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    Audiobook6 hours

    Half Empty

    Written by David Rakoff

    Narrated by David Rakoff

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The inimitably witty David Rakoff, New York Times bestselling author of Don't Get Too Comfortable, defends the commonsensical notion that you should always assume the worst, because you'll never be disappointed.

    In this deeply funny (and, no kidding, wise and poignant) book, Rakoff examines the realities of our sunny,  gosh­ everyone-can-be-a-star contemporary culture and finds that, pretty much as a universal rule, the best is not yet to come, adversity will triumph, justice will not be served, and your dreams won't come true.

    The book ranges from the personal to the universal, combining stories from Rakoff's reporting and accounts of his own experi­ences: the moment when being a tiny child no longer meant adults found him charming but instead meant other children found him a fun target; the perfect late evening in Manhattan when he was young and the city seemed to brim with such pos­sibility that the street shimmered in the moonlight-as he drew closer he realized the streets actually flickered with rats in a feeding frenzy. He also weaves in his usual brand Oscar Wilde-worthy cultural criticism (the tragedy of Hollywood's Walk of Fame, for instance).

    Whether he's lacerating the musical Rent for its cutesy depic­tion of AIDS or dealing with personal tragedy, his sharp obser­vations and humorist's flair for the absurd will have you positively reveling in the power of negativity.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 21, 2010
    ISBN9780307738851
    Unavailable
    Half Empty

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    Reviews for Half Empty

    4/5

    145 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Funny, grim, cynical, and deeply enjoyable this set of essays and memoirs examines the pros and cons of pessimism and optimism.
    • 4/5
      A collection of articles and essays by David Rakoff on subjects including a visit to a porn expo, the complicated relationship between Jews and pork, and the way people seem to regard him as a safe receptacle for their secrets and confessions. I have such mixed feelings about Rakoff's writing. My first impression was that it was intelligent and fairly clever, but also annoyingly pretentious. As I read on, though, my feelings softened a bit, and I began to appreciate the glimpses of human vulnerability visible underneath all that determinedly witty cynicism and gosh-aren't-I-so-neurotic self-deprecation. The final essay, about his diagnosis with a rare form of cancer, had an especially moving and honest feel about it, made all the more painful by the fact that I went into it knowing that the cancer had eventually taken his life. That piece was, for me, by far the best in the collection, in its own sad way. But as for the rest of it... I don't know. Rakoff, despite the fact that he's originally from Toronto, writes with this sort of uber-Manhattanite sensibility that I have trouble connecting to. He's sort of like a gay Woody Allen. (Y'know, minus the skeevy aspects.) And, just like Woody Allen, I can sort of see how many people might think he's hilarious and brilliant, but for me personally, his stuff is probably best encountered in small doses.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful personal essays. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, and sometime both at the same time. I can't recall being more moved by a book. The audio was read by the author and really worked for me, but I expect this would be as good in written form.
    • 5/5
      it's so sad that he's gone, what an amazing writer.
    • 3/5
      Dunno. I enjoyed listening to this while I was listening, and found much of his writing and phrasing clever--but I don't know how much of it I'll remember even a week from now.

      This could say more about me than it does his writing. It's nothing personal, Mr. Rakoff.
    • 4/5
      I love Rakoff's style. He's articulate, witty, and self-effacing. He's got a larger vocabulary than I have, although not so large that I had to use a dictionary. I knew the meaning of all of the words, I just don't use them on a daily basis. This left me feeling alternately pleased that I know the words and slightly concerned that the fact that I don't use them might be proof that I'm not as smart as I think I am. He gives voice to many of the fears I have about myself and how people perceive me. I wonder if I met him if we'd be friends or if we'd just annoy each other.

      I enjoyed all of the essays in this book, but my favorites were the first (which dealt with Julie Norem's book about "defensive pessimism," The Positive Power of Negative Thinking) and the one about Utah. It was pleasant to hear that someone else shares my experience of Utah as a place of an oppressive number of possibilities. I'm the kind of person who likes CSAs not so much because I like to buy local produce, but because I like my options to be limited so it's easier for me to decide what to cook for dinner. Utah is wide open geographically (except for the mountains, which are vast in and of themselves and so not much help in limiting me) and was founded by people who rode out here buoyed by optimism, bent on discovering/creating the Promised Land. I find this to be a lot of pressure.

      The only problem I had with the book was the cover art. Every time my sixteen-month-old found the book lying around, he saw the cartoon animals and thought it was a book for him. He would ask me to read it and then get very, very angry at me when I didn't comply. While it's kind of cute and funny when a toddler throws himself on the floor and cries, it does get a little old after a while.
    • 2/5
      I really had high hopes for this collection, but I found most of the entries long-winded and boring. There were some funny lines, but I found that I really had to concentrate to keep from skimming through the essays.
    • 5/5
      Funny, thoughtful, and just plain illuminating essays about... 'stuff'.
    • 5/5
      Another essay collection, as charming and incisive as ever. The standout is Rakoff’s hilarious negative review of Rent, arguing that the musical Disneyfies New York, AIDS, and the condition of being an artist, stripping out all the truly important features—most notably actually making art. His adventures in various leisure destinations are also fun, packed with tossed-off observations such as, “Like all omniscient machines possessed of benevolent intent but lacking decision-making power, [the voice-activated computer in the high-tech kitchen at Disneyworld] is a she.”
    • 4/5
      I don’t generally read nonfiction, but the description of this book won me over. (When I do read it, it’s either quirky memoirs like AJ Jacobs or snarky essays like David Sedaris.)“In this deeply funny (and, no kidding, wise and poignant) book, David examines the realities of our sunny, gosh-everyone-can-be-a-star contemporary culture and finds that, pretty much as a universal rule, the best is not yet to come, adversity will triumph, justice will not be served, and your dreams won’t come true.“The book ranges from the personal to the universal, combining stories both reportorial and from David’s own experiences: the moment when being a tiny child no longer meant adults found him charming but instead meant other children found him a fun target; the perfect late evening in Manhattan when he was young and the city seemed to brim with such possibility that the street shimmered in the moonlight–as he drew closer he realized the streets actually flickered with rats in a feeding frenzy. He also weaves in his usual brand of Oscar Wilde-worthy cultural criticism (the tragedy of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, for instance.”As someone who has ALSO discussed the shenanigans behind the Walk of Fame, I knew I’d have to read this. (Note: anyone can get a star; you just have to pay for it.)If you like snarky, sarcastic essays, you’ll like this book. It’s incredibly witty (and yes, at times wise and poignant) and I literally laughed out loud several times.But I also liked this paragraph:“But here’s the point I want to make about what people say [after you're diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease]. Unless someone looks you in the eye and hisses, `You fucking asshole, I can’t wait until you die of this,’ people are really trying their best. Just like being happy and sad, you will find yourself on both sides of the equation many times over your lifetime, either saying or hearing the wrong thing. Let’s all give each other a pass, shall we?”It’s funny and it’s true. Absolutely recommended. :)
    • 4/5
      Through the use of a series of occasionally seeming unrelated chapters, Rakoff uses humor, often tongue in cheek and dry, to expose and sometimes demolish our most common reactions to events in our lives. His subject matter often pushes the envelope exposing us to thoughts we might not be comfortable exploring . Do we see the glass half full or half empty? Is it possible to see it as a combination of both? His is a cynical but humorous, approach to life, until the end, when reality hits him full force in the face and he is forced to decide whether to be the eternal optimist, the defeated pessimist or perhaps a hopeful realist.