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Please Scream Inside Your Heart: Breaking News and Nervous Breakdowns in the Year that Wouldn't End
From the publisher of the NextDraft newsletter comes a cathartic and humorous ride through the unnerving, maddening hellscape of the 2020 press cycle, reestablishing the line between "real" news and real life.
Please lower your shoulder restraint and keep your hands and feet in. You’re about to board a roller coaster ride through a year that was at once laughable and lethal.If you’ve got an anti-anxiety prescription, now would probably be a good time to call in a refill.Please Scream Inside Your Heart is a time capsule; a real-time ride through the maddening hell that was the 2020 news cycle—when historic turmoil and media mania stretched American sanity, democracy, and toilet paper. Who better to examine this unhinged period in all of its twists and turns than news addict Dave Pell, aka the internet’s Managing Editor? Fueled by the wisdom and advice of his two Holocaust-surviving parents, for whom parts of this story were all too familiar, Pell puts the key stories of 2020 into context with pith and punch; highlighting turning points that widened America’s divisions, deepened our obsession with a media-driven civil war, and nearly knocked the country off its tracks. Pell also examines the role of technology in society—and how we somehow built the exact opposite of what we thought we were building. Why did the lies spread faster than the truth? How did our tech addiction contribute to the nightmare? Why do you feel a vibration in your pocket right now? In 2020, the news was everywhere, and everything was political—even the air we breathed. So brace yourself as you’re hurtled through the twists and turns of the corkscrewiest year in American history; one that included two impeachment trials, a global pandemic, Black Lives Matter, the biggest election of a lifetime, a slide towards autocracy, and a warning from the makers of Lysol not to drink their products.
Please lower your shoulder restraint and keep your hands and feet in. You’re about to board a roller coaster ride through a year that was at once laughable and lethal.If you’ve got an anti-anxiety prescription, now would probably be a good time to call in a refill.Please Scream Inside Your Heart is a time capsule; a real-time ride through the maddening hell that was the 2020 news cycle—when historic turmoil and media mania stretched American sanity, democracy, and toilet paper. Who better to examine this unhinged period in all of its twists and turns than news addict Dave Pell, aka the internet’s Managing Editor? Fueled by the wisdom and advice of his two Holocaust-surviving parents, for whom parts of this story were all too familiar, Pell puts the key stories of 2020 into context with pith and punch; highlighting turning points that widened America’s divisions, deepened our obsession with a media-driven civil war, and nearly knocked the country off its tracks. Pell also examines the role of technology in society—and how we somehow built the exact opposite of what we thought we were building. Why did the lies spread faster than the truth? How did our tech addiction contribute to the nightmare? Why do you feel a vibration in your pocket right now? In 2020, the news was everywhere, and everything was political—even the air we breathed. So brace yourself as you’re hurtled through the twists and turns of the corkscrewiest year in American history; one that included two impeachment trials, a global pandemic, Black Lives Matter, the biggest election of a lifetime, a slide towards autocracy, and a warning from the makers of Lysol not to drink their products.
369 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 2, 2021
94 people are currently reading
6393 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
September 24, 2021
You should totally jump on this roller coaster of a book about the year 2020. Dave Pell takes us all back for a ride that no one wanted to take in this lifetime which, still makes me scream (into my mask of course).
I’m a big fan of Dave Pell’s pithy news aggregation email “Next Draft”. So, when I heard he was writing a book about 2020, I was eager to read it. Pell’s witty writing style, similar in some respects to Dave Barry’s masterful satire, shines throughout as he recounts the insanity of 2020.
For many of us, certainly me, 2020 was a blur of endless days working from home and hording toilet paper (just kidding - sort of). So it’s a great way to look back on the specific times and events during the year that seemingly had no beginning or end. PSIYH is a helpful reference to piece the year back together with clarity and humor. Someone with small children or grandchildren today, if asked by these kids 20 years or so from now, “what was 2020 really like”, could just hand them a copy and say; “have at it kid”.
Pell’s admiration for his parents, particularly his father and how he weaves some family history into the opening and ending of the book helps set a foundation for the retelling of this period. And his father’s lifetime of courage and wisdom added greatly to my enjoyment of the book.
Books that trigger emotions and memories are always powerful for me and this one is full of them. Speaking of triggering a memory, one stand out passage for me was the author recounting talking with his teenage son early in the pandemic. Pell writes: “Usually parents have the answers or at least pretend they do…. In the age of Covid … I didn’t. How do we protect ourselves? What’s coming next? Like every parent, I had no idea.”
This snapped me back to a mid-March 2020, phone conversation with my college age daughter. She asked me, “in your lifetime, how bad is this really?” As a dad I wanted to give her a confident “I’ve seen worse, this is not really a big deal”. But, just like Pell and like every parent, I had no idea. No idea how deadly and contagious this pathogen was. No idea if the economy would collapse as it suddenly shut down. No idea what was happening to the Republican Party I once knew. No idea what was next. I remember blurting …. “oh this is big, I mean really big, On a scale of 1 to 10, an 11”. I regretted being so alarmist, but I suppose I wanted her to take this seriously which was foolish of me because she already was.
And while my chat with her was after most of Australia had burned in January, we still had many more tragic events ahead along with the pandemic such as the murder of George Floyd and others, as well as the attack our our democracy and election process. Thank goodness we’ve made it through, so far anyway.
Finally, another notable part of the book was some philosophical words on the news and news cycle. I am somewhat of a news junkie myself, that’s why I love Next Draft. But here is the “Managing Editor of the Internet” giving advice on turning it off (or at least dialing it down). And it is sage advice.
A great book on the what is hopefully the most bizarre year of a lifetime. We shall see!
Disclosure, I'd like to thank Hachette for the Advance Reader Copy
I’m a big fan of Dave Pell’s pithy news aggregation email “Next Draft”. So, when I heard he was writing a book about 2020, I was eager to read it. Pell’s witty writing style, similar in some respects to Dave Barry’s masterful satire, shines throughout as he recounts the insanity of 2020.
For many of us, certainly me, 2020 was a blur of endless days working from home and hording toilet paper (just kidding - sort of). So it’s a great way to look back on the specific times and events during the year that seemingly had no beginning or end. PSIYH is a helpful reference to piece the year back together with clarity and humor. Someone with small children or grandchildren today, if asked by these kids 20 years or so from now, “what was 2020 really like”, could just hand them a copy and say; “have at it kid”.
Pell’s admiration for his parents, particularly his father and how he weaves some family history into the opening and ending of the book helps set a foundation for the retelling of this period. And his father’s lifetime of courage and wisdom added greatly to my enjoyment of the book.
Books that trigger emotions and memories are always powerful for me and this one is full of them. Speaking of triggering a memory, one stand out passage for me was the author recounting talking with his teenage son early in the pandemic. Pell writes: “Usually parents have the answers or at least pretend they do…. In the age of Covid … I didn’t. How do we protect ourselves? What’s coming next? Like every parent, I had no idea.”
This snapped me back to a mid-March 2020, phone conversation with my college age daughter. She asked me, “in your lifetime, how bad is this really?” As a dad I wanted to give her a confident “I’ve seen worse, this is not really a big deal”. But, just like Pell and like every parent, I had no idea. No idea how deadly and contagious this pathogen was. No idea if the economy would collapse as it suddenly shut down. No idea what was happening to the Republican Party I once knew. No idea what was next. I remember blurting …. “oh this is big, I mean really big, On a scale of 1 to 10, an 11”. I regretted being so alarmist, but I suppose I wanted her to take this seriously which was foolish of me because she already was.
And while my chat with her was after most of Australia had burned in January, we still had many more tragic events ahead along with the pandemic such as the murder of George Floyd and others, as well as the attack our our democracy and election process. Thank goodness we’ve made it through, so far anyway.
Finally, another notable part of the book was some philosophical words on the news and news cycle. I am somewhat of a news junkie myself, that’s why I love Next Draft. But here is the “Managing Editor of the Internet” giving advice on turning it off (or at least dialing it down). And it is sage advice.
A great book on the what is hopefully the most bizarre year of a lifetime. We shall see!
Disclosure, I'd like to thank Hachette for the Advance Reader Copy
November 11, 2021
This is the intellectual reassurance we all needed!
Dave Pell has been soothing my soul for quite some time with his daily newsletter, NextDraft. His humor and laser-sharp wit reduce the anxiety-inducing news topics to a manageable level, reminding me that I'm not the only one who sees current events for what they really are.
When I heard he'd put all his 2020 eggs into one book basket, I knew right away it was one I had to have. And when I was able to secure an ARC copy through NetGalley, I was not disappointed.
Stealing the title from a sign above a roller coaster admonishing riders not to allow their fear to alarm their fellow passengers, he goes on to craft the entire 13-month news cycle - from January 2020 through January 2021 - as the roller coaster it was. He not only examines everything that happened on our national and world stage, he puts it into the context of history as only a man with deep personal ties to the atrocities of the Holocaust can.
This should be required reading for everyone too young to call themselves a Boomer, as those are the folks who lack the first- and second-hand knowledge of how hard evil was to eradicate in WWII. I grew up wondering just how the good Christian people of Germany could have allowed such a madman to destroy their country; I never thought I'd live in an America that was so ill-educated as to allow it to happen here only a few decades later. This book lays it all out in plain language, easy to read yet filled with thought-provoking insights and amazingly cogent exposition.
This is as much an autobiography as it is political punditry, a method that serves to underscore the authority with which he comments as well as endearing him to the reader as just another hard-working family man, the kind that built this country in the first place. Scattered throughout are some of his best tweets, reminding us all of the power of social media to cut through the noise and connect us with like-minded fellow citizens.
I am still awaiting the delivery of the hard copy of this book; even though my children are all grown and not a single one of them is stupid enough to fall for the authoritarian cult that is today's GOP, I'm still going to insist that they read this book to insulate their intelligence and arm them with the necessary facts and historical perspective so they can defend our nation's Constitution against the encroaching evil that, sadly, is not yet completely vanquished.
If you're looking for a book to explain the past year in America and to educate yourself or your target audience, look no further. This is a fun book to read, despite its heavy content, because it reminds us that we're not the ones who've lost sight of what this great nation is truly all about. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
Dave Pell has been soothing my soul for quite some time with his daily newsletter, NextDraft. His humor and laser-sharp wit reduce the anxiety-inducing news topics to a manageable level, reminding me that I'm not the only one who sees current events for what they really are.
When I heard he'd put all his 2020 eggs into one book basket, I knew right away it was one I had to have. And when I was able to secure an ARC copy through NetGalley, I was not disappointed.
Stealing the title from a sign above a roller coaster admonishing riders not to allow their fear to alarm their fellow passengers, he goes on to craft the entire 13-month news cycle - from January 2020 through January 2021 - as the roller coaster it was. He not only examines everything that happened on our national and world stage, he puts it into the context of history as only a man with deep personal ties to the atrocities of the Holocaust can.
This should be required reading for everyone too young to call themselves a Boomer, as those are the folks who lack the first- and second-hand knowledge of how hard evil was to eradicate in WWII. I grew up wondering just how the good Christian people of Germany could have allowed such a madman to destroy their country; I never thought I'd live in an America that was so ill-educated as to allow it to happen here only a few decades later. This book lays it all out in plain language, easy to read yet filled with thought-provoking insights and amazingly cogent exposition.
This is as much an autobiography as it is political punditry, a method that serves to underscore the authority with which he comments as well as endearing him to the reader as just another hard-working family man, the kind that built this country in the first place. Scattered throughout are some of his best tweets, reminding us all of the power of social media to cut through the noise and connect us with like-minded fellow citizens.
I am still awaiting the delivery of the hard copy of this book; even though my children are all grown and not a single one of them is stupid enough to fall for the authoritarian cult that is today's GOP, I'm still going to insist that they read this book to insulate their intelligence and arm them with the necessary facts and historical perspective so they can defend our nation's Constitution against the encroaching evil that, sadly, is not yet completely vanquished.
If you're looking for a book to explain the past year in America and to educate yourself or your target audience, look no further. This is a fun book to read, despite its heavy content, because it reminds us that we're not the ones who've lost sight of what this great nation is truly all about. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
January 8, 2022
It seems odd to describe a book about the dumpster fire year of 2020 as enjoyable, but here we are. The author adds perspective and I finished the book even a teeny tiny bit encouraged.
January 20, 2022
Excellent!!! A fast paced and effectively conveyed summary and commentary on the news events of 2020. I figure I'll be reading about this time period for a long time to come, but this was a good way for me to dip my toe into that past horror that was 2020 and marvel at how much we all processed that year. There were events that I had forgotten/not thought about for awhile as well as humorous comic relief treasures of 2020. The Fly on Mike Pence's Head! The Four Seasons Landscaping parking lot press conference! I love the humor that Dave Pell puts into his retelling of events, as well as the heart of his perspectives and those of his family members, including his Jewish holocaust-surviving 90-something parents. I couldn't read too much about the Trump presidency while he was in office, but now I think I have the slight distance needed for this book. Wow! I'll be bugging all my friends to read this.
January 13, 2022
I don’t know why I enjoyed reliving the news events of 2020, but I did. I guess it was a nice way to look back and say, “did that really happen?” And Dave Pell comes along with this book and says, “you’re not crazy, that really happened. It wasn’t all a fever dream.”
November 26, 2021
If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry…
An accurate representation of the s***storm that was the year 2020 (and the equally shameful January 2021), with some necessary humorous observations sprinkled in, because there were so many events and instances that were just so head-shakingly laughable.
The author makes good points around the media obsessively creating the disaster that lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from January 2017 to January 2021, and how, because of that, that person used both traditional and social media to defecate on the Constitution through lies and deceit. It all culminated with the confluence in a calendar year of a deadly pandemic, rallies for social justice, and an election, and the quest for a narcissistic sociopath to retain power, regardless of the cost.
Mr. Pell theorizes that our hunger for and over-consumption of “breaking news” and the immediate need to express our opinions on it are part of what is driving the divisions in this country. Politics as bloodsport is the major driver, but combined with the media’s quest for ratings (read: $$$) has created a monster that is difficult to tame.
This book is timely for me, as I am currently in the midst of trying to break my Twitter, social media, and news addiction, and this gives me justification for doing so. David’s question of (paraphrased) “Can you survive on just scanning the headlines for 5 minutes a day” seems to be working for me. Hopefully this book can help those facing the same dilemma as I’ve been facing.
An accurate representation of the s***storm that was the year 2020 (and the equally shameful January 2021), with some necessary humorous observations sprinkled in, because there were so many events and instances that were just so head-shakingly laughable.
The author makes good points around the media obsessively creating the disaster that lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from January 2017 to January 2021, and how, because of that, that person used both traditional and social media to defecate on the Constitution through lies and deceit. It all culminated with the confluence in a calendar year of a deadly pandemic, rallies for social justice, and an election, and the quest for a narcissistic sociopath to retain power, regardless of the cost.
Mr. Pell theorizes that our hunger for and over-consumption of “breaking news” and the immediate need to express our opinions on it are part of what is driving the divisions in this country. Politics as bloodsport is the major driver, but combined with the media’s quest for ratings (read: $$$) has created a monster that is difficult to tame.
This book is timely for me, as I am currently in the midst of trying to break my Twitter, social media, and news addiction, and this gives me justification for doing so. David’s question of (paraphrased) “Can you survive on just scanning the headlines for 5 minutes a day” seems to be working for me. Hopefully this book can help those facing the same dilemma as I’ve been facing.
November 8, 2021
The dizzying pace of everyday life nowadays can make it difficult to reflect on what I did yesterday, let alone all that happened last year. But to paraphrase the famous saying, being able to reflect on history, even recent history, is the only way to prevent us from repeating it -- or worse. 2020 was a watershed year in US History to which attention must be paid even as we hurtle into the future, and any reader can benefit from the adroit guidance and the excellent company of Dave Pell in paying it. Pell's book is crisply written, filled with insight, hilarious, and, when you least expect it, deeply moving. I can't recommend it highly enough, for readers of any age and from any background.
November 27, 2021
This Book Needed to Be Written
And I’m glad it was Dave Pell who wrote it. I have to admit that when I first started reading it, I thought maybe it’s too soon. But then I began to be reminded of all the things I’d forgotten in the blur of the plague and Trump’s last two years in office.
The book serves as both chronicle and commentary, reminder and grim warning. It’s no accident that our country was infected by a novel coronavirus and a novel turn toward authoritarianism under Trump. The virus was Nature’s way of telling us democracy was in danger. Still is, of course.
It’s almost worth reading the book to learn the anecdote that explains the title. But it’s more worth reading the book because it’s well written and at times painfully funny.
And I’m glad it was Dave Pell who wrote it. I have to admit that when I first started reading it, I thought maybe it’s too soon. But then I began to be reminded of all the things I’d forgotten in the blur of the plague and Trump’s last two years in office.
The book serves as both chronicle and commentary, reminder and grim warning. It’s no accident that our country was infected by a novel coronavirus and a novel turn toward authoritarianism under Trump. The virus was Nature’s way of telling us democracy was in danger. Still is, of course.
It’s almost worth reading the book to learn the anecdote that explains the title. But it’s more worth reading the book because it’s well written and at times painfully funny.
May 25, 2022
Pell is a news commentator. And this book is a blow by blow recount of some of the craziest news stories from 2020 and his reactions to them. Funny, heartbreaking and headscratching this is an invitation to relive 2020 in effort to process the whole thing.
Why I started this book: Purchased the book for the library because of the title, something that was advertised at a Japanese theme park in 2020 that wanted to reopen safely. Turns out that Pell didn't mention Japan at all, but 2020 was one for the record books.
Why I finished it: 2020 was a wild ride! And I was struck at how many times during the book, I was stopped by the thought, "oh yeah, that was in 2020 too!" Pell is humorous and he had plenty to comment on, but like a jerky carnival ride, I wanted off.
Why I started this book: Purchased the book for the library because of the title, something that was advertised at a Japanese theme park in 2020 that wanted to reopen safely. Turns out that Pell didn't mention Japan at all, but 2020 was one for the record books.
Why I finished it: 2020 was a wild ride! And I was struck at how many times during the book, I was stopped by the thought, "oh yeah, that was in 2020 too!" Pell is humorous and he had plenty to comment on, but like a jerky carnival ride, I wanted off.
January 11, 2022
Let's get this out of the way: not everyone is going to want to go through 2020 again. That takes a certain kind of weird masochist (hello!). But it was a strange year that repays closer inspection, if you can take it. After all, it's hard to imagine a "newsier" year, and it was ridiculous how many (usually) front page items, got relegated to a single column and tweet before being quickly buried in the tsunami of events.
A painful - but also painfully funny - review and call to action. Watch out world, Dave Pell is watching you! Join him.
A painful - but also painfully funny - review and call to action. Watch out world, Dave Pell is watching you! Join him.
March 4, 2022
This book was a revisit of the political and social hellscape that was 2020 in America. I like that Dave Pell provides factual information as well as provides personal anecdotes to reference certain events as well. The headlines were definitely blaring in this book. I think a lot of people will stroll through this one day and realize the level of duping that has occurred in our country. It will be interesting to see the take that history has on this year in the future. The IQs were low and the world was quite the dumpster fire. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.
January 9, 2022
This is exactly what I expected of Pell: sarcastic, funny, thought provoking, and informative. It’s crazy to read a book about 2020 and not remember so much of it. I guess I blocked the shitshow out. It’s also sad to read and recall how devastating 45 and his sycophants were and continue to be. Highly recommend this one and the NextDraft newsletter.
May 19, 2022
This book was so hard to get through. Instead of 2020 at a glimpse, it was pretty much what Donald Trump did every day of the year. For someone who hates Trump so much, the author sure loves talking about him. Way too political, for me. Incredibly one sided and I’m not sure the author is even aware of the bias coming from both sides of the media.
November 5, 2021
With humor, wit and tremendous insight, the author memorializes the whackiest year most of us have ever experienced. Don't be afraid to look directly at the wreckage - Dave's work contains enough laughs and deep-dives in to his life's work of analyzing the news - to keep us from crying.
December 8, 2021
This is a terrific recap of the year that seemed to have no end, 2020. It's delivered with a lot of insight and humor. Well worth reading.
December 28, 2021
Exceptional review of 2020 and the multiple perils of the pandemic, rise of hate, and an incredibly inept administration and its stooges doing more to exacerbate the crisis than solve it.
January 29, 2022
Maybe I’ll write a book based on my tweets for the year
Read
May 18, 2022I really loved the insight from the author’s father, a Jewish man who survived the Holocaust. After living through authoritarianism and fascism during WWII he had a lot of wisdom to offer, especially when it comes to spotting modern-day fascists who threaten our democracy.
Loved some parts, hated others. Definitely not unbiased, but also never claims to be. It’s the 2020 the author lived through and it feels very similar to the 2020 I also lived through. Much of it felt just like the conversations I had over and over with my husband late at night.
Loved some parts, hated others. Definitely not unbiased, but also never claims to be. It’s the 2020 the author lived through and it feels very similar to the 2020 I also lived through. Much of it felt just like the conversations I had over and over with my husband late at night.
July 21, 2023
This book by Dave Pell is excellent. The editor of the Next Draft newsletter, Pell turns his multiple bowsers to review 2020, a year that we might like to forget.
But as Pell points out, it’s important — imperative, even — that we remember the threats to democracy (that started well before 2020). And, sadly, how it could continue.
But as Pell points out, it’s important — imperative, even — that we remember the threats to democracy (that started well before 2020). And, sadly, how it could continue.
March 30, 2022
3.5 stars, really.
A quick read that pulls together the thousands of hours I spent doomscrolling in 2020? Yes, to my surprise, I needed this. Can he please do one for 2021, and oh God will we need one for 2024?
Every time his parents appeared in the book, I perked up. His father survived the Holocaust as a teenage partisan (for lack of other options--maybe that's how a lot of partisans became partisans). His mother and only one of her two sisters survived as kids/tweens b/c they happened to be the right ages to match the only two visas the family of four children could get to leave Germany. I'm glad he offered their perspectives on news and particularly on leaders who pull authoritarian moves.
It's an essay collection, not just a reprinting of tweets. I've read some essay collections that are denser, with a more scholarly feel; I've read others that are fluffier. This is on the approachable end of the spectrum--notes from a US newshound, more commentary than analysis, with some humor woven in, though the jokes never punch down.
The cons: His wordplay doesn't always land, and he probably should write another book to sort out whether the internet has turned out to be a net positive and if not, how guilty should people like him feel about it (I don't know anything about him, so I was sometimes puzzled by how personally responsible he seems to feel).
If you're a FoxNews fan, you won't like this book, but then again, you won't know about it, or about almost any of the news stories it recaps, and that's his whole point.
A quick read that pulls together the thousands of hours I spent doomscrolling in 2020? Yes, to my surprise, I needed this. Can he please do one for 2021, and oh God will we need one for 2024?
Every time his parents appeared in the book, I perked up. His father survived the Holocaust as a teenage partisan (for lack of other options--maybe that's how a lot of partisans became partisans). His mother and only one of her two sisters survived as kids/tweens b/c they happened to be the right ages to match the only two visas the family of four children could get to leave Germany. I'm glad he offered their perspectives on news and particularly on leaders who pull authoritarian moves.
It's an essay collection, not just a reprinting of tweets. I've read some essay collections that are denser, with a more scholarly feel; I've read others that are fluffier. This is on the approachable end of the spectrum--notes from a US newshound, more commentary than analysis, with some humor woven in, though the jokes never punch down.
The cons: His wordplay doesn't always land, and he probably should write another book to sort out whether the internet has turned out to be a net positive and if not, how guilty should people like him feel about it (I don't know anything about him, so I was sometimes puzzled by how personally responsible he seems to feel).
If you're a FoxNews fan, you won't like this book, but then again, you won't know about it, or about almost any of the news stories it recaps, and that's his whole point.
November 29, 2021
Dave Pell’s “Please Scream Inside Your Heart: Breaking News and Nervous Breakdowns in the Year That Wouldn’t End” is a kind of time capsule of the year 2020, month by month, by the man who calls himself the managing editor of the internet. Pell’s newsletter, NextDraft, is apparently well-known, but I admit I went into this clueless about him or his newsletter.
In addition to chronicling the year from hell, Pell explores his deep connection with his Holocaust-survivor parents, and all the are both heart-warming and gut-wrenching. Here is Pell on his father escaping the Nazis: “In the darkness, my dad crawled on his hands and knees through mud and s— until he reached the edge of the Polish forest,” Pell writes. “He survived there for months, alone, often getting through the night by stealing some warmth while lying on top of outdoor bread ovens. Eventually, he got a gun. A gun meant you could join the partisans, an organized group of insurgents, protecting each other and launching attacks from their hideaways in the woods. He spent years fighting the Nazis, specializing in blowing up German trains headed toward the front.”
The title comes from a sign in an amusement park in Japan, admonishing the riders of a new and very scary ride to be stoic...advice we all needed throughout 2020 (and, so far, 2021). Four stars and thanks to Hachette Books and NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for this honest review.
In addition to chronicling the year from hell, Pell explores his deep connection with his Holocaust-survivor parents, and all the are both heart-warming and gut-wrenching. Here is Pell on his father escaping the Nazis: “In the darkness, my dad crawled on his hands and knees through mud and s— until he reached the edge of the Polish forest,” Pell writes. “He survived there for months, alone, often getting through the night by stealing some warmth while lying on top of outdoor bread ovens. Eventually, he got a gun. A gun meant you could join the partisans, an organized group of insurgents, protecting each other and launching attacks from their hideaways in the woods. He spent years fighting the Nazis, specializing in blowing up German trains headed toward the front.”
The title comes from a sign in an amusement park in Japan, admonishing the riders of a new and very scary ride to be stoic...advice we all needed throughout 2020 (and, so far, 2021). Four stars and thanks to Hachette Books and NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for this honest review.
December 5, 2021
I really enjoyed reading this which was a little bit of a surprise, although, albeit, a very nice one.
I wasn't sure if revisiting the year of a ravaging, combined political and health apocalypse was something I really wanted to do but the title caught me and I had to know more. Despite the wild mixture of incredulity, simple truth, ironic twists and every day basic fear, that permeated 2020, Dave managed to temper it with humor, occasional biting barbs and reminders that sometimes, you just have to shake your head and move on. He took us through the news, that which WAS really news and yes, even that which was not so much so, without making us want to jump off the bridge in despair. For every minute of relived angst and hand wringing, there were equal laugh right out loud moments. And just in case one had forgotten, revisiting the absurdity of particular actions and statements by a president clearly in over his head from day one, and knowing that we did still, somehow, manage to preserve the state of our union, despite all the chaos he inspired, is enough to remind us that we really are a country of the people and for the people. One not awfully bright, narcisstic leader cannot take that away, no matter how hard he, or she, may try.
Dave's acerbic wit and marvelous adages from his holocaust surviving parents made this book.
Literally.
Well worth the look back at a less than stellar time in the US of A.
I wasn't sure if revisiting the year of a ravaging, combined political and health apocalypse was something I really wanted to do but the title caught me and I had to know more. Despite the wild mixture of incredulity, simple truth, ironic twists and every day basic fear, that permeated 2020, Dave managed to temper it with humor, occasional biting barbs and reminders that sometimes, you just have to shake your head and move on. He took us through the news, that which WAS really news and yes, even that which was not so much so, without making us want to jump off the bridge in despair. For every minute of relived angst and hand wringing, there were equal laugh right out loud moments. And just in case one had forgotten, revisiting the absurdity of particular actions and statements by a president clearly in over his head from day one, and knowing that we did still, somehow, manage to preserve the state of our union, despite all the chaos he inspired, is enough to remind us that we really are a country of the people and for the people. One not awfully bright, narcisstic leader cannot take that away, no matter how hard he, or she, may try.
Dave's acerbic wit and marvelous adages from his holocaust surviving parents made this book.
Literally.
Well worth the look back at a less than stellar time in the US of A.
November 25, 2021
Awful year remembered
This is the only memoir I've read from Trump's disastrous term, after the over half a million Americans who died preventable deaths from COVID. I'm A next Draft subscriber, so have leaned to enjoy Pell's style. Like him, like millions of Americans, I struggled to take in much of Trump's appalling speech and actions. To read it, in Pell's wry and witty voice, made me realize how weird it was the first time. And it doesn't seem to be over.
The book ends with a tribute to his father, a Jew who escaped the Nazis during the Holocaust. Bottom line: 2020 was an awful year, worth combing through again if only to head off another one like it.
This is the only memoir I've read from Trump's disastrous term, after the over half a million Americans who died preventable deaths from COVID. I'm A next Draft subscriber, so have leaned to enjoy Pell's style. Like him, like millions of Americans, I struggled to take in much of Trump's appalling speech and actions. To read it, in Pell's wry and witty voice, made me realize how weird it was the first time. And it doesn't seem to be over.
The book ends with a tribute to his father, a Jew who escaped the Nazis during the Holocaust. Bottom line: 2020 was an awful year, worth combing through again if only to head off another one like it.
December 29, 2021
Dave Pell of the NextDraft daily newsletter has put together a recap of the year that would never end. Reading through the book I found it surreal to read all that had happened in 2020 from a news perspective since almost every day of that year was newsworthy. I found the comparisons of what particular outlets were covering particularly helpful as a way to understand what others were focused on throughout the year. Overall, I think this book will be a helpful bench mark for how fascinating and horrifying 2020 was for all of us to live through.
March 23, 2022
I really liked this book! I knew nothing abut Dave Pell before picking it up and I was pleasantly surprised. He is super funny and provides a comprehensive commentary on 2020, the worst year ever. It was almost soothing in a way to relive all the events of the year from his point of view rather than mine. His was better. Sarcastic and thought-provoking, yet also very informative--definitely worth reading!!!
December 4, 2021
DNF 38% in. This book should be titled, “Here’s why Trump was the worst president ever.” There are more disses on him in this book than there were events about the unfolding of COVID. I honestly couldn’t go more than 10 minutes without hearing about how many mistakes Trump made about everything. So much finger pointing made this book very unenjoyable for me, even if I do agree with some of it.
December 11, 2021
Being a political centrist, I liked this book but it fails to find a middle-ground. After a while it just got exhausting and I failed to find as much satirical humor I was hoping to find.
November 6, 2021
Please Scream Inside Your Heart is a fabulous book. As I write this at the end of 2021, it's still hard to process the the events of 2020 and early 2021 and Dave's book really helped to guide the way. Dave Pell does a miraculous job of putting the year in context by combining his own insights on the news, weaving in a lot of his own personal stories (his parents, both of them Holocaust survivors, play a prominent role) and bringing the same amazing humor that he brings every day to NextDraft. It was an interesting experience reading the book because in some ways it was hard to re-live what we all went through in that tumultuous year but then at the same time his writing is so funny that I laughed the entire time. And even though the book is so funny, Dave provides an important perspective on why it's important that we all take the news seriously.
Please Scream Inside Your Heart is an important, hilarious and ultimately very moving book. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Please Scream Inside Your Heart is an important, hilarious and ultimately very moving book. I can't recommend it highly enough.
October 10, 2023
This had such a good title that I felt like I had to read it... But then while I was muddling through I regularly found myself wondering: wait... why am I doing this to myself? I was there when all of this happened and I still remember it all and all of it sucked. I don't want or need a refresher course on this extremely recent history!
Which leads me to the central catch-22 of this book: there's a certain type of masochist who might want to read Dave Pell's recap of 2020- but they won't need to because they were probably reading the news non-stop as all of this was happening. Meanwhile there are people who should read this - but they're not plugged into the political world at all so they would have no idea that this book exists so they'll never read it. This book is no good to it's intended audience and perfect for an audience that wants nothing to do with it. As such it's existence is further proof that we are a perverse and illogical species...
Which leads me to the central catch-22 of this book: there's a certain type of masochist who might want to read Dave Pell's recap of 2020- but they won't need to because they were probably reading the news non-stop as all of this was happening. Meanwhile there are people who should read this - but they're not plugged into the political world at all so they would have no idea that this book exists so they'll never read it. This book is no good to it's intended audience and perfect for an audience that wants nothing to do with it. As such it's existence is further proof that we are a perverse and illogical species...
June 1, 2025
I remember 2020 but a lot of my memories have become muted. I knew the danger to our democracy and the absolutely awful response to the Covid panic. Half a million people died due to the inept maneuvers coming from the White House. I wrote about it all that long year.
This book woke up my sleeping memories. As I read the book, I thought to myself: how in the hell could people be so stupid as to vote for him? He really was trying to have a coup.
I stuck with the book because Pell has a sense of humor that appealed to me. No dad jokes, just terrible events told with a bit of snarkiness.
The title intrigued me. I learned right off that, in Japanese amusement parks, people were forbidden to scream on the rollercoasters. People protested it wasn’t possible so a couple of stone faced officials sat through the ride. People were told, if you have to scream “Please scream inside your heart.”
I get it. I am screaming inside my heart.
This book woke up my sleeping memories. As I read the book, I thought to myself: how in the hell could people be so stupid as to vote for him? He really was trying to have a coup.
I stuck with the book because Pell has a sense of humor that appealed to me. No dad jokes, just terrible events told with a bit of snarkiness.
The title intrigued me. I learned right off that, in Japanese amusement parks, people were forbidden to scream on the rollercoasters. People protested it wasn’t possible so a couple of stone faced officials sat through the ride. People were told, if you have to scream “Please scream inside your heart.”
I get it. I am screaming inside my heart.
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