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Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (2010)

by David Shields(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0307273539 (ISBN13: 9780307273536)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Knopf

review 1: The reality is Shields' word is not law. Had to remind myself when he started all that cracking down on the novel and fiction (my area). I understand he has his preferences, some of which I agreed, but most of this manifesto I was just like are you kidding me, dude? Perhaps that's just my fiction bias bursting out when I read this because I love it. :)Despite my dislike for his words on the concept of today's novel, I liked his attitude/tone of voice. He writes in a way that makes you pay attention to what he's saying. They're kinda like mini blog posts, and as it goes with blogs, some of those opinions hit and some of them miss. I give it three stars, two taken off because he kinda dissed my love for fiction and also because some of his points were a little blah. He's a c... moreool writer though, I recommend giving it a try.
review 2: This one asks as many questions as it answers, and that's as good as it gets for a book that is nothing other than a long meditation on literature and its relationship to reality. I don't share Shield's boredom and disillusionment with the conventional novel. I think that narrative is a primal human trait, something inescapably human, and as such we humans will always be moved, provoked, or at the very least entertained by a story well-told. Shield's boredom is the boredom of the critic, the boredom of the mass reader who simply read himself out. If he's bored with plot and invention, perhaps he just needs to take a step back and, quite simply, go live a little.As for the whole argument for collage and quoting without attribution, I find this a very slippery slope and one which would require I think long and hard about. It's not what stuck with me.Still, and somewhat paradoxically, he articulates in this book something I was never really able to explain to myself, which is how I feel about my own writing endeavor, and why I feel so utterly alone in that predicament. His talk on the subjects of memoir, of lyric essay, of autobiography, and ultimately of the relationship between fiction and non-fiction, invention and truthfulness, is what I took out of this, and why I'll go back to it again.Anyway, these are basically just random thoughts to remind myself I should pick it up again at some later date. So note to myself: It's a great goddamn book, and I circled and underlined all the important passages, so have at it! less

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