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Cjkemp

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Cjkemp is Currently Reading

Cjkemp is currently reading

The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time (The Gonzo Papers Series Book 1)

by Hunter S. Thompson

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Jul 17, 2026 05:14AM

Cjkemp is currently reading

3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool

by James Kaplan

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Jul 16, 2026 02:03PM

Cjkemp rated a book it was ok

In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man: A Memoir

by Tom Junod

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Cjkemp said: " Ultimately, pretty disappointing and frustrating. The first third of this book was so good. I was entranced by it really. I savored it. Such a vibe of jazz, 50s, mad men, brat pack, swing time, go cat go. Etc. But the middle section is much less so, Ultimately, pretty disappointing and frustrating. The first third of this book was so good. I was entranced by it really. I savored it. Such a vibe of jazz, 50s, mad men, brat pack, swing time, go cat go. Etc. But the middle section is much less so, and the last section is frankly a slog. A lot of mission creep until I just don't think the book was really about the thing it had been about at the start. By the end it's confusing. Everything is, "When I meet her I think again about how her uncle's mother's ex-husband's second wife killed his step daughter's friend." Almost unreadable. I was lost constantly. A real snooze at times. I just tried to crash through it instead of get lost in it. It's a shame. I really wouldn't want to be in this guy's ACTUAL family, which seems to get relegated, ignored, put aside, forgotten. I wouldn't want to be his wife, that's for sure. Sheeesh. Painful. Seriously though, from a more writerly point of view, by the end of the book it had fallen into a formula that was pretty annoying. Each paragraph or section would end with a short and surprisingly cliffhanger type sentence. Like, "Three days later, she was dead," or, "That's when I realized, she was my sister." These aren't verbatim. They're funny-ish examples of how he really writes. And then a new section would begin in a way that's supposed to sort of unground you again. Like, "She's afraid of the dark," without telling you who the she is. Or, "I want her to meet Michael," but it's a different she. Or, "They were so alike," without telling you up front who they are. Or "They pull into the parking space near the restaurant," without telling you who they are. Those are all real examples, by the way. From just a few pages near the end. It's important because it's hard work to start a section like that. The reader doesn't know who you're talking about. They have to start from scratch again and read their way out of the dark because you're constantly withholding the information to build a full picture. It takes up some cognitive work to read material like this. And Junod does this on almost every page for the last third of the book. I hated that. Sometimes, you just have to transition by writing, "Bill and Sarah were so alike," or whatever, so we have the information straight away. Or, "I want Norah to meet Michael." Just the facts. Appreciate the reader. Don't make them the reader read his or her way out of the dark on every single page. ...more "

Jun 26, 2026 11:32AM · see review

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