Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (2010)

Book Info

Author

David Shields

Genre

Memoir & Autobiography

Rating

3.6 of 5 Votes: 2

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ISBN

0307273539 (ISBN13: 9780307273536)

Language

English

Publisher

Knopf

Shops

Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble

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About book Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (2010)

I love this book and am reviewing it here after reading it for a third time. I keep this book by the bed to open now and then and read a chapter, jumping in at random in a way I suspect Shields would appreciate. While I'm not nearly as skeptical as Shields regarding the value of fiction, I do appreciate his POV - not so much as manifesto but as helping us understand the value of nonfiction in its myriad forms. 1. The vast majority of this book is stolen material from other writers.2. That's the point really, or at least one of the points.3. Collage/montage/mosaic/lyric essay have all seduced me.4. "Plots are for dead people." (he stole that from Lorrie Moore....)5. Seattle is Sleepytown, USA, Loserville, locus only of ambition abandoned, and quirky rejection of the status quo (supposedly from a letter/review of a friend's book--no idea who/which book but I'd like to read it since they're passing judgement on my adopted hometown.)6. Strange, unsettling, engrossing book.7. Read it.