Rating: 2
Re-Read Factor: No
Genre: biography, humor, nonfiction
“Let’s see, what else? Don’t go into debt over clothes. Hug your dogs while you have them. Know that you can skip most anything. You will fall in love eventually. Remember that. Also, the things you like aren’t weird. Don’t worry about being normal. It’s an awful thing to aspire to.”
I try to avoid reading too many reviews before delving into books, but there were just so many negative reviews on this book, it was difficult to start the book without some caution. To their credit, the reviews were right. At times, Janetti comes across as pretentious and self-absorbed and makes mental health jabs without facing as much backlash for such as I would have thought. Thoughts as I read: 1. Nancy Opel in the matinee rather than Patti LuPone. Granted he's a child. 2. David Schwimmer scenario (very cringey, but kudos to Janetti for being open about it; it shows the contrast between those who keep looking at the past [Janetti] versus towards their future [Schwimmer]) 3. His "what-if" scenarios. He spends so much time on what could be rather than what he could do to reach his goals. Maybe he does do the latter, but he doesn't detail it very well. Unless his goal is to portray himself as an unlikeable mess. 4. Some pretentious statement(s): "Attractive people and gay people get overwhelmed quite easily." If these are supposed to be funny, I'm not getting the punchline. 5. Some good quotes: "I am a part of everything and nothing." "So odd you can be so close to someone and then instantly become strangers." "Also, the things you like aren't weird. Don't worry about being normal. It's an awful thing to aspire to." 6. As a child of immigrants, I've always marveled at how American families spend so much (time and money) on degrees but with no plan of how to use them. Furthermore, if his family can afford yearly cruises as a kid, I'm surprised his parents didn't in the least talk to him about his future, since his 20s was spent undertaking unskilled labor he wasn't even interested in. 7. He secures a job with One Life to Live, but it's a PA job. He wants to be a writer, not a PA, so he turns it down-- walks out of the interview like he's above everyone involved with the show. You can't expect the best job right after you graduate (unless nepotism). You work your way up. He does state that he somewhat regrets that decision, as he works odd jobs for the rest of his twenties. Common sense is not common. 8. In elementary school, he fakes getting sick 24/7. Plots it out like clockwork. Then he actually gets sick, and it's like the boy cries wolf, except you're in a privileged household and white parents. To put it lightly, my mother would have made me to go to school sick or not (unless it was something really serious, but a small cold? Never.). Then he recovers from his actual sickness, but still fakes it. Leading to doctor visits, then a hospital stint. That's a lot of money there for a "white" lie. 9. Pretty sure all that undercharging for people's groceries is gonna add up . . . exponentially. It's a good thought but illegal. Admittedly, I do end up enjoying his little "what-if" scenarios sometimes (emphasis on sometimes), such as with each Lend-a-Hand task he takes on. What if I went to the park today, sat down to enjoy some scenery, and a recruiter conveniently sits next to me, and we strike up a conversation, and I end up getting unrescindable tenure at NYU? Imagination happens, and Janetti's tangents make more sense after I found out his writing ventures on Family Guy. Overall, finishing this book was hard, and although I didn't like the book in general, its development was better towards the end than the beginning.
