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Lonely: A Memoir (2010)

by Emily White(Favorite Author)

3.32 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0061765090 (ISBN13: 9780061765094)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

HarperTorch

review 1: Well after sometime it gets very tedious. She keeps on repeating in thousand ways and quoting different studies to prove that loneliess and depression are two different conditions. I get it. I even believe you. But must you repeat it endlessly?and I have read about 70% of the book and any new points and insights are hardly there. Will finish it. But I doubt it would change my mind. I am already bored.
review 2: Well, this book purports itself to be two things: a memoir and plea, a plea for recognition of and resources devoted to, loneliness. Throughout the book we get the personal story first, then loads of data and research about loneliness uncovered by the author. I think the book might have been more successful if these two separate agendas were kept compart... morementalized. About halfway through the book the memoir sorta disappears, subsumed by all the percentages and jargon and plea for acknowledgement of loneliness as a bona fide condition. The author glosses over MAJOR revelations of her personal life, like the fact that she is homosexual, in just a sentence. Why would she do this? I believe it is because she wanted to portray loneliness as objectively as possible, as a REAL problem unto itself and didn't want it to get caught up in a distracting and volatile discussion of the politics of sexuality, or the emotional turmoil of coming to terms with her own sexual identity. But, is it responsible of White to dismiss this HUGE factor as a possible catalyst in her descent into loneliness? I don't mean this in an accusatorial sense, but in a probative sense. To me, this is where the book falters, as it fails to deliver on the memoir side of the story. It misses the chance to really possess an emotionality that is raw and compelling, for a more boring and frankly, less sympathetic search for blame; implicating ignorance, stereotypes, lack of classification, and educational outreach programs. I understand the need for the plea; I am suffering from 'chronic' loneliness myself, right now! And this book did make me feel a bit better to know that I am not 'alone'! haha And it did give me a more diverse vocabulary to discuss the issue with others. Thank you Emily, that is very helpful! This problem is something that needs to 'get out there' and be openly talked about. It needs to become part of a discussion about what is happening to us as individuals and as a culture. Yes, the plea is good, but it could have also just been one chapter at the end instead of a constant knocking throughout the book. In conclusion, the book is important. The book possesses good information and research; it needs to be discussed, acknowledged. But the author's own story is sold way short, and that is a shame! less

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