How to Ruin Everything: Essays

by George Watsky

A New York Times Bestseller"Funny, subversive, and able to excavate such brutally honest sentences that you find yourself nodding your head in wonder and recognition." —Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer and lyricist of In the Heights and An American MusicalAre you a sensible, universally competent individual? Are you tired of the crushing monotony of leaping gracefully from one lily pad of success to the next? Are you sick of doing everything right? In this brutally honest and humorous debut, musician and artist George Watsky chronicles the small triumphs over humiliation that make life bearable and how he has come to accept defeat as necessary to personal progress. The essays in How to Ruin Everything range from the absurd (how he became an international ivory smuggler) to the comical (his middle-school rap battle dominance) to the revelatory (his experiences with epilepsy), yet all are delivered with the type of linguistic dexterity and self-awareness that has won Watsky devoted fans across the globe. Alternately ribald and emotionally resonant, How to Ruin Everything announces a versatile writer with a promising career ahead.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir, Audiobook, Humor, Short Stories, Biography

238 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 14, 2016

Reviews

[Ryan]

I don't know anything about the author or about this book, but I'm a simple girl: I see that Lin-Manuel Miranda liked it, and I add it to my TBR.

[Bent Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

George Watsky is most likely a funny guy who tears up YouTube with his wit and cunning. Too bad this just doesn't translate well into this collection of essays. The essays don't exactly present Watsky or his friends in a super positive light, and self-irony like that can be refreshing, but in this case, it isn't working out.
The stories are not really interesting or funny, and the only thing that saves this book from complete disaster is Watsky's prose.
I have no idea who would actually pay money for a book like this - I know that I'm glad that I didn't. Will Watsky's YouTube followers follow him into the book format? I doubt it, but maybe I should check him out on YouTube to see what the fuzz is about.

[An advance reading copy of this book was generously provided by the First to Read program]

[Anwesha Dutta · Rating 5 out of 5]

i've been hunting for a kindly ear, but couldn't find one near, so i wound up talking to myself.
thanks for the company, watsky.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) Watsky is a slam poet and rap/hip hop artist from San Francisco. These funny essays about his misadventures reminded me most of Lauren Weedman (Miss Fortune) and John Jeremiah Sullivan (Pulphead). My favorite pieces were “Tusk,” on smuggling a narwhal tusk from Canada to the States to be his roommate’s great-aunt June’s hundredth birthday present, and “The White Whale,” about his unreliable tour bus. Others (of somewhat variable quality) see him moving from a crumbling Boston college house to the heart of Hollywood deadbeat territory, traveling through India, fishing in Alaska, trying to attract older women, and reflecting on a childhood love of baseball.

In the other stand-out essay, a more serious one, he reveals his experience of epilepsy and weaves in the history of its diagnosis and treatment. Also remarkable was a mention of Pauly Shore, a personage I haven’t so much as thought about in, oh, I don’t know, a decade or so? (He bumps into him in a sauna.) Encino Man was once one of my favorite movies! Brendan Fraser, Pauly Shore...what’s not to like?!

Favorite passage:

“It’s easy to hate yourself no matter where you are in the world. But it’s especially easy to hate yourself in Los Angeles. You hate yourself because you sit in traffic all day but you never get anywhere. You hate yourself because you’re supposed to care deeply about the environment but you’re polluting constantly. You hate yourself because everyone else is so beautiful.”

[Brandon Forsyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Watsky is a terrific writer - anyone who can write a baseball piece that ranks up there with Michael Chabon is, in my book, someone worth paying attention to. These short essays are wonderful little slices of life, captured and celebrated evocatively, about struggle and art and what kind of a life you want to live. There's a little more casual drug use here than I can relate to, and, as with any collection of stories, some weaker pieces, but on the whole, this is a terrific debut. I think I'll be revisiting some of the pieces in here for a long time to come.

[Jess Mukavetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't figure out George Watsky. I just finished his book of essays, so I know he's a writer, a really wonderful writer, but he's also a spoken-word poet, rapper, and musician. Those four things are very different to me, but they all make up George Watsky. He has an oddly thorough Wikipedia page and 138K followers on Twitter. I'm grateful he wrote How to Ruin Everything, as I doubt I would've heard of him otherwise. I'm out of the loop on the slam poetry scene.

One of my favorite movie quotes is Juliette Binoche's meandering monologue in the film Dan in Real Life. Her character, Marie, is wandering through a tiny New England bookstore with Steve Carell's Dan, in search of the perfect book:

"I'm looking for a book...something that can help me deal with what might be an awkward situation. Something funny might be nice, but not necessarily big 'ha, ha, ha,' laugh-out-loud funny, and certainly not make-fun-of-other-people funny but rather something human-funny. And if it could sneak up on you, surprise you, and at the same time make you think that what you thought wasn't only right in a wrong kind of way, but when you're wrong, there's a certain rightness to your wrongness. Well, maybe what I mean is, more importantly, I'm looking to be swept up. And at the same time, not."

That quote had previously applied to only one book in my life: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers ("And we will be ready, at the end of every day will be ready, will not say no to anything..."). It applies to How to Ruin Everything, too.

I'm no small fan of essays. Essays are my favorite genre, bar none. I love the essay in all of its various incarnations, and I'm hard-pressed to meet an essayist I don't like. I discovered Mike Birbiglia through his book of essays (Sleepwalk with Me). Chuck Klosterman, David Sedaris, Rob Sheffield, Connie Schultz...even my favorite Nick Hornby book is one of his essays (Songbook). If I write a book, it will be a book of essays.

Watsky's "What Year Is It?" is the mic drop of essays. Who needs the Great American Novel when you have the Great American Essay in "What Year Is It?"? I let out an audible holy shit at the end of "What Year Is It?" and had to put down the book for a few seconds to recompose myself. "What Year Is It?" is Watsky's firsthand account of growing up and living with epilepsy—an intricately woven story of family biography, the history of epilepsy in America, and personal reflections. Watsky knows how to bring home an essay, as he does so with marvelous elegance at the end of "What Year Is It?," as well as "My Third Eye," another one of my favorite essays about his travels in India. "My Third Eye" evokes one of my favorite-ever quotes about traveling from Irish writer George Moore: "A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it."

The only part of this book that doesn't work is the title. I wanted him to tell me how he ruined everything and how I, too, can ruin everything, but he didn't deliver, which Watsky himself confesses in the Introduction. Maybe next time.

[Melissa Chung · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim a few years back when I was visiting Seattle. The Elliott Bay Book Company bookstore is definitely a must see if you ever visit the Seattle area. I didn't know who George Watsky was or what kind of essays this book would contain. I do know, that it was on clearance for $6.99 and that I loved not only the cover font, but the title of the book. It just seemed so fitting to my life. I've come upon several books in person and online that say "essays" on the cover and I never really knew what that meant. Is it going to be academic in nature? Are they going to be opinion writings on some subject that I'm not privy to? I'm happy to say this particular book has 13 life stories that are hilarious in nature and also valuable lessons learned.

George Watsky grew up in San Francisco, in the Richmond district. He was a goofy Jew kid who ended up winning a trophy in high school for Russell Simmons' final season of Def Poetry on HBO. This trophy is talked about frequently through out the book and really was a pick me up when he was down. This huge win allowed him to continue to believe in himself. Watsky ended up traveling the country as a rapper and musician and even preformed at the Fillmore which is a huge highlight to his career. Growing up Watsky saw many shows at the Fillmore and always wanted to be on that stage one day. To have been able to do that is such an awesome achievement.

I really loved this book. I got to spend some time with this person and felt a small connection. All of us have our ups and downs in life and one thing Watsky proves is that perseverance gets you places. My favorite stories were Tusk, Crying & Baseball and The White Whale. These three stories really touched me because they all have to do with perseverance, achievement, family and love. We all do crazy things in life, but not all of us write them down for strangers to read. Thank you Jorge for sharing these stories with us. They were great.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story was epic and endearing. Smuggling a narwhal tusk across the US-Canadian border but actually getting arrested for drug possession? Now that’s a story.

Okay but then my hopes were too high, and I lost interest.

[Dillon Broadwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this book a 3.5 star rating.

If you listen to Watsky's poetry or his music career, this book is an interesting read. The Narrative form brings depth to him you don't get in his poetry or music.

As far as a literary piece of work, this book is average.

The book seems to have no overarching narrative beyond " Look at these interesting stories". Some stories are told well (Tusk) while some are very forgettable (Fa Kieu). Some bring to light a very interesting side of Watsky but lack a direction or meaning in its story telling (What Year is it?). The editing in the book was weak. Some places are wordy and flow stutters .

But, when the book is hitting the mark, I was flipping through the pages excited to see what happened next. Watsky does have some good insight on life and does a good job of analyzing himself and those around him. The character he creates are rarely dull and he seems to have thought over a lot of what he has been through. I liked the intro story ( Tusk), the story about baseball and his essay on the traveling done during his time in the spoken word circuit.

I applaud George for trying something new and would love to see him try this again. Creative Non-fiction is hard to get right. Given time and a few more attempts, I believe Watsky could write something special.

[Del · Rating 3 out of 5]

a lovely read, very funny at times & always honest. was not very familiar with watsky before reading this (actually didn't know the book was written by watsky the rapper until starting it) but i really enjoyed this collection of essays/memoir.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eher 3,5 Sterne

Ich mag den Schreibstil von Watksy wirklich unheimlich gerne und möchte auch noch mehr von ihm lesen, weil er es gleichzeitig schafft humorvoll, aber auch "deep" zu sein und ich mag diese Kombination wirklich unfassbar gerne,
Wie bei fast allen Kurzgeschichtensammlungen gefallen mir einige mehr und andere weniger, aber ich hatte auf alle Fälle keine, die ich überhaupt nicht mochte, sondern mir haben alle ganz gut gefallen und ich würde es auch enpfehlen

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I must start off by admitting that I’ve been a big George Watsky fan for a long time, and as soon as he announced his new book, I quickly preordered it from Amazon. When it arrived, I got some sour gummy worms and a Dr. Pepper and settled down to read it as soon as I could. And I must say, it only took until the second line of the introduction for the book to relate to me:

“How come if people keep telling me I’m so smart, I keep doing such stupid things?”

So much truth resonated to me in that one line.

As a fan of George Watsky, I can say that I enjoyed this sporadic glimpse into his life—something that makes a famous person more grounded and real to a fan. Hey, he screws up sometimes just like I do. Hey, he’s got insecurities just like me. I also enjoyed the Watsky brand of humor and wordplay I’ve long appreciated since I was a senior in high school (I stumbled across his YouTube channel after seeing him as Shakespeare in “Epic Rap Battles of History” and I’ve been hooked since.)

My fan-like feelings aside, I did find this book very relatable in many ways. For me in particular, a few chapters stood out that related to me. The first relevant moment for me was reading about Watsky’s relationship with his dad and baseball. My dad has always been a big baseball fan—sorry Watsky, but he’s for the Braves, not the Giants! And while I’m not the biggest baseball fan out there, I’ve been to a few baseball games with him, and I’ve enjoyed the time together—he keeps up the shit-talking though, I watch the score.

Next relatable moment was Watsky’s dealings with epilepsy. Now I’m not an epileptic myself, but in my senior year of high school we had a girl pass away who had been seizure free for years until one snuck up on her while she was home alone on a treadmill. She had been so well-liked by all that it hit our whole graduating class really hard, especially since it was less than a month before graduation. From the experience, I learned a lot about epilepsy, and even though I haven’t experienced a seizure, I found myself questioning What if one randomly happened right now? What would happen? and a myriad of other questions that any over thinker would have about such a topic.

Other relatable moments existed in his book as well, such as dealing with jerk roommates (not speaking of you, Shelby) and awkward pre-teen and teenage things—I even dated someone in high school who put a mortar in upside down and it exploded around us. (I'm referring to fireworks, for people like dear innocent Shelby who didn’t understand what a mortar was when editing this.) My overall point is that this book relates to everyone in some way. For me, these were the points I resonated with. Other people who read it may find different points to relate to. They may be international ivory smugglers or distraught people who didn’t get nachos with jalapeños in them on nacho day in high school.

Moral of the review: Watsky’s offbeat book is just a story about some of his experiences along the way. They hit you with a range of stories that can be goofy or slightly sad, but in a way they’re all pretty relatable—some more than others. To fans of Watsky, it’s not a disappointing read, and I highly recommend it. To people who aren’t fans or haven’t heard of him: Read it. It’s an enjoyable read that’ll give you a wide variety of thoughts and feelings. I give Watsky’s How to Ruin Everything 5 out of 5 stars.

[Jay C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book "How to Ruin Everything" by George Watsky fell into my hands while madly searching for a book after finishing "The Old Man and The Sea". I saw the peculiar spine of the book and pulled it out. I saw the funny looking cover and completely judged this book by its cover. I wanted to read it and then I saw the authors name, George Watsky! I've listened to his music a few times and I thought it was a good opportunity to stray away from Hemingway or really any mainstream.

This book tells the quirky and sometimes relatable stories that makeup Watsky's life. There were some outlandish stories about how he ran with the bulls in Spain while his friend was hospitalized from the night before. Another one about how he smuggled a narwhal horn across the Canadian border. Those were obviously the not relatable ones but then there was the occasional regular human like stories. I can't imagine that a huge group of people has fly-fished in their life but I have and there was a story about fly-fishing in Alaska.

“How to Ruin Everything” definitely had some parts that worked. It was easy to follow for almost the whole book. On the plus side, the book was entertaining for the first few essays. Then it kinda fell short towards the end.

The book dragged on and on and it was far too late and I was far too into the book to turn back. I found myself saying “this is the homestretch” when I was just about halfway. I praise the book for being easy to follow throughout the myriad of stories. But at the end, my brain couldn’t handle it. He started talking about his tour and his dinky tour bus and I mentally checked out. This might be a masterpiece of a book to a different person but in my eyes, no.

[Walter Ullon · Rating 2 out of 5]

If books are like relationships, then this one could very well be one of those cases of “I swear it’s not you, it’s me...”. Or perhaps, like the typical best-friend would say, “[it] is just not worth it!”

At any rate, I’m really struggling here to find out what went wrong, it’s clearly not a “generation” thing, as Mr. Watsky is my contemporary.

It couldn’t be a “lifestyle” thing either, I mean, I’ve been known to get along with poets and artsy people in general. That’s what I say, anyways.

I suppose I put too much stock in the title, "How to Ruin Everything". After all, that's my art. Suffice it to say, I didn't find much 'ruining' goin on, or it was too subtle. And I have to disagree with Mr. Watsky, the best way to ruin anything is not by accident. Careful planning and clockwork execution lead to legendary results. You can't take credit for chance's hard work.

I wouldn't have continued this book if not for the fact that It was the only thing I had on hand on my train ride back from the city. Come to think of it, reading this on the train felt like being stuck sitting next to a stranger that wouldn't shut up about his stories, none of which were particularly engaging. And who wants to get out in Newark and catch the next one? I'm not crazy...

I'm sure those more familiar with Watsky's work would take exception to my rating, but maybe he just doesn't shine in essay form.

As the train neared my final stop, I did the only thing one could do in these cases with the aforementioned stranger: I politely said my goodbyes, got up, and just left him there on his own.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

George Watsky is one of my favorite spoken word artists/rappers. I actually went to a book signing for this book and met him. I tried to be cool but was hardcore fan-girling. He was really sweet and good natured. He really seems like an awesome guy to sit back and hang out with. So I was super excited to dig into “How to Ruin Everything.” I wanted to like this so badly, I wanted to love it and think it was the best book ever. However this was not the case…. The book is a collection of essays written by Watsky about different stories from his life. There were a few that were good but nothing exceptional. I always felt like I was asking myself “so what?” after reading an essay. You had an older women fetish. You spent a night in jail for having a little bit of weed on you. You did a performance no one came to. So what? I just felt like there wasn’t anything important Watsky had to say in this book. There was one essay I liked a lot where he talks about living with epilepsy. That essay could have just been another VICE editorial. I’m not sure it should have been turned into a whole book. I’m still a diehard Watsky fan, “Sloppy Seconds” will always be one of my favorite songs, but “How to Ruin Everything” will sit forgotten on my bookshelf. And stay there.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ehrlich, komisch, stellenweise aber auch ein klein wenig langatmig. Nicht alle Geschichten begeistern mich total, aber die, zu denen ich einen Zugang habe (zB "Welches Jahr haben wir") umso mehr. Watsky hat so einen bestimmten Blick auf die Welt, den er unfassbar gut in Worte packen kann. Lesenswert!

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

When picking up a book of essays, I usually read them in between novels, a sort of sorbet between longer works. But once started, I couldn't stop, finishing this book in one day. Before sharing the more existential episodes that have formed his character, Watsky begins with a piece that could stand alone, worthy of inclusion in any literary journal, telling of a hilarious experience involving the tusk of a narwhal, but peppering it with the warmth and perception present in the following chapters. He is amazingly generous in opening his life.

Watsky is a poet, a rapper of world renown, with a global following, but here, he lets his reader in to the innermost places in his soul. He only alludes to his successes professionally insofar as they progress his inner journey. He focuses a lot on his family, and his chapter about his father ("Crying and Baseball") made me smile and ultimately caused tears. In a public place. His parents have been his greatest fans, and that's saying a lot given his global reputation, not to mention the fact that the appreciation on the cover is written by one of the most famous people on the planet.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read. I didn't know who George Watsky was before I started the book and I didn't watch any of his music videos until I was about halfway finished. But even if he were a total schmo devoid of musical talent he can at least claim to be an honest, hilarious writer.

The 13 essays collected here start off somewhat silly in "Tusk" (his misadventure smuggling a narwal tusk across the Canadian border), strike a serious note with Watsky's experience with epilepsy in "What Year Is It?", and then rush back up with a few hilarious pieces about his dilapidated tour bus (The White Whale), travels to India and elsewhere, as well as a few coming-of-age experiences with older women.

Watsky's stories aren't incredibly unique; plenty of people have auditioned and failed in Hollywood or found mild success with a little help from the internet, but he puts down prose with such hilarious honesty that, if you're like me, you won't be able to keep yourself from laughing out loud a few times before you close the final page.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's no surprise that George is good with words and has strong prose and compelling imagery, but the stories themselves lacked the brave honesty that drew me to his spoken word poetry five years ago. I had a chuckle at a few parts but it also wasn't funny enough to make up for the lack of emotional connection I felt. Some of the stories had some boring old offensive white straight boy bullshit I was hoping not to see, but relatively that aspect was minimal. My favourite part was the introduction, the rest of the book never quite reached what I'd hoped the intro set up.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had not heard of this author before and picked up the book on a whim. I am glad I did. There was a nice collection of essays that made me chuckle at times, and think at others. This was a good collection of life stories and life events. The author shares personal struggles along with good and humorous times as well. A nice balance. I give it 3.5 stars, but I will round it up to 4.

[Booklunatic · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 Sterne

Schräg-unterhaltsame Geschichten. Watsky ist ein guter Erzähler - man merkt, dass er es gewohnt ist, ein Publikum zu haben. Ich habe mich über die meisten der Storys sehr gut amüsiert, aber es war jetzt nichts, was mir nachhaltig in Erinnerung bleiben wird.

[Samantha Gramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook was like a story in conversation. Laughed so hard I stopped breathing. And had such great lines that stick with you after

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish it was more about music and poetry and performance and less about living in filth and smoking a lot of weed. 2.5 stars

[lol]

dnf at 27%

lol i'm not finishing this. it wasn't bad, i think this was just not for me, and with being back at school and not having loads of time to read, it's best for me to leave this one.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book felt like having the most random, hilarious, well-spoken conversation with Watsky... 10/10 would recommend!

[Emma M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a fan of George Watsky since I heard his album Watsky back in 2010. I had quickly become an avid listener and fan of his spoken word music. So, when this book was published in 2016 I was quick to buy it and happily added it to my bookshelf. To my disappointment (and to my mother's, who thinks I waste too much money on certain books) it had stayed on my bookshelf until this year. Watsky had become an artist that I only ever listened to if one of his songs had played in my Spotify playlist, which meant that both he and his book were quickly forgotten. It wasn't until I was cleaning last weekend that I had refound his music and went back to playing his songs on repeat. Then, I had remembered that he wrote a book that I had bought because I have no impulse control when it comes to books. Which worked out for present-time me since I was able to read this masterpiece of a book.

In this book, George Watsky writes about his life in the form of short stories. From how he has to deal with seizures to his dating history. Each story has a splash of Watsky's unique humor sprinkled in to keep it interesting while still focusing the story itself. It's Watsky's way of telling his life story from his childhood to his first concert, in book form instead of his usual musical ways. It shows the more human side of a known hip-hop artist in a way that no matter what story he's telling, you will probably be able to relate to it in some way.

That relatability is part of why I love this book so much, enough to have read it multiple times since last weekend. Although he definitely has a much more interesting life than me, it's still so easy to see myself in the way he's sharing his life experiences. My favorite part of this book, however, was how it showed more to Watsky's life than I had known before. It added to the experience of listening to his songs, it had added so much more meaning to some of the lyrics. Like I said before, the stories are interesting, maybe just because Watsky could probably make anything interesting to me, which had made the experience even better. It was enough to make me not want to ever put the book down.

I am probably just blinded by my never dying love of Watsky, but I can't seem to find any cons to this book. No matter how many times I had read it and despite all the time I sat down trying to find something about the book I disliked, nothing came to mind. I had forced one of my cousins to read this book, I figured since this was the types of stories she usually loved that she would find the book endearing. However, she had flat out hated the book and thought that the stories were boring and fell flat.

Which leads to my suggestion, as much as I want to force this book on everyone, I must expect that not everyone will like it. After reading many reviews on it, I learned that most of the people who were already Watsky fans before reading the book tended to like it more than others. Maybe Watsky had hypnotized all of us to love his book through his songs, or maybe it's the fanbase just wanted to know more about the George Watsky. In the end, I would suggest this book to anyone who would take the time out of the day to really read it. Whether you like it or not is not up to me, but at least you can say you gave it a shot.

[Matthew L]

I found out about this book through researching George Watsky, a singer-songwriter who mostly does rap, but started out with poetry. I chose this book because I like the lyrics in Watsky's songs, and I wanted to read more of his work, that wasn't packed into a two-and-a-half minute song or a three minute slam poem video. I've never read a collection of essays before, and I decided this place to start.

"How to Ruin Everything: Essays" by George Watsky is a series of essays or short stories, all less than 30 pages or so. There are thirteen essays, so instead of writing a review for each essay, I'd like to talk about just my two favorite stories. Tusk, the first of them, and my personal favorite, is a short story about George and his roommate, Jackson, going to Canada, planning to retrieve a narwhal tusk. They are getting the tusk because Jackson's Aunt June is having her hundredth birthday in a few weeks. I think the conclusion of the story is very funny because it leaves the reader with a cliffhanger but not an open ending. My second favorite story was "Crying & Baseball" I like this story because though I have no reason to be interested in baseball, and which team wins or loses, it made me interested. The story revolves around George and his dad, and how baseball was always a big part of George's life because of his dad. His dad originally read about sports just so he could make conversation with people at work, but it grew into an actual hobby. George grew up playing baseball, and though he seemed to be not very good at it, his dad still supported him because it showed that he was interested. The story also switches to his father's relationship with his friend named Saul, who was a clinician at a mental hospital for the young. They shared a love for baseball and it talks about how the dad had come to know Saul. The story is sad, but very interesting to read about, and I think it was one of the best in the book.

I like the informal writing style of this book. Most writers make their books formal and uptight, but not George Watsky. He is fine with using street terms for things, and saying it as it is. Though they aren't my choice of words, Watsky uses terms like, "Fa Kieu," and sadly, "MILF." I also like that this book is short bursts of reading, for each short story. I'm not much of a huge story reader, and this book is almost perfect for my reading habits.

What I don't like about this book is that some of the stories are left off at odd places. In Tusk, the story ends with the characters thinking about another excursion, but it never tells if they ever do. Personally, this bothers me, but I can understand the appreciation for this kind of ending. I also didn't like the whole story about trying to date older women, because it doesn't add anything to my experience with this book if I read it or not.

Reading "How to Ruin Everything: Essays" was a fun experience for me. I liked this book and I liked most of the stories. I think they were well written and since the stories were kept short, I wasn't droning through any long, tedious chapters. George Watsky is an interesting writer, keeping it informal and concise. I would recommend this book to my friends, or to anyone just looking for an interesting couple of stories.

[Huyen Tran · Rating 3 out of 5]

it only took me one afternoon of existential spiraling to say “fuck it” to my pending tasks and finish reading this book at work. colleagues walked past me with furtive glances, but she PERSEVERED! haha jk i’m still a coward and a dedicated slave to the rotten capitalist system, my boss is in brazil partying at her best friend’s wedding right now so i figured i deserve a break too.

i saw uyen reviewing this book and i immediately put it into my shopping cart, i mean my TBR basket. because 1) what? “ruin everything”? that’s my full-time job! and 2) there’s something about reading personal essays and living vicariously through interesting people’s lives to run away from your own damning reality just really captivate me.

this is a good collection of personal essays. partly because the author lived a pretty good life, dude is literally a rock star. and like all good personal essays, it brings out the beauty in slices of everyday life. his writing is smooth, observational, engaging and humorous. his narration tells fascinating stories and thoughtful insights. i just wanted it to be a little bit more emotionally wrenching, a sprinkle of desperation, a dash of soul-sucking, but it’s just my personal preference.

i give how to ruin everything: essays 3.5 out of 5 stars

[Naomi Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5!

I've known about George Watsky and his music for years now. When he first published his book, I was tempted to buy it, but in all honesty I'm too much of a cheapskate to buy books new. Most of my books are thrifted. Until the lucky day I finally found it at a thrift store in Rexburg and was surprised to see that a CERTAIN SOMEBODY contributed a review on the front cover........... It was Lin Manual Miranda....... My arch nemesis........ Which totally explains why it was at a Rexburg thrift store. I just know people bought this book because his name was on the front cover. I digress.

It takes a lot of guts to basically write a book about your short comings, embarrassing moments, and failures. I've always consider George Watsky to be a hard-working individual who isn't ashamed of who he is. I can tell he loves words and crafting sentences in a way that flows. Some of his stories were so well written and humorous, my favorite being when he ran into Pauly Shore in an LA spa. Others were just okay. I love his way of thinking and uniqueness. I did have to take some points off because in all honesty, he's just kinda weird. I mean I respect it but he's just a little too boyish for me, I think. However, this book had many heartfelt moments that made me feel warm inside.

[Douglas Yannaghas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wee book of essays means a lot to me. First time I read it was in the back of my dad's car on a summer holiday to france (where I read it in one sitting). It was about a year after I saw and met Watsky in Aberdeen. His prose is as skilled as his lyricism and the way he weaves the weird dissapointments and surprises of life and finds a point to them will always amaze me. My favourite is still Tusk - it'd make a great movie.