Shrink Thyself

by Bill Scheft

In Shrink Thyself, Charlie Traub decides to leave psychotherapy and live the unexamined life. A noble goal, which would be even more noble if his former therapist (now his friend) didn't turn out to be beyond inappropriate and his mother didn't die in a way that would have made Freud transfer to dental school. Despite all unexamined evidence to the contrary, Charlie just might be unable to accept that wherever he goes, there he is.

305 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 2, 2014

Reviews

[John Hancock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a wonderful novel and so beautifully written that you can't just sit and knock it off in one sitting. And that's a good thing.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
I'm not sure I'm going to review it with any sort of justice, because Scheft's turn of phrase, pacing, wit and self-effacing protagonist almost defy a regular review, so I guess I have to go macro with it.

Since I do not like to spoil details of good books, I'll speaking in specific generalities. Charlie Traub is a mensch who keeps thinking he's not. In one description, we find him called "cute, but a little lost". That's such a great summation of what is happening to him. What is really happening to him? The world. The world is falling on him like dirty water somebody threw off a balcony. This should daunt him, but instead he plucks himself off and keeps pushing forward in his lovable, lopsided way to arrive at some sort of meaning in his life.

It's like when I went skydiving and was told if my main chute gets tangled, jettison it and use the reserve chute. And I'm thinking, "really? *I'm* going to have the courage to let go of something that was supposed to support me, even if it's crap? Allow myself to return to free fall from which I know nothing, and exist in that harrowing space between chute and nothing and be ok with that? I'm afraid I'm going to freak out so bad I'll forget that there's even a reserve chute? You're really putting too much faith in me at this point. I'm going to need a buddy system, or superman, or something."

ok, that was me. But this is exactly what the main character does, he jettisons the crap in his life, but instead of it flying away, and allowing him to go to the reserve chute, it keeps tangling him up. It doesn't want to be jettisoned. Life is messy that way.

Hell, I'm not making any sense if you haven't read the book. But when you do, you'll nod and go "yeah, that's it."

Brass tacks: this is a book you wish you'd written. It's full of fun and caustic wit that is leavened with humanity that makes you examine what life is really all about, after all. In the end, you're gonna travel this road with the main character. You're going to enjoy the view.

[Blondi Barnet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got half way through and realised I didn’t care for the book outcome. Life too short to finish book

[Bill Krieger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise here is a good one: a guy (Charlie Traub) quits therapy after a few years, and... [wait for it]... his therapist has trouble with him leaving. Hilarity ensues. My interest was further piqued when Traub turns out to be 52 year-old white guy. (yea)

The author is a writer for David Letterman. I didn't catch that until after I read the book. There are tons of good one-liners in here. Much of Thyself reads like a Seinfeld episode or Woody Allen movie (better than Letterman, thankfully). In short (and abbreviated), I LOL'd. I LOL'd quite often, thank you very much.

Here's one for you.

QOTD

Years ago, my left shoulder and elbow went numb for days. I went to a chiropractor who told me to listen to Mozart for an hour a day in my right ear and it would reconnect the circuitry in my left side within a week. “What if it doesn't?” I asked him. Not “Why?” I went with “What if it doesn't?” This is why I'm a producer, not a journalist . The chiropractor had an answer. “If it doesn't, you get to listen to Mozart for a week.” So, I did. Took three days.

- Traub, Shrink Thyself

But author Bill Scheft isn't just writing for laughs here. He swings for the fences. Now, he larges misses, but I give him credit for the attempt. Here we go:

Plot - The plot gets more and more complex throughout the book. It's unnecessary and doesn't really add to things. The ending loses a lot of steam.

Whining - The author trumpets his leftie/East Coast sensibilities in what is now a pet peeve for me: a character who seemingly has everything complaining about it all. Traub has two wonderful parents, friends, a Harvard education, a great job, freedom to come and go as he pleases, and he's good-looking. But it's not enough. (snort) I could have sniffed this out had I paid attention to the blurb on the front cover by "Scott Stossel, editor of The Atlantic and the author of the bestselling memoir My Age of Anxiety". (snort again)

Self-help - The narrator's recipe for happiness: stop thinking about yourself 24/7 and you'll feel better. Duh. It's tough to read what an epiphany this is. Maybe the author is teasing old Traub, but it sure didn't feel like it.

Anywho, the main positive here is the laughs. And on that, Scheft wins. I'm definitely stealing this one: learning that Raef LaFrentz is on your team as a metaphor for apathy. I still laugh at that one!

QOTD2

Here I am, sitting at my dead mother's desk, calling my ex-wife's house in Alexandria, Virginia, with the perfect words to say to the answering machine.

But someone named Bettina picked up the phone. "I'm the nanny," she said. I think I knew about that. I think. No, I knew. They had adopted a year ago. Mom told me and I reacted like she had said the Celtics had just acquired Raef LaFrentz.

- Shrink Thyself

Couple-a links for you:

+ The author's site: www.billscheft.com

+ And the publisher's site (with lots of eclectic titles): www.rarebirdlit.com

A good read!

[Rob Slaven · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual I received this book for free in exchange for a review, this time from NetGalley. Also as usual I give my scrupulously honest opinion below.

I had a lot of trouble with this book so I'll dispense with my usual positives/negatives format. I've heard Scheft before many times on the radio and always found him a very witty character. That aspect of Scheft comes through strongly in his writing but I think it necessitates a specific approach to his work. Specifically, you can NOT just sit down and read this like you would some novel with an actual plot.

Every word that Scheft writes is rife with his sarcastic and witty style. The effect will be most potent if you imagine every word being spoken in his own voice but I'm not recommending that because it will likely drive you entirely insane after a few minutes. Because of the complexity that this style imparts to the text you have to consume it in small, palatable pieces. You cannot swallow the whale of Scheft's intellect all at one go, you have to mince it fine and enjoy it over the course of a month. This stretching is perfectly safe to the reader since there is so little plot to lose track of. Scheft is always playing his long game so if you read 10 pages a day you'll absolutely never get lost because they'll probably be almost identical to the previous 10 pages.

In summary, this is a delightful book if properly approached and sufficiently coddled. Scheft's is a book that you read at a time when you can concentrate completely and savor his offering but only have 10 minutes to spend. I tried to sit and read this entirely in an afternoon and found myself at a loss. Don't repeat my mistake and I think you'll do delightfully.

[Jackie Trimble · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first few pages were hard to get through - I mean, the first 7 or so. Then, I quickly caught on and ended up riding the pages until the end and cracked up for the whole rest of the book. If you were a fan of David Letterman's and wondered what it would be like a staff meetings and behind the scenes with all kinds of people with that caliber wit -- this book is for you. I mean, just the joy in reading this and figuring out how funny people can be - thanks, Bill Scheft!

I won this from Goodreads and I'm so grateful!

[Hugh Atkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read. Hilarious and has a Tony Conigliaro-Boston Red Sox back story.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read 40% of this novel, and it just didn't grab me, so I quit reading it. Life is too short to read lousy books.

[Joelleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very clever and well written. It has twist and turns I didn't see coming. I am glad I stuck with it through the end!

[RJ Koch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked parts of it. Some laughs. Lost interest in the middle. Liked the baseball references, Tony Conigliaro. Was hoping to get some insight about therapy in an entertaining way. Didn't.