is too human-centric. Maybe he should write a story about his cats. Honestly a story about a cat licking his butt wouldn’t necessarily be worse than “IWTWSTICQ.” Cats + Cometbus reminds me of a character I like very much: Catbus. And with that, may I suggest, Gentle Reader, that instead of hours and hours you’ll spend trying to get into IWTWSTICQ, you could watch My Neighbor Totoro. It’s really good and there’s a cat-bus that features prominently. It’s like a bus that picks you up, but it’s soft and fluffy and furry and meows when it stops to let you in. How cool is that?
Maybe I’m just not deep enough or despairing enough for “I Wish There Was Something That I Could Quit”? Or maybe, just maybe there’s nothing wrong with me and it’s just not that great. Sorry not sorry Aaron Cometbus. Tell me if you write something about cats because that, I wanna read.
I feel bad writing this, sort of bad, at least. Am I heartless? Well, so be it. Bottom line is that despite moments of interesting writing and beautiful concepts, the book begins and ends nowhere with very little movement in between. It’s like looking at an odd short film on loop at a modern museum: you feel uncomfortable, watching awkward, staged intimacy with strangers you don’t want to get to know any better, and you don’t get it 100%, so you keep watching a few more times in case you’re missing something. Then you realize you’re actually running late because you’ve sat at this one exhibit way too long, and the boredom has sunk into you like a mood, buzzing and bothersome. Who are these people? Why do they smoke so much? Why are they just sitting there in their sh*t (mental and physical) in shanties/broken down vehicles by the railroad tracks? And then the real question: who the f-ck cares?? Why am I wasting valuable moments of my life here?
I was not a Cometbus fan before. I am not into punk rock or the punk aesthetic. I have had punk friends. I really liked them, and they were more interesting and MUCH more fun to be with than the characters in this book.
Random thing I liked: the scenes with cats with the main characters. Cometbus writes well about cats and I think maybe his mistake is that the book is too human-centric. Maybe he should write a story about his cats. Honestly a story about a cat licking his butt wouldn’t necessarily be worse than “IWTWSTICQ.” Cats + Cometbus reminds me of a character I like very much: Catbus. And with that, may I suggest, Gentle Reader, that instead of hours and hours you’ll spend trying to get into IWTWSTICQ, you could watch My Neighbor Totoro. It’s really good and there’s a cat-bus that features prominently. It’s like a bus that picks you up, but it’s soft and fluffy and furry and meows when it stops to let you in. How cool is that?
Maybe I’m just not deep enough or despairing enough for “I Wish There Was Something That I Could Quit”? Or maybe, just maybe there’s nothing wrong with me and it’s just not that great. Sorry not sorry Aaron Cometbus. Tell me if you write something about cats because that, I wanna read.
July 4, 2015
I’ve only met Aaron Cometbus maybe three or four times, but he always impressed me as a surprisingly nice person for someone so famous, so ostensibly angry at the world, and so smart. I doubt if he’d remember me now, but he always did then, and he always managed to pick up our conversations right where we’d left off, even if it had been two or three years since we’d seen one another. Honestly, he was better at recognizing me than I was at recognizing him.
Funny enough, I’ve never been a regular reader of Aaron’s zine. I would pick up a copy when I saw him, or once in a while when I found it at a friend’s house I would read it, but I don’t think I own a single copy right now. There have been copies at various places I’ve lived over the years, and maybe at one time there was one or more in my collection, but they don’t seem to have survived. The most memorable pieces I read, thinking back now, related to Berkeley history, or Aaron’s adventures on the road. This book is more like the latter than the former.
It’s the story of an aging punk rock kid named Aaron, and three people in his life during a time that his van has broken down in a nameless American town. The story is written in a strange sort of first-third person omniscient, where Aaron speaks in “I” but we hear “he” or “she” when we’re in the other characters’ heads. It threw me a bit at first, but worked. The other characters are Susan, Laura, and the bizarrely-named Jemuel (a male name, evidently). These characters fall in and out of love with each other while Aaron watches, not participating, but not actually uninvolved. In fact Jemuel comes across as the more dispassionate, to his discredit since he’s actually involved with Susan, but mostly for his own selfish reasons.
If the story has a moral, it’s that friendship trumps relationships, and that Aaron is lucky to be single. But I don’t think Aaron meant it to be simplified in that way. The reality that he explores is that all human relationships are complex beyond being simply “good” or “bad” and that nothing in our culture serves as a useful guidepost for young people in figuring out how to relate to one another. They have to make up the rules as they go, and they frequently do so without adequate consultation with one another.
If you’ve lived within the milieu Aaron is describing, even for a little while, this book will make perfect sense to you. If you haven’t, it will seem alien and strange. Either way it is written with such sincerity and style that it is sure to leave some kind of a mark. And if you’ve ever met Aaron, I think you’ll have to love it.
Funny enough, I’ve never been a regular reader of Aaron’s zine. I would pick up a copy when I saw him, or once in a while when I found it at a friend’s house I would read it, but I don’t think I own a single copy right now. There have been copies at various places I’ve lived over the years, and maybe at one time there was one or more in my collection, but they don’t seem to have survived. The most memorable pieces I read, thinking back now, related to Berkeley history, or Aaron’s adventures on the road. This book is more like the latter than the former.
It’s the story of an aging punk rock kid named Aaron, and three people in his life during a time that his van has broken down in a nameless American town. The story is written in a strange sort of first-third person omniscient, where Aaron speaks in “I” but we hear “he” or “she” when we’re in the other characters’ heads. It threw me a bit at first, but worked. The other characters are Susan, Laura, and the bizarrely-named Jemuel (a male name, evidently). These characters fall in and out of love with each other while Aaron watches, not participating, but not actually uninvolved. In fact Jemuel comes across as the more dispassionate, to his discredit since he’s actually involved with Susan, but mostly for his own selfish reasons.
If the story has a moral, it’s that friendship trumps relationships, and that Aaron is lucky to be single. But I don’t think Aaron meant it to be simplified in that way. The reality that he explores is that all human relationships are complex beyond being simply “good” or “bad” and that nothing in our culture serves as a useful guidepost for young people in figuring out how to relate to one another. They have to make up the rules as they go, and they frequently do so without adequate consultation with one another.
If you’ve lived within the milieu Aaron is describing, even for a little while, this book will make perfect sense to you. If you haven’t, it will seem alien and strange. Either way it is written with such sincerity and style that it is sure to leave some kind of a mark. And if you’ve ever met Aaron, I think you’ll have to love it.
February 27, 2008
'it wasn't that our lives were desolate, only that they were typical, not so different from those in a thousand other small towns and cities across the country. we didn't have the kind of distractions that kept you from seeing how thin and fragile life really is. everything was stripped down to the bones, without flourishes or pretension. we were all getting a little older, and when you get a little older, you like that. you need less. less bullshit, especially.'
aaron cometbus
i wish there was...
aaron cometbus
i wish there was...
August 12, 2008
cometbus quotes are classic, the stories are short and whatever, but aaron has a style of saying something as if it's the law, and making you want to live like it's your mantra
November 28, 2010
I like how they protest the war by throwing rocks and paint at passing trains with weapons on them. I also like how the author doesn't drink so all the barflys hate him.
May 24, 2008
I liked how this book was heavily fictionalized yet the story seems based on things that very well could have happened in Aaron's life. He remains an incredible writer, even though this book felt depressing and a little self-indulgent, it was a good read. In a way it didn't really go anywhere and the story was not that remarkable, but Cometbus' ability to describe the subtlety and details of the often trying lives we live persists. I liked how the political issues of the book remained in the background and yet had a lasting impact. However, compared with certain issues of the zine, and the Double Duce book, this was mildly disappointing. Sort of the same way I felt about "Mixed Reviews" and "Chicago Stories": good writing, good stories and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them, but compared with some of the old stuff something just seems like its missing.
September 10, 2007
I liked this book because I have more in common with Mr. Cometbus these days than Mr. Cometbus of yore. Which is to say that I was never nostalgic, but I am over-the-hill.
There are books and movies that match one's exact color and shape of depression. When you read these books, or watch these movies at the right time in your life you think, "Oh my god, someone who understands," or "Yes, that's true, that's what life is like." Later when you cheer up, you watch them again and think, "God, what a loser." Can't wait to feel that way about this book.
There are books and movies that match one's exact color and shape of depression. When you read these books, or watch these movies at the right time in your life you think, "Oh my god, someone who understands," or "Yes, that's true, that's what life is like." Later when you cheer up, you watch them again and think, "God, what a loser." Can't wait to feel that way about this book.
April 14, 2020
this was a little piece of life. it was aimless but there were moments that were very real and insightful.
here are a few of my favorite pieces.
“I’d always liked the road itself better than the places it had taken me, anyway.” (43)
“Later, when you get dumped, your friend keeps up morale at the front. Your friend is like, ‘She wasn’t good enough for you, anyway,’ and you’re like, ‘Yeah, fuck that bitch.’ Even though secretly you’re pining away and plotting to get her back. Your friend understands this too, but doesn’t let on.” (55)
“Another relationship. As if it were that easy. Just find a new girl and move on. Good advice! But what about when you’d already found the one you wanted to be with? When you never had any doubts?” (81)
“Of course it took a long time to get over someone. But what if you never did?” (81)
here are a few of my favorite pieces.
“I’d always liked the road itself better than the places it had taken me, anyway.” (43)
“Later, when you get dumped, your friend keeps up morale at the front. Your friend is like, ‘She wasn’t good enough for you, anyway,’ and you’re like, ‘Yeah, fuck that bitch.’ Even though secretly you’re pining away and plotting to get her back. Your friend understands this too, but doesn’t let on.” (55)
“Another relationship. As if it were that easy. Just find a new girl and move on. Good advice! But what about when you’d already found the one you wanted to be with? When you never had any doubts?” (81)
“Of course it took a long time to get over someone. But what if you never did?” (81)
November 26, 2025
Aaron Cometbus is a genius at capturing the American punk spirit, but this attempt at a novel just didn’t work for me. I could not really tell the four main characters apart—I reread sections wondering who was speaking or having an interior monologue—maybe it didn’t really matter. The whole thing seems strangely inert, so unlike his fanzine writing which teams with life and action. All the characters are depressed, self-hating, and stuck and I wondered is this what Aaron sees middle aged punks become? I certainly know my share of them, but it’s not something I want to read about. How about a novel where the old punks continue to do cool stuff and don't sell out. That's a novel I'd like to read. I expected better.
October 9, 2020
Not as good as Aaron's Cometbus stuff, but still a good and quick read. People like myself who have frequented subcultures and are familiar with the lifestyle will definitely have the ability to relate to the characters in the book. Sometimes we lack aspiration, and that doesn't have to be necessarily a bad thing.
March 24, 2023
A nice little book, well printed and put together via Last Gasp publishing, by one of the greatest writers of our generation, Aaron Cometbus (Elliot). This is typewritten by Aaron, as opposed to handwritten, which he is infamous for. All the great writing you would expect from Mr. Cometbus! Yes, a little book but the ideas and thoughts are huge! Long live Cometbus!
March 13, 2019
A great short novel in the Cometbus style everyone knows and loves. This one’s a bit darker than the usual, if anything.
December 8, 2008
i guess this counts as a book? it's kind of just glorified "cometbus" though. i like "cometbus" all right--it's not amazing, but it's competent & sometimes kind of funny or even occasionally poignant. this was a bit of a snore though. it covered a lot of the same or similar ground as old issues of "cometbus" that came out ten years ago. i know it's tough to scrounge together new material when you're staying up for 36 hours at a stretch, hidden away in an attic somewhere, hand-lettering your fanzine by hand in candlelight, but i'm kind of over the formula. i am even more over icky gross stories about aaron cometbus having sex with someone in an abandoned school. that was the most indelible image from this book, which is to say, i was scarred for life. i don't handle literary sex scenes that well, & they're even harder to take when i know they are actually auto-biographical. yuck yuck yuck. sorry, dude. i am just not into the way aaron writes about women. they are always just foils for his male characters/himself. apparently, once, a friend of mine who is himself not so good at writing about women as if they are actually fully-fledged people & not just sex objects asked aaron how he managed to write such gender-balanced stories. (i think this friend should have checked with some actual ladies to see how they feel about this assertion, but whatever.) apparently, aaron said that he writes everything down & then counts his male & female characters. if there are too many dudes, he just changes the dude names to lady names. which...kind of misses the point of actually bothering to write well-rounded female characters. whatever. fucking idiots.
August 26, 2008
This one didn't quite hold my attention, and the title is just the epitome of awkwardness. I used to like Aaron Cometbus more than I do now. He seems to have gotten crankier and more alienated from his fans. Some of his writing seems stuttered, overly caffeinated, rushed, missing crucial parts he needs to slow down and fill in. I like his punk rock spirit, which is still intact, but I find him a bit hit & miss. And his first person storytelling is more compelling than when he writes about others. His true tales of the early Cometbus years are pretty amazing, riding trains, eating Top Ramen, living with other punks (the amazing novel 'Double Duce'), but something seems to have shifted in him and I just don't enjoy him as much now. For this particular book, it's a compelling story and the characters are realistic, the heart is in the right place. It just didn't work like 'Double Duce' does. Although Cometbus is a worthwhile and diverse writer, I'd stick to his earlier self-published 'Cometbus' zines for the cream of his canon. When he's on he's amazing, but when he's off it comes off rather hack-ish.
March 31, 2014
I love Aaron Cometbus. I think his writing is typically stellar and I even like his lyrics a lot when he writes for his bands. So, I was pretty let down when I read this. Not to say it's a bad read. It's fine. But it doesn't come close to hitting me like the vast majority of other Cometbus material. It almost seems like Aaron doing a Cometbus impression instead of the real thing. It's a pretty surface level character study of four different people with an slight emphasis on addictions of all kinds and some obligatory punk references thrown in that, more often than not, seem quite forced. It's not nearly as solid as many issues of Cometbus that function as novellas, which I'd recommend reading first. I'm not mad I read it, and it's got a few great moments, I just expected more from one of the best writers punk has to offer.
July 28, 2013
Cosmetically the pages are thick and it's a pleasure to read while stretching the binding. The book feels a lot shorter then it is because its broken up into a lot of chapters chronologically directed towards an ending that leaves you hanging. You never really get to know the characters so a lot of the details need to be filled in while you read. But that is what I find enduring about this book. The whole time I felt Aaron really talked to and lived with these people in a small town which made it REAL. Something I could relate to. It has everything I'm interested in... How to deal with our lives from day to day, relationships, getting old, and alcoholism. I like reading Aaron Cometbus' insight and reflecting on the in an existential-punk kind of way.
February 24, 2008
this was actually kind of disappointing. i look forward to new cometbus books, like a kid to comic books, but this was rather bland. instead of diving into isolationist romanticism like he has mastered, this only hints at it, making the work not feel as genuine as chicago stories, and mixed reviews (not to mention the plethora of cometbus back issues). i think aaron is going in a more mature direction with his writing, which i think could be brilliant, it just seems like their is some stumbling out of the starting blocks. i give him four stars because he is one of the best writers you never heard of.
June 17, 2010
i'm a fan of aaron cometbus. i'd just like that to be mention so that when i say "this isn't really very good", you'll know it wasn't some whim but truth. i tried to like it but...meh.
for so many characters and so much angst and friendship, you'd think something might actually happen. nothing does. not really. even one character being hauled off to jail seemed anti-climatic and, frankly, boring.
i'll read it again someday and maybe find something i missed the first time around. let's hope so.
for so many characters and so much angst and friendship, you'd think something might actually happen. nothing does. not really. even one character being hauled off to jail seemed anti-climatic and, frankly, boring.
i'll read it again someday and maybe find something i missed the first time around. let's hope so.
November 10, 2010
I sort of understand the nay-sayers who grouse that this one is lacking or incomplete. So it isn't Double Duce, but it's still plenty good. Cometbus doing what he does. I don't understand why he holds himself to less than three page chapters, but that's his call. Thirty-Eight chapters in 100 pages is a bit absurd. In general I'm not sure why he won't let himself expand characters, stories, themes - but that's not how he writes. This does sort of feel like filling a contractual obligation, but I'm not sorry I read it
December 27, 2024
Not so much a story as it is a brief window into a moment, which may be more or less reflective of a whole life, and I’m more than satisfied with that since I’m more interested in life and people than simply formulaic structured narratives.
Great writing. Closer to my own lifestyles and sensibilities than most books I read, so it felt relatable and comfortable to spend this short time with Aaron and his van and his cats and his couple of aimless friends. Thanks for the hang.
Great writing. Closer to my own lifestyles and sensibilities than most books I read, so it felt relatable and comfortable to spend this short time with Aaron and his van and his cats and his couple of aimless friends. Thanks for the hang.
November 26, 2014
holy sh*t, i remember reading this book ten years ago ago. and now i got this flashback how much it sucked. does the term "cut & paste writing" exist already? this is cut and paste sh*tty poetry, with some shady character wandering around in some sh*tty Sartre wanna-be setting. nice cover though. the cover isn't sh*tty.
November 18, 2015
I enjoyed this novella, a quick-read about four characters in some smallish town. Nothing earth-moving, but Cometbus captures and does a slow-reveal of so many little details about the two women and two men involved in each others lives. Reminded me a little of a movie trailer -- learned enough about the characters to know if you care, but not enough to feel fully satisfied.
July 2, 2007
i'm a huge cometbus fan, but this is terrible fiction in which nothing happens. maybe i should reread (that'll take an hour or two) but i just didn't catch any flavor from this. kevin a. smith is WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 14, 2008
I learned that I'm glad that my life doesn't involve living like a dirtbag, however I occasionally enjoy reading and experiencing through others to reinforce the notion that no matter how bad my life sucks, it isn't this bad.
March 23, 2008
So far it's beautiful. About ideals, real life, and where these two intersect. About being a little bit crazy and dealing and having close friends that understand because they're a little bit crazy too. It's a quick read.
May 19, 2016
It was a quick read, but a good one. Really, if you haven't read much Cometbus, I wouldn't recommend starting here. Read more of his zine work and give then give this a go to better understand his writing style.
July 25, 2007
A very strong showing. Impressive that his writing can improve to this level even after doing it for so long!
September 15, 2007
a fair attempt at a novel. interesting, just lacking substance. it has an open ending which i like but i can't say that i took a lot away from this book.
January 17, 2008
It is really good so far, I just restarted it last night.
February 15, 2009
I liked it. Sometimes it was kind of drawn out, even though it is very short. I didn't like that part.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews