The New York Diaries: Too-True Tales of Urban Trauma

by Daniel Drennan

"Half my time and energy as a New Yorker is given to keeping all aspects of the outside world outside; to such a degree that it might seem as if I were manning the walls of some medieval fortress, the only difference being that the Goths, and the Huns, and the other marauding hordes of centuries past had nothing on, say, those restaurant guys who shove menus under your door. . . ."

Thousands of readers first discovered Danny Drennan through his addictive on-line weekly wrap-ups of Beverly Hills 90210. Now here are his manic, wickedly funny stream-of-consciousness riffs on the uncelebrated but all-too-familiar daily dramas that could only take place in New York City. The trauma of brunch on the Upper West Side, the secret society of snooty dog owners, the diabolical subway-token clerks, the neighbor upstairs who perpetually carries trash in to the apartment but never out: Drennan chronicles his misadventures in the urban mosaic with comic edginess, irreverence, and a sardonic wit that are unmistakably his own.

The New York Diaries draws us into the singular world of Daniel Drennan--and announces the arrival of an irresistible new writer.

Contents:
    
            Why I Stay

            Schadenfreude

            Real Estate

            Moving

            Brooklyn

            The Building

            Street Life

            Brunch

            Rodentia

Dog People

            Pet Neurosis

            Infrastructure

            The Subway

            The Neighborhood

            The Neighbors

            Coming Out

            The Job

            Why I Stay?
    

Genres: Nonfiction, New York, Memoir

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 1998

About the author

I regret this book; please burn your copy.

Reviews

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel Drennan has written this collection of essays in a style flavored by run-on sentences, paragraphs that cover multiple pages and liberal use of italics. Those who enjoy the author's stream-of-consciousness voice and quirky observations will be hard pressed to find a funnier book about life in the madhouse that is New York City. One of my favorite sections concerns Drennan's time as an employee at the infamous Strand Bookstore, where he dealt with, among other things, well-heeled customers purchasing books according to the color palette assigned by an interior decorator.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essays that capture life in gritty New York City in the 90s: getting and losing McJobs, finding apartments, having strange neighbors, riding the subways, hunting down rodents. The run-on sentences occasionally verge on stream-of-consciousness, but he's a good writer.

[RebL · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first started reading Danny Drennan's work on usenet...Gen Xers will remember usenet as the home of newsgroups, which is how strangers made friends/got in flamewars on the internet before things like MySpace and Livejournal (social media before Facebook, look them up) existed. And then I forgot about him for about 20 years, then recently I was talking with a friend and she said, "Hey remember alt.tv.bh90210? Whatever happened to that guy who wrote the weekly wrapups?" And I said "I think he got a book deal" so I checked at the library and lo and behold here it was.
This book so 90s it's quaint. It was published in 1998 and I had a marvelous time reading about Danny's adventures in NYC pre-Y2K/pre-9/11, and remembering how we all lived without Facebook and cellphones and the 24-hour news cycle and that constant stream of digital media bombarding us 24/7. Honestly I would love for an updated annotated edition to come out, with Danny looking back on his 90s life and providing commentary from his current perspective 21 years later.
This book is like the 90s gay urban run-on sentence version of "Little House on the Prairie", I swear. Hand it to your kids when they ask, "Mama, what was it like in the 90s?" We thought it was so complicated then but really it was a much simpler time.

[Paul Lastname · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it was ok. I don't regret reading it.

When I saw the author's note "I regret this book; please burn your copy", it did not fill me with confidence, but considering my expectations were low, I was pleasantly surprised.

Is this book the greatest work of literature out there? No.
Is it worth burning? I don't believe so.

Drennan is a funny writer, and this book gives a glimpse into New York City life in the 1990s. This alone gives the book some value as being a time capsule of urban life in the ever changing cultural hub that is New York City. The chapters talking about books stores, technological advancements and subway tokens really highlight just how rapidly things have changed in a few short decades.

The rest of the book is a lot of rambling stories that came off as being a bit hyperbolic (even if they were truly "too-true") and some sentences that at times were so difficult to follow I just gave up and moved on. Call it stream-of-consciousness, call it word salad, or just call it what living in NYC will do to a fella.

[Helen Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this brilliant book of essays by chance while browsing in a bookstore. The author’s absurdist humor got me through some difficult personal crises.

When my father experienced a temporary trauma and needed a diversion, I bought a copy for him. I remember tiptoeing past him in the living room while he was lying on the couch, absorbed in his new book.

I’m not aware of Daniel Drennan having a public life since this book was published, and I haven’t heard of more recent books by him. Whether or not The New York Diaries is still in print, you should make the effort to find a copy somewhere.

[Moria · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh. perhaps if i lived in a tiny rural town, i'd think these stories were zany, but i don't. and even if i did, i don't think i'd find these too thrilling.

this content would work well on a blog, but as a published work, i found it drab.

also, it was written in the late nineties and hasn't aged well. it's too early to feel nostalgia for that time period, so it just feels dated.

it gets a three because there were a few parts that amused me. (i was fascinated with his subway arrest.) also, it gets some points for generating guilt within my soul. the new-york-isn't-the-same diatribes make me roll my eyes and dismiss the speakers as old bags of seaweed, but inside i wonder if i'm ruining new york for loving it as it is.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant, fast-reading (there's lots of blank space and the book is printed double-spaced) series of essays about life in New York City. If you liked the first couple, you'll enjoy the rest (and vice-versa) as the collection's tone/content is fairly even throughout.

[Elusive.Mystery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blast to read, with twisted and long-winded sentences, this book by the editor of the strange zine The Inquisitor, takes the reader on a whirlwind trip into the absurd as an element of daily life as experienced by New York City dwellers.

[Oriana]

I gotta read memoirs of anyone else who worked at the Strand...

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious! A lot like David Sedaris, but focused solely on the unpredictable, unending quirkiness of New York City. A must-read for anyone that lives in the vicinity.

[Paul Kaperick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun page turning look into another's life.