Post edited 1:52 am – 04/25/2011 by Ian

I just read Other Lives by Bagge and I have to say I was pretty let down. I won't be doing a full review, because I think a lot of my reaction to the book was personal. I just felt like it was about a bunch of assholes lying to themselves and others – which I guess is the point, but I didn't find it entertaining or enlightening at all. No real point of catharsis, and the dialogue felt forced, especially in the internet segments.

I might just be angry because I've been dealing with a lot of dishonesty and avoidance in my own life lately, and I'm totally sick of it, haha. But the whole thing just felt lame and kind of obvious.The computer centric angle of it didn't seem to help because I've read dissections of those kind of lifestyles that felt a lot more organic and fleshed out.

Often I enjoy things that are similar (super-downer-loser-story), or at least get something out of them, because of the poetic execution (perhaps existentialist lit type stuff, or Beckett – everyone's a loser and aimless, but there is beauty in it.) This book just felt kind of crass, the cartoony style didn't do it for me with this subject matter, mainly because I didn't find it funny at all. Not that I don't like the style in general – I'm a huge fan of a lot of similar work, visually -  but maybe it's just not my thing for this kind of story. Or I'm totally missing the point.

Kind of a downer, I guess, because it's so highly rated and spoken of. I dunno. Anyone read it?