Overall, I think this is a bit of a marmite book – you’re likely to either love it or hate it, sadly it just didn’t do it for me. Some of the things are true-to-life, whilst others are hard to ever imagine being real. It is simplistic in places, whilst being raw and full of sadness in others. Penned by an anonymous author, I’m unsure if the story is fiction or non-fiction – the lines are blurred. In fact, I think the main purpose of the book was to make the reader dislike him he wants us to pity him. Throughout the book the voice of the narrator got on my nerves, as he didn’t feel like an authentic character. Written in first person, this tale is full of misogyny, arrogance and narcissism. Whilst desperately trying to get his life back on track, it later gets turned upside down once more by a preying female. She by ambition.Īs a result of years of pain and abuse the narrator is trapped inside his own head – after years of alcoholism, he turns to a life of sobriety. Say Holden Caulfield was an alcoholic and Lolita was a photographer’s assistant and somehow they met in Bright Lights Big City. Say there was a novel in which Holden Caulfield was an alcoholic and Lolita was a photographer’s assistant and, somehow, they met in Bright Lights, Big City. Okay…maybe not killed but dulled more lives.” Anonymous 2.75 54,261 ratings8,721 reviews Hurt people hurt people. However, it is mostly a just a fascinating look at a character who, real or fictional, is a compelling person to learn about through what he says, and how he tells his story through his shaky narration.“Romance has killed more people than cancer. Overall, Diary of an Oxygen Thief is a really interesting autobiographical story which can at times be either very funny, or extremely shocking. It’s all a part of the character and not an actual criticism of the book. by Anonymous (Author), NLVI (Editor), None (Illustrator) 4.1 8,367 ratings. Especially when this is a story of a manipulative misogynist. However, since I consider this to be more of a character study of the author rather than just a story told by him, it’s hard to regard this as a negative aspect of the story. The only main criticism for the story I have is that sometimes it can seem rather self-indulgent. Not only with what he has said, but the evident mannerisms that have shown in his writing, even without knowing what his name is. And by the end of the book, you get the sense that you know the narrator extremely well. Because, technically, that’s most of what the story is, until you take into account that it is more of a character study. However with the constant sense of almost certain unreliable narration, a thread of paranoia weaved throughout every page, and rapid jumping forward and backward in time, it becomes much more interesting than just a simple story of a man’s rise and fall. It follows his journey, beginning as a ruthless misogynistic man who takes pleasure in causing psychological damage, until, as he describes early on in the book, receiving the same treatment later on as he finds himself falling for a woman. Moving onto the actual book, the story is a very interesting retelling of a character’s (whether it’s fictional or non-fiction is up to speculation, and part of the interest of the story) struggle with life, and particularly his relationships with particular women. I’m not sure why and I know they say not to judge a book by its cover but there’s something about it I just love. In fact the main reason I picked it up in the first place was because I loved how minimalistic it looked. I think I heard someone mention it once a while ago, but apart from that, I had no idea what it was about or anything else about it. Diary of an Oxygen Thief is an honest, hilarious, and heartrending novel. I didn’t really have any expectations for this book whatsoever. Say there was a novel in which Holden Caulfield was an alcoholic and Lolita was a photographers assistant and, somehow, they met in Bright Lights, Big City.
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