Matthew Dicks

Crying & heart squeezes combined with a unique and successful format = ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also, 100th book of the year!!! That's a new and huge and unplanned accomplishment for me. :) See the full review and more at MyBookJoy.com!

Recommended: yes!
For a unique format, for an intimate way to learn one man's heart and fears

Thoughts:
This is going to be a pretty mixed review for a five star rating, and I really debated what to give it for a while. Ultimately I went for five stars, because the depth the author was able to give through such a simplistic format was impressive. He thrived in a limitation, and created something unique and well done. Despite some of my nitpicky feelings on other elements within the story, I'm overall celebrating this as a fantastic accomplishment and worthy addition to my shelf.

The lists make this look deceptively simple, but the story itself involves a conflicted and twisting heart the whole way through. Dan reveals bits and pieces of himself through his lists, from the mundane to the secretive to the humiliating. The intimacy with which we learn to see him comes from the format, as his lists are explained as partly a therapist-ordered journaling method.

That said, I didn't actually like Dan that much. We meet him at a difficult time in his life, but the decisions he makes are repeatedly colossally stupid and it's hard to empathize at times. Similarly, his portrayal of his wife is somewhat mixed, at times making her seem a saint and others a lazy jealous slob. I found myself rolling my eyes a lot, and working pretty hard to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy and accept the story.

Ultimately, I ended up crying, which is pretty much an automatic five stars. Anything that can make me feel enough to force liquids out of my body is laudable. The lists were so intriguing, and made me think about what story my own lists would tell (grocery, to-do, to-read, and otherwise).… (mais)

I really enjoy Matthew Dicks and have read all of his fiction books and lots of his online blog and social media and I've heard him tell quite a few stories at The Moth and therefore I can see so much of him in this novel made up of lists. (That's a positive note!)

It's unlike anything I've read before (except other things written by the author...see above) and it's quick and quirky and has a plot even though the format is so unconventional. In that way, I liked the book. Unfortunately, I didn't like quite a bit about it too, mostly THE THING the protagonist, Dan, is planning for in many of his lists. Because I didn't like that, I had a hard time coming around to Dan and appreciating him fully. That said, he's a fully drawn character and he made me have FEELINGS (good and bad!) and that is certainly a win for any author!

Overall, I found this glimpse into the head/thinking of a stressed out guy to be funny and entertaining but also exasperating as I try to work out how much of this is universal "guy think" and how much is it just this one weird, fictional, guy?… (mais)