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This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire: A Memoir
A searing memoir on how childhood spills into parenthood from the critically acclaimed author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City.
When Nick Flynn was seven years old, his mother set fire to their house. The event loomed large in his imagination for years, but it’s only after having a child of his own that he understands why. He returns with his young daughter to the landscape of his youth, reflecting on how his feral childhood has him still in its reins, and forms his memories into lyrical bedtime stories populated by the both sinister and wounded Mister Mann.
With the spare lyricism and dark irony of his classic, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Flynn excavates the terrain of his traumatic upbringing and his mother’s suicide. This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire unravels the story of the fire that Flynn had to escape, and the ways in which, as an adult, he has carried that fire with him until it threatens to burn down his own house. Here Nick confronts his failings with fierce candor, even as they threaten to tear his family apart. His marriage in crisis, Flynn seeks answers from his therapist, who tells him he has “the ethics of a drowning man.”
This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire takes us on the journey of a man struggling to hold himself together in prose that is raw and moving, sharp-edged and wry. Alternating literary analysis and philosophy with intimate memoir, Flynn probes his deepest ethical dilemmas.
When Nick Flynn was seven years old, his mother set fire to their house. The event loomed large in his imagination for years, but it’s only after having a child of his own that he understands why. He returns with his young daughter to the landscape of his youth, reflecting on how his feral childhood has him still in its reins, and forms his memories into lyrical bedtime stories populated by the both sinister and wounded Mister Mann.
With the spare lyricism and dark irony of his classic, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Flynn excavates the terrain of his traumatic upbringing and his mother’s suicide. This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire unravels the story of the fire that Flynn had to escape, and the ways in which, as an adult, he has carried that fire with him until it threatens to burn down his own house. Here Nick confronts his failings with fierce candor, even as they threaten to tear his family apart. His marriage in crisis, Flynn seeks answers from his therapist, who tells him he has “the ethics of a drowning man.”
This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire takes us on the journey of a man struggling to hold himself together in prose that is raw and moving, sharp-edged and wry. Alternating literary analysis and philosophy with intimate memoir, Flynn probes his deepest ethical dilemmas.
286 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 25, 2020
38 people are currently reading
770 people want to read
About the author
Nick Flynn
55 books386 followersNick Flynn is an American writer, playwright, and poet.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
September 4, 2020
It's hard to imagine a bigger Nick Flynn fan than me, which is why I'm so conflicted about this memoir. On the one hand, I devoured it in one day, so I must have liked it, right? And it's true that by the end I was caught up in Flynn's writing just like I always am, his voice taking over my brain. So that's all good.
But I cannot deny that the first half of this book felt rather old hat to me, like Flynn was treading the same ground he'd gone over many times before, and when he eventually got to something new, I was riveted in a nosy kind of way but couldn't shake the feeling that there was something not entirely honest about it.
I guess I'm ambivalent, which is not how I'm used to feeling about one of Flynn's books. 3.5 stars, rounded up.
But I cannot deny that the first half of this book felt rather old hat to me, like Flynn was treading the same ground he'd gone over many times before, and when he eventually got to something new, I was riveted in a nosy kind of way but couldn't shake the feeling that there was something not entirely honest about it.
I guess I'm ambivalent, which is not how I'm used to feeling about one of Flynn's books. 3.5 stars, rounded up.
November 9, 2020
Not at all the kind of memoir I’d want to leave to MY daughter. I did not like author’s style of writing at all but I wish him well as he continues to deal with his insecurities and demons of his past.
February 21, 2022
There are moments when a writer is so obviously, just, going for it. Swinging for the fences, shooting for the stars, tying a bow on it all--there are numerous metaphors that capture the nature of these attempts. But what happens when the fireworks are lit, only for the fuse to fizzle out? The explosion never comes. The sense of failed expectations is total. Meanwhile, after his failed trick, the author is lying on the pavement, blood leaking from his knees, snapped skateboard off to the side. But enough with the metaphors. Let me provide some examples.
Page 80:
"I grab a hockey stick, slide it out toward him on my belly, tell him to just hold on.
The fire had taught me how to do that.
Fire taught me everything."
*Joker voice* Why...so...edgy?
This is middle school writing. I feel like it's something you'd find pasted over a picture on Instagram.
My problem with that passage is the emotional tone, but here's an example of where Flynn grows a beard and walks on stage with a philosophical tome tucked under his arm. Let's see how it goes.
Page 62:
"Fire contains time. Fire is time converted into light. Fire takes trees and allows you to read other trees. The book in your hand was once a tree, now you hold it up to the tiny fire inside the light bulb so you can read it--the words, then, hopefully create another fire, in your mind."
But what if you're reading on Kindle, Nick? This passage made me mourn for the dead trees that birthed it. I especially disliked that final bit. I couldn't help but read it as Ben Stiller playing Derek Zoolander: create another fire... in your mind. *taps finger to temple* It's poets that I find most often making these sorts of vacuous observations, words that sound good but mean nothing.
To be fair, there were some parts I liked. This passage comes right after Flynn's Mom has missed her exit, whipped the wheel to try and make the turn, and spins the car out of control.
Page 141:
We sit for a long moment like that, listening to the horns, then I reach out and touch her shoulder. She half glances at me, reaches for the key, turns the ignition. The engine struggles, then catches. Shitbox. She puts it in gear, gives me a wild-eyed look, as if asking if we should just keep going, gun it into the oncoming traffic. I look back at her, calm, as if we have all the time in the world. A car passes close by my window, laying on the horn. We're okay, I say, and point toward the exit, as if it were just one of many options.
Unfortunately, these better moments are outweighed by the failed linguistic acrobatics and cringeworthy attempts to sound profound.
Page 80:
"I grab a hockey stick, slide it out toward him on my belly, tell him to just hold on.
The fire had taught me how to do that.
Fire taught me everything."
*Joker voice* Why...so...edgy?
This is middle school writing. I feel like it's something you'd find pasted over a picture on Instagram.
My problem with that passage is the emotional tone, but here's an example of where Flynn grows a beard and walks on stage with a philosophical tome tucked under his arm. Let's see how it goes.
Page 62:
"Fire contains time. Fire is time converted into light. Fire takes trees and allows you to read other trees. The book in your hand was once a tree, now you hold it up to the tiny fire inside the light bulb so you can read it--the words, then, hopefully create another fire, in your mind."
But what if you're reading on Kindle, Nick? This passage made me mourn for the dead trees that birthed it. I especially disliked that final bit. I couldn't help but read it as Ben Stiller playing Derek Zoolander: create another fire... in your mind. *taps finger to temple* It's poets that I find most often making these sorts of vacuous observations, words that sound good but mean nothing.
To be fair, there were some parts I liked. This passage comes right after Flynn's Mom has missed her exit, whipped the wheel to try and make the turn, and spins the car out of control.
Page 141:
We sit for a long moment like that, listening to the horns, then I reach out and touch her shoulder. She half glances at me, reaches for the key, turns the ignition. The engine struggles, then catches. Shitbox. She puts it in gear, gives me a wild-eyed look, as if asking if we should just keep going, gun it into the oncoming traffic. I look back at her, calm, as if we have all the time in the world. A car passes close by my window, laying on the horn. We're okay, I say, and point toward the exit, as if it were just one of many options.
Unfortunately, these better moments are outweighed by the failed linguistic acrobatics and cringeworthy attempts to sound profound.
March 10, 2020
before i only had to not say a few things. now i'm supposed to say everything.it is hard to imagine a writer more forthright than nick flynn. works like absolution or perhaps even penance. books mining tragedy and pathos, yet returning to the surface with substance transmogrified; a gaze over into the abyss yielding not a hard-won peace, but instead a more valuable respite.
the fact is, we are so lost inside ourselves sometimes that it is impossible to think of other people, even those we love.excavating ground (partly) found within his incomparable 2004 memoir, another bullshit night in suck city, flynn's new one, this is the night our house will catch fire, has at its core two inescapable events: the evening his mother set their home aflame (with him inside) and a 5-year affair that nearly destroyed his marriage. flynn muses, flynn mourns, flynn strives to make sense of the senseless. he reflects, he regrets, he delves deeply, seemingly not only to understand his past, but to transcend and alter the trajectory of his future. a herculean task poetically portrayed and exactingly executed. nick flynn is an abundance.
we want to see ourselves, to be seen, at that moment of adoration, of annihilation, we want this moment to stretch into forever, we want it to press out from these walls, these sheets, that clock. of course we can make this moment contain everything, yet none of this matters, it is only a threshold into something larger than ourselves. than flesh. we set up the tripod, we hang the mirror, we glance at ourselves, sometimes we catch ourselves glancing, into our own eyes. we look into ourselves as if into a stranger, uncomprehending, as if the answer were there, in these stranger's eyes. is this who i've been all along? is this the me outside of who i am?
September 25, 2021
Honestly this would be a much better book if 1) Nick Flynn could make his 3 or 4 different story threads connect together in a more cohesive way; and 2) he could go just a bit deeper with his research drawing comparisons to Dante or Jung. He quotes Joan Didion at one point and his writing style reminds me of someone who tried to mimic hers but only made it 60% of the way there. But to be fair to Flynn, most people couldn't even get that close to her.
I'm a sucker for braided narrative memoirs, and this book gets close enough to doing it well that it ended up being more disappointing than if it had nearly failed entirely. Like an uncanny valley of storytelling, Flynn is just shy of being a great writer that it only draws too much attention to the few ways he falls short. This book probably deserves three stars instead of two, but as someone who went to one of the best MFA programs in the nation for creative nonfiction, my standards are too high.
I'm a sucker for braided narrative memoirs, and this book gets close enough to doing it well that it ended up being more disappointing than if it had nearly failed entirely. Like an uncanny valley of storytelling, Flynn is just shy of being a great writer that it only draws too much attention to the few ways he falls short. This book probably deserves three stars instead of two, but as someone who went to one of the best MFA programs in the nation for creative nonfiction, my standards are too high.
July 25, 2020
Holyshit Brilliance.
December 31, 2020
The other day when I reviewed The Good Family Fitzgerald, I mentioned that I intended to finish reading and reviewing the remaining 2020 selections of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club by the end of the year. I have finished reading the 5 books in this little challenge but with only two days left in December, I may find it even more challenging to fit in all the reviews.
But first, a bit of a rant. I saw in the news recently that Bertlesmann, the international media conglomerate, who already owns Penguin Random House (itself already a conglomerate of all kinds of formerly independent publishing houses) is now going after Simon & Schuster. While we all realize that publishing is a business and thus must make money/profits, don't you think it feels like all these mergers into one mega corporation presents risks to the diversity of books that reach us?
So I had the thought that the little indie publishers around the country and the world are going to have to take up the mantle that takes chances on new writers, on experimental writers, even genre writers, that have been choked out of mainstream publishing. I urge you to pay attention to the publishers of the books you read, the books that become bestsellers, have huge marketing budgets, etc, etc. If by chance you feel a sort of stifling sameness about some of these books, I want to point out that my subscription to The Nervous Breakdown Book Club has brought me many novels that are sometimes unusual, sometimes experimental but are almost always excellent reads by little known authors.
This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire is one of those books. It was the August pick, the fourth memoir by Nick Flynn and its publisher, W W Norton, is still privately owned.
The style is what I would call experimental, short pieces arranged in such a way that brings together the traumatic events of the author's childhood, how he has coped with those events in both self-destructive and constructive ways, how he has figured out his adult relationships and how to live up to his responsibilities.
The writing is full of contradictions: sadness and humor; insight and unawareness; real and imaginary memories. Because Flynn seems aware of these contradictions, I believed him.
The best parts for me were when he got into how he saw his environment as a kid. Those parts are excellent renditions of how kids try to make sense of what the adults around them are doing.
I also listened to his interview on the Otherppl podcast where I learned about his writing process and found useful ideas and approaches to writing memoir. Flynn teaches writing and it was almost like taking a class from him. If any of you are attempting that tricky descent into your past, I recommend both the book and the interview.
I truly admire people who attempt to raise their consciousness. To me, that is the most important task in life and is the road to developing our potentials as human beings.
But first, a bit of a rant. I saw in the news recently that Bertlesmann, the international media conglomerate, who already owns Penguin Random House (itself already a conglomerate of all kinds of formerly independent publishing houses) is now going after Simon & Schuster. While we all realize that publishing is a business and thus must make money/profits, don't you think it feels like all these mergers into one mega corporation presents risks to the diversity of books that reach us?
So I had the thought that the little indie publishers around the country and the world are going to have to take up the mantle that takes chances on new writers, on experimental writers, even genre writers, that have been choked out of mainstream publishing. I urge you to pay attention to the publishers of the books you read, the books that become bestsellers, have huge marketing budgets, etc, etc. If by chance you feel a sort of stifling sameness about some of these books, I want to point out that my subscription to The Nervous Breakdown Book Club has brought me many novels that are sometimes unusual, sometimes experimental but are almost always excellent reads by little known authors.
This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire is one of those books. It was the August pick, the fourth memoir by Nick Flynn and its publisher, W W Norton, is still privately owned.
The style is what I would call experimental, short pieces arranged in such a way that brings together the traumatic events of the author's childhood, how he has coped with those events in both self-destructive and constructive ways, how he has figured out his adult relationships and how to live up to his responsibilities.
The writing is full of contradictions: sadness and humor; insight and unawareness; real and imaginary memories. Because Flynn seems aware of these contradictions, I believed him.
The best parts for me were when he got into how he saw his environment as a kid. Those parts are excellent renditions of how kids try to make sense of what the adults around them are doing.
I also listened to his interview on the Otherppl podcast where I learned about his writing process and found useful ideas and approaches to writing memoir. Flynn teaches writing and it was almost like taking a class from him. If any of you are attempting that tricky descent into your past, I recommend both the book and the interview.
I truly admire people who attempt to raise their consciousness. To me, that is the most important task in life and is the road to developing our potentials as human beings.
July 30, 2023
A very well-written series of stories from Nick Flynn about his childhood, about the time his mother tried to burn down his house in Scituate, his parenting of his 7-year old daughter, a swamp marsh, a hermit neighbor he had, and how all of that explains and/or excuses his cheating on his wife for 5 years or so. Flynn's a great writer and a consummate storyteller, but I wasn't sure reading this if he was trying to convince me, his wife, or himself. His troubles make for fascinating reading either way.
October 28, 2020
An interesting and deeply affecting read for me. Many lines and quotes I wanted to capture, but was afraid if I took them out of the book they wouldn't be there for the next reader to discover.
An autobiography that read like a bestselling novel, told in brief snippets, leaving enough to the imagination that it transported me back to my childhood, where I found myself reliving adventures gone well and some that went awry.
This book will take you wherever you allow it to, and isn't that the best place to go?
An autobiography that read like a bestselling novel, told in brief snippets, leaving enough to the imagination that it transported me back to my childhood, where I found myself reliving adventures gone well and some that went awry.
This book will take you wherever you allow it to, and isn't that the best place to go?
Read
December 4, 2020This is breathtaking. a beautiful prose poem. Nick Flynn vulnerably seeks his own psychic health.
Where “Bullshit Night...” was about his father, “House On Fire” is about his mother, but not only. Flynn could hold his father at a distance, his mother however, raised him, formed him. Reading it, I got the sense he isn’t digging into his developmental wounds just for himself, or for his daughter, or his wife; his story of recovery is an offering to all of us.
Where “Bullshit Night...” was about his father, “House On Fire” is about his mother, but not only. Flynn could hold his father at a distance, his mother however, raised him, formed him. Reading it, I got the sense he isn’t digging into his developmental wounds just for himself, or for his daughter, or his wife; his story of recovery is an offering to all of us.
didntfinish-yet
December 4, 2021I was extremely, extremely excited to get my hands on this; after all, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City is one of my all-time fave memoirs. But I just wasn't able to get into this one, though I did try. I'll be back though, Nick!! I promise.
October 23, 2020
Don't know what to say about this book. A memoir? One of several it appears. He's a poet, and writer, with a traumatic upbringing, but this book had me crossing my eyes sometimes. Rambling, and odd. Just couldn't wait to finish it. Don't think I'll read anything of his again.
April 6, 2020
ARC received at PLA - Nashville
Beautifully written memoir.
Haunting.
Disturbing.
Familiar.
*Only reason why it's not 5 stars is because I reserve those for books that I will read again. This I will not read again but it's deserving of 5 stars.
Beautifully written memoir.
Haunting.
Disturbing.
Familiar.
*Only reason why it's not 5 stars is because I reserve those for books that I will read again. This I will not read again but it's deserving of 5 stars.
April 22, 2021
This is not an easy book to review. I'll touch on two things: style and content.
The style is extremely poetic, sometimes verging on "just too much." I can see why some people would find the lyricism over the top. But I loved it. Flynn writes like a scrapbook of moments that are snatched out of memory: snips of time and space that snag on our minds for decades. I'm sure everyone has moments like this, Proustian associations that just don't leave. Flynn writes like that. He's able to distill a scent or a color of light into a visceral feeling that just delighted me.
There's also the content related to his affair. One review noted "not the kind of memoir I'd write for my daughter to read." No, of course you wouldn't. But Flynn did. His behavior is sometimes hard to stomach, but he writes about it understanding it that way, too. He knows what people would think and wrote it anyway. That honesty is refreshing and human and real. His daughter has a flawed father. So what?
I read "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City" 15 years ago and wondered recently what that writer was up to, leading me to pick up this book. I really enjoyed this book and will read more of his work. Thank you, Nick Flynn, for being a real human, bad and good.
The style is extremely poetic, sometimes verging on "just too much." I can see why some people would find the lyricism over the top. But I loved it. Flynn writes like a scrapbook of moments that are snatched out of memory: snips of time and space that snag on our minds for decades. I'm sure everyone has moments like this, Proustian associations that just don't leave. Flynn writes like that. He's able to distill a scent or a color of light into a visceral feeling that just delighted me.
There's also the content related to his affair. One review noted "not the kind of memoir I'd write for my daughter to read." No, of course you wouldn't. But Flynn did. His behavior is sometimes hard to stomach, but he writes about it understanding it that way, too. He knows what people would think and wrote it anyway. That honesty is refreshing and human and real. His daughter has a flawed father. So what?
I read "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City" 15 years ago and wondered recently what that writer was up to, leading me to pick up this book. I really enjoyed this book and will read more of his work. Thank you, Nick Flynn, for being a real human, bad and good.
June 8, 2020
3 1/2 stars
A melodic memoir told partly in stories he is telling his daughter about his upbringing and partly in the prose of his own working through the trauma of his chaotic childhood and failures in adulthood. He is very open of his failings in his marriage and his desire to give his young daughter a better childhood and parent than he had. On one hand we see this wonderful relationship he is developing with his daughter taking her to revisit his hometown and on the other we see how insane and unguided his upbringing was not to mention his lack of connection to a parent and his mother's mental illness. His therapy in words raises many questions of our own to ponder about our own childhood, parents and relationships. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
A melodic memoir told partly in stories he is telling his daughter about his upbringing and partly in the prose of his own working through the trauma of his chaotic childhood and failures in adulthood. He is very open of his failings in his marriage and his desire to give his young daughter a better childhood and parent than he had. On one hand we see this wonderful relationship he is developing with his daughter taking her to revisit his hometown and on the other we see how insane and unguided his upbringing was not to mention his lack of connection to a parent and his mother's mental illness. His therapy in words raises many questions of our own to ponder about our own childhood, parents and relationships. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
March 16, 2022
Lyrical, raw, and oneiric, this is a poetic read for people who like dark memoirs (and aren't all the good ones dark, really?). Flynn revisits some of the ground he covered in his first memoir, but this focuses primarily on his mother's apparent decision to burn down the house they lived in when he was a young child in order to collect insurance money, a fire he only realizes was intentional many years after it happened. He mixes personal vignettes with poetic interludes, observations from history/science/literature, and exhortations/apologies to his young daughter, weaving together a very readable final product.
July 18, 2021
There is such a raw honesty here. Flynn doesn’t hold back from shining a very bright, sometimes harsh, light on his life. At times, the lyric qualities in his writing tend to draw too much attention to themselves; his crafting of sentences or images distracts a bit from the message. But I’m a big fan ever since Another Bullshit Night, and I think this memoir reveals a writer flexing different muscles to tell the truth(s) of his life.
January 14, 2021
Nick is an extraordinary writer, reading this book I felt like I was on the Colorado River in a kayak. Nick was pulling me through, sometimes the river was calm and beautiful and other times it was dangerous and I wasn't sure what was around the bend. That's a great writer.
February 12, 2021
A thoughtful, self-deprecating new installment in Flynn's series of memoirs investigating his childhood traumas and their repercussions. What becomes the central obsession of our lives, what helps us become better human beings? Insightful book.
September 15, 2020
So the poetic, obsessive revisitation of trauma eventually becomes crabbed and indulgent? Seems about right.
December 17, 2021
I love his sentence-level writing. Pure poetry in prose. In this book, I think he's on surer footing when discussing long ago events than more recent ones.
April 4, 2021
Jeg læste denne bog på engelsk, og det betyder, at jeg ikke har fået det hele med. Jeg har slået en del ord op, men andre har jeg gættet mig til for at bevare et flow i læsningen.
Jeg var forvirret over handlingen i starten, de mange brudstykker af en drengs barndom som tilsyneladende ikke danner en decideret handling. Det er erindringer, som varierer alt efter drengens/mandens alder, hvem han fortæller til og afspejler vel også det billede af begivenhederne, som han - på forskellige tidspunkter - kan bære at se tilbage på.
Hele vejen gennem bogen optræder fortællerens datter som den, der får at vide, hvem han har været og hvor han kommer fra - i lidt forskellige versioner, mens hun vokser op.
Fortælleren bærer på et traume: Hans hjem brændte ned, da han ikke var ret gammel, og det var hans mor, som satte ild på huset. Denne begivenhed og flere andre bliver gentaget i forskellige versioner gennem bogen, fx også som beskrivelse af nogle fotos fra drengens barndom.
Fortællerens affære, som hans kone ikke kender til, væves ind og arbejdet med at finde kærligheden i sit ægteskab igen, spejles i barndomsfortællingerne og traumearbejdet.
Hele dette kalejdoskop af tekster giver et rørende billede af en fars kærlighed til sin datter og hans eget arbejde med at komme overens med sig selv og sit liv.
Jeg var forvirret over handlingen i starten, de mange brudstykker af en drengs barndom som tilsyneladende ikke danner en decideret handling. Det er erindringer, som varierer alt efter drengens/mandens alder, hvem han fortæller til og afspejler vel også det billede af begivenhederne, som han - på forskellige tidspunkter - kan bære at se tilbage på.
Hele vejen gennem bogen optræder fortællerens datter som den, der får at vide, hvem han har været og hvor han kommer fra - i lidt forskellige versioner, mens hun vokser op.
Fortælleren bærer på et traume: Hans hjem brændte ned, da han ikke var ret gammel, og det var hans mor, som satte ild på huset. Denne begivenhed og flere andre bliver gentaget i forskellige versioner gennem bogen, fx også som beskrivelse af nogle fotos fra drengens barndom.
Fortællerens affære, som hans kone ikke kender til, væves ind og arbejdet med at finde kærligheden i sit ægteskab igen, spejles i barndomsfortællingerne og traumearbejdet.
Hele dette kalejdoskop af tekster giver et rørende billede af en fars kærlighed til sin datter og hans eget arbejde med at komme overens med sig selv og sit liv.
July 30, 2025
feeling misandrist asffffff right now. debated giving this 1 star However i DO think flynn comes from.. a good enough... place. if we can focus on the good, i think a lot of people growing and learning how to deal with childhood trauma can find solace and bits and bobs of understanding in here. there were actually 2 chapters that made me teary eyed. i don't think flynn is trying to come across as a "good person" in this, i think he makes his flaws quite known and easy to observe, so i wont knock him too much for being.... The Worst. However if i read one more book about a character (fictional or a real human) being so insufferable i want to hit myself with a hammer i will explode. it seems he is trying to write this memoir to pass down to his daughter and i do not think this is a good gift or whatever the hell hes aiming for !
The best storyline in all of this was clearly the Mr. Mann chapters, I will credit him here, i did find these quite compelling
last deduction of points is because he's coming across veryyyyy much Milk and Honey in some chapters. Rupi Kaur can't get away with that garbage let alone you as a GROWNNNN as man
Overall i did actually enjoy reading this and it was a pleasantly easy read, but i was distracted by this whiny grown man trying to impress his daughter while also being a piece of shit, so much was lost on me i fear
The best storyline in all of this was clearly the Mr. Mann chapters, I will credit him here, i did find these quite compelling
last deduction of points is because he's coming across veryyyyy much Milk and Honey in some chapters. Rupi Kaur can't get away with that garbage let alone you as a GROWNNNN as man
Overall i did actually enjoy reading this and it was a pleasantly easy read, but i was distracted by this whiny grown man trying to impress his daughter while also being a piece of shit, so much was lost on me i fear
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2020
Not exactly what I expected (what did I expect? not sure) but still a very enjoyable memoir from a man who clearly thinks deeply about the events that shaped his life and the actions he's taken in response (if not always in the moment). Weaving philosophically between his childhood and his more recent past, Flynn has a lot to offer when it comes to understanding why he's lived the way he has, what it means as a husband and father, and what it means as a person in general. Not to mention a theme we keep hearing more and more about - the limitations and failings of memory. As a dad (like Flynn) this was an excellent read.
March 27, 2022
It was all comforting and suffocating, as if we'd never surfaced, as if we were still holding our breath, still searching for that one promised, glittery thing.
Yet, here we are, it is all around us.
Five (six?) years after reading Another Bullshit Night in Suck City in college, Nick Flynn still continues to be the author who has transformed my life and perception of both my experiences and the world around me more than any other. We are all better off with his writing in the world.
Yet, here we are, it is all around us.
Five (six?) years after reading Another Bullshit Night in Suck City in college, Nick Flynn still continues to be the author who has transformed my life and perception of both my experiences and the world around me more than any other. We are all better off with his writing in the world.
February 27, 2021
Nick Flynn has quite a journey through life between his mother's and his own problems with mental illness and addiction. Probably the most blatant cause of his troubles stems from the house fire when he was seven. He eventually found that it wasn't set by raccoons and a portable grill but by his mother who set the house on fire with him and his brother asleep upstairs. They both did escape but you can only imagine the emotional repercussions. He delivers his memoir with short snippets, not a mundane, linear account. Very intriguing. I may need to explore more of his books.
June 29, 2023
I was already planning on reading "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City" but found this at the free library when I was dropping off a few. I couldn't put it down - and of course the irony of it having major water damage - the previous reader must have dropped it in the bath or wet it down to keep it from burning. Fires seem to be a recurrent theme in what I'm reading lately - I've started a few "fire" paintings over the past years and subsequently painted over them - I think it is time to try again. Have more thoughts on this book but want to think longer before adding more words here.
April 8, 2024
It's difficult to put my thoughts on this book into words.
In his own words, Flynn admits that this book has the feel of a fairytale. That paired with the lyrical writing and quotes from other books brings into question how raw and honest the story truly is. It felt like he was hiding the truth behind these things. He gives us enough honesty to keep you engaged, but there's a large feeling of embellishment and dishonesty.
3 stars, I kept waiting for his wife to divorce him. I'm surprised they're still married.
In his own words, Flynn admits that this book has the feel of a fairytale. That paired with the lyrical writing and quotes from other books brings into question how raw and honest the story truly is. It felt like he was hiding the truth behind these things. He gives us enough honesty to keep you engaged, but there's a large feeling of embellishment and dishonesty.
3 stars, I kept waiting for his wife to divorce him. I'm surprised they're still married.
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June 15, 2024I think that the narrative was awesome and knowing who the characters are and how they respond to the view of the author really helps shed light on who and who isn't a good person. Fire and smoke are hyperbole to drugs and cigarettes which the author regrets and holds some resentment for. It would be an interesting read for his daughter who gets mentioned many times while not really having a reason. Author seemingly battles addiction, legal issues, and his own poor judgement but in reality moving away from his mother made him healthier.
September 22, 2020
A really thoughtful book. When the author was seven, his house caught on fire. His family made it out alive, but he finds out later that his mother may have set it on purpose. He becomes haunted by this and sees in certain ways that this incident may have shaped his whole life. He’s dealing with this while his marriage may be falling apart and he’s not connecting to his young daughter in all the ways he knows he should, but he is desperately trying.
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