Rate this book

The Lifespan Of A Fact (2012)

by John D'Agata(Favorite Author)

3.81 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0393340732 (ISBN13: 9780393340730)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: Alas, I am neither pretentious enough nor overeducated enough to appreciate the dickwad-ery presented in this book. Author D'Agata makes the argument that an essay should not be held to journalistic standards, and that the publisher is the one categorizing his work as non-fiction. Okay, yeah, I can see his point. If I were the publisher, maybe I'd slot it into "historical fiction" even though it's contemporary time-wise.Fact-Checker Fingal is trying to do his job. I suppose adding a bunch of related trivia is his way of staying awake and on task for an otherwise potentially devastatingly dull job. His meticulousness is awe-inspiring. Is that really the life of a fact-checker? Wow.The layout is pretty awesome, with the essay sentences in the middle and the commentary... more around the sides of each page. That's as generous as I can be. Saying these two are exploring "the boundaries of literary nonfiction" is bullshit. D'Agata plays fast and loose with the facts of an actual, real-world event. Fingal calls him on it. But it's an ESSAY, D'Agata claims. I'm trying to get at TRUTH; facts are irrelevant.What truth is D'Agata trying to present? Hell if I know. Is the essay TRUTH supposed to be about mental health? Teenage angst? The spirit of Las Vegas? The void left behind by suicides? I still don't know. I do know that D'Agata's writing makes me cringe. So: the essay's writing style was painful for me to read, the essay's author was revealed to be a douchebag, and not once was I driven to care about the poor boy who committed suicide. That's both the truth and the facts.
review 2: As a journalism major, I found the idea of the conflict between these two kinds of "truths" to be very interesting. Especially in the age of news as entertainment with embellished details and out of context sound bites. In the end, I like how the answer to this question remains open ended and is never quite answered, just like the reasons behind Levi's suicide remain a mystery. What's nonfiction? Is it better to have absolute truth over readability? Is there a universal truth? These are just some of the interesting questions asked in this book. Check it out! less

Download links for: The Lifespan of a Fact

Advertising