Sometimes I Think About It: Essays

by Stephen Elliott

An essay collection by a writer who may be writing under . . . the influence of genius (Vanity Fair)

In Sometimes I Think About It, Stephen Elliott gathers personal essays, reportage, and profiles written over fifteen years to tell a powerful story about outsiders and underdogs.

Moving from the self to the civic, the book begins with a series of essays that trace Elliott s childhood with an abusive and erratic father, his life on the streets as a teenager, and his growing interest in cross-dressing and masochism. These stories, which range from a comic portrait of a week spent hosting his younger brother to a brutal depiction of depression, provide a context for the essays that follow.

Stepping out into the world, Elliott tells of a man who loses his family in a rock slide in Southern California, explores the vexing realities of life in Palestine, and paints a chilling picture of a young man caught in the prison-industrial complex. The last section, The Business of America Is Business, shows Elliott s abiding interest in the spectacle of money in America, from pop music to pornography to publishing, and it concludes with an off-kilter account of the tech industry s assault on West Los Angeles.

Building on the extraordinary storytelling that characterized his breakout book, The Adderall Diaries, Elliott s search for dignity and happiness leads him to tell with great sympathy the stories of those who are broken and seek to be whole.

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Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2017

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Elliott is the author of seven books including Happy Baby, a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award, as well as a Best Book of 2004 in Salon.com, Newsday, Chicago New City, Journal News, and Village Voice. Elliott's writing has been featured in Esquire, The New York Times, GQ, Best American Non-Required Reading 2005 & 2007, Best American Erotica, and Best Sex Writing 2006. He is the editor of Where To Invade Next and three collections of politically inspired fiction. In January, 2009, he founded the online culture magazine, The Rumpus."

Reviews

[Gary Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one's a bit of a mixed bag. The personal essays of the first section are pretty great pieces of honest writing. The broader, more journalistic pieces of the second section are hit or miss. And the pop culture-centric essays of the last part are interesting, but pretty breezy.
I definitely recommend the first section of this book; the other two -- take them as you will.

[Kevin Krein · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had never heard of stephen elliott until this book came through the bookstore a few weeks ago. there's a really poignant quote at the beginning that struck me - 'after assembling them, i went through, pulling out redundancies. sometimes the echoes were interesting and i let them remain. sometimes i didn't feel that an essay represented me anymore but decided to keep it anyway. that's the problem with writing things down; we change, the person who wrote is no longer there.' that was enough for me to pick this up.

the easy way to describe elliott is part johnathan ames, part nick flynn. he's very casual and cavalier in discussing topics like sex- his interest in crossdressing, BDSM- as well as the year he spent homeless as a teenager, and his years addicted to various drugs. some of these essays are personal, some of them were written for other publications and are about things like the iraq war or the technology industry in venice beach.

overall, elliott's writing is uneven. he rarely finds the same voice, or uses the same tone. when it works, it really works. when it doesn't, it's still compelling, though it doesn't resonate as deeply.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I Think About It by Stephen Elliott is a collection of personal essays and literary journalism. Largely chronically his adolescent homelessness, childhood abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, and fetishes, Elliott's work is not for those who shy away from the dark spaces or the "different". His literary journalism addresses various themes and speaks to a larger social commentary. Much of his work feels like a meditation on losing and being lost; a James Franco film on paper (actually, one of Elliott's first books, The Adderall Diaries, was turned into a film starring James Franco...so I guess this makes sense...).
There were a number of essays I enjoyed, and some I may even use in classes down the line, but I'm giving this collection 3/5 stars because reading it felt too much like being someone's therapist, or sitting listening to a friend who desperately needs therapy but won't go.

[Frank Karioris · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to know what to say, exactly, about this book. Whether to try and grapple with some of the huge issues that he addresses; whether to use some of his stylistic choices. All of these are flightily possible, somehow, here. The honest and unadorned answer is that the set of essays is beautifully done - and that beauty always is both imperfect and with its pockmarks.

Ranging over Israel/Palestine, sex work, child abuse, prisons & lack of justice in the US, mudslides. The book touches on subjects that are, in a word, scattered. The back blurb says that the book is about the underdog or the outcast. Maybe. It seemed more about putting together a world; a cartographic project. No one faults a map for having a lake in the wrong place, or a desert too wide. So too here.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as part of a Goodreads Giveaway. Sometimes I Think About It tackles some tough subjects that show all the myriad ways of being human. There is beauty to be found as well as ugliness. Joy as well as sorrow. The only question I would ask someone before recommending this book is "Are you ready to challenge your sense of right and wrong, your sense of what is human?" For those who are brave enough to take the plunge into this tome, it is definitely worth it.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strong collection of essays, both personal and journalistic, often heart-wrenching and brutally honest. Whether writing about his depression, cross-dressing, and masochism, or the devastation of a father losing his family to a mudslide, to the situation in Palestine, Elliott never flinches, telling these important stories in a raw, factual style that gets to the heart. Highly recommended.

[Brad Wojak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Stephen Elliott’s writing, especially his essays. I was a obsessive follower of his literary website the Rumpus, and still miss his daily email blast. This collection of personal essays was fantastic.

[Margy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love love love the first third of this book. It fell apart a little for me in the second third, but managed to scrape my interest together again in the last third. I am excited to read more by this author.

[Sophia Serratore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very different than anything I have read before. It is a mixture of essays some that are personal and other pertaining to tragedies around the world. Elliot's writing style was very authentic throughout, but there were some essays I enjoyed a lot more than others.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of these stars is just because I loved and miss his daily Rumpus letters.

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am unusual and a little bit strange, but well written collection of essays, also rather honest and stark in its presentation. I was hooked with the first one in the book.

[Juliet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix of personal and cultural essays. I will always have a soft spot for his writing.