Sara BenincasaCritiques
Auteur de Agorafabulous! Dispatches from My Bedroom
Critiques
Good start to 2016. Finished in one quick burst and one (not too long) marathon. I last reread Gatsby in 2011, and this is just the right amount of faithful. Also, how can you spoil something based on The Great Gatsby? But I will say nearly a century later that more than ever, it reads like the coward's way out.
Fun, fluffy little read. Sometimes the references back to Gatsby were clever - the "green light" is now a laptop charger - and sometimes they felt lazy.
1. The power of humor. Humor helped her cope and grow. Humor also led her to find her true path as a comedian and writer.
2. The power of persistence. Hard as it was for her, she did persevere.
3. The power of supportive family and friends. I don't think this can be said enough.
4. Healing and rehabilitation do take time. You may fall. You get back up again.
Ms. Benincasa writes with humor and gentleness. There are some moments when you will smile and laugh. There may be a moment or two when you will grimace. There may be some awkward moments as well. That is all ok as those moments are all part of the big picture, so to speak. Readers will smile, and they will also be very moved at times. I was moved at times. The chapter on her days of teaching school in Texas, dealing with Billy's "problem" was funny but also very moving when you look at how she did handle it, which, I will say, as a former teacher myself, was probably about the best way to deal with it. Ms. Benincasa may be a better teacher than she thinks.
The book is pretty easy to read. Though I did find a couple of passages a bit too long, overall, the book makes a good reading experience. If you like memoirs, you will probably like this. If you have an interest in mental health issues, especially as they affect women, you probably want to read this book. And even though the book is written for an adult audience, I would venture to say that older, mature teens might benefit from reading as well as she deals with and discusses issues that affect teens as well.
(The note to keep the FTC, a.k.a. "The Man," happy: I got the copy of the book as prize from a book away at the Stiletto Storytime blog).
I am a really big fan of The Great Gatsby, and I am sorry, but i really do love this adaptation. I would definitely read a book by this author again.
Five stars! I loved this retelling of The Great Gatsby! As long as you don't focus so much on the Retelling part and focus on the actual story, it's a great one! I loved the attention to detail in the story that really helped me to visualize just how beautiful the settings and people in the book were. I also really enjoyed Naomi's character growth as she enters the Hamptons as a slightly rebellious teen to a young woman who knows the difference between who she thinks she is and who she knows she is. Loved it!
This book, as I expected, was funny but had a seriousness to it at the same time. I wish more people out there had the bravery this author had to tell about her history of mental illness and show people that no matter how low you are or how crazy you feel that it can get better!
The book moves pretty quickly – the trip to DC is only two nights and three days long, so usually there wouldn’t be a ton of time to build the characters, and yet Ms. Benincasa manages to do just that. There are at least five, and more like ten characters that we are interested in learning more about, and we get, not the whole picture, but enough to not have them merge together in a blur of teenager-ness.
The main young teacher is very idealistic, and also romantically interested in the other chaperone. Every other chapter covers her being either a bit naïve about the students in her care or concerned about her interactions with her co-chaperone. Then there is a trio of sophomore girls whose story is covered in the in between chapters, seeking to have a little bit of extra fun while on their vacation. The convention of alternating chapters could have been a bit confusing, or taken the reader out of the story, but it works here.
There are moments when I was genuinely surprised at what happened, which, considering this isn’t a mystery novel, was a pleasant twist. And the characters weren’t caricatures, which could be easy enough to do with the storyline. Some were sexually experienced; some weren’t. Some were more politically aware and socially conscious; some weren’t. Not everyone was white, and not everyone was straight.
I’m pretty sure I’m always going to enjoy what Ms. Benincasa writes, and I’m looking forward to what comes next.
The chapters vary in length, from very long and filled with a great story, to fewer than two pages. The topics are as deep as “Abuse is Fucking Complicated” and as pithy as “A Vagina is Not a Time Machine.” Ms. Benincasa extolls the virtues of going to the dentist (as someone who has seen a dentist every six months since she was a young child and who still has had three root canals, six crowns and TWENTY SIX CAVATIES, I fully support this chapter). She implores us to identify our blind spots and educate ourselves. She supports us getting some construction paper and glitter and going to town, pre-school-style.
I think the chapter I most took to heart was “Do It Anyway,” which features this glorious quote:
“Suck at stuff. Fuck up. Fall down. Get rejected. Get shut down. Get passed over. What the fuck else are you doing with you time?”
As someone who has recently started pitching revised chapters of her books as essays to awesome feminist websites, I can relate to getting rejected. But I’m also not going to quit, because what the fuck else am I going to do? Just stop writing? No way.
The subheading of this book is “and other awesome things they don’t teach you in school.” And it’s true, most of this we didn’t learn in school. But unlike some other good books that offer some perspective on how to be a grown up, this one feels applicable to everyone of any age. She’s not teaching you how to sign a lease (although that’s super important), she’s giving you something more. I highly recommend you head out and get this one.
*Now, for the fangirling, which I proudly claim. I love Ms. Benincasa’s writing. As you can read in my reviews of two of her other books, I first found out about her during the 2008 election season, when she provided some entertaining videos as Sarah Palin. “Agorafabulous!” explores her experience with mental illness. “Great” and “D.C. Trip” are young adult books (the former a reimagining of The Great Gatsby, and it fucking lives up to its name). I also was lucky enough to meet Ms. Benincasa at a talk and signing a couple of years ago, and since I had purchased her book on my e-reader, she signed my (at the time, empty) notebook that would eventually hold my notes for my book. Her words inspire me when I’m frustrated or unsure of how it’s all going to work out.
From my Cannonball Read 6 Review ...
I first learned about Ms. Benincasa in 2008, when her Sarah Palin videos were making the rounds online. I can’t recall what happened to bring her to my attention a couple of years later, but I started listening to her “Sex and Other Human Activities” podcast (R.I.P.). Thankfully that led me to "Radio Dispatch" and my now-favorite daily news/cat stories/activism show "Citizen Radio". In 2012, her first book, Agorafabulous!, was the first book I purchased for my first e-reader. So what I’m saying is, I enjoy her work. We don’t always agree politically (I think she’s a bit more ‘just chill, it’s a joke’ than I am about things), but her tweets make me laugh, and her memoir was a really great, humorous look into her experience with depression.
She hinted that she was working on a Young Adult version of The Great Gatsby over a year ago; a bit after that she said she was setting it in modern times, with younger characters and a gender switch for a couple of the main characters. I had to look this up online, but Nick has become Naomi and Jay is now Jacinta. In case it isn't obvious, I should probably admit here that while I’m sure I’ve read The Great Gatsby, I … don’t remember it. Really at all. At this point I think every mental image I can conjure up about that book is more likely to be from a preview of Baz Luhrman’s movie. I know. So keep that in mind when I say that I LOVED THIS BOOK.
Seriously. I really enjoyed it, to the point where I put off a whole bunch of chores to make sure I finished it today. There were bits that I could tell were direct references to the original work (the green light is a computer charger port light, the billboard is now one advertising plastic surgery), but it still felt original, if that makes sense. The book is tightly written, easy to read, fun, sweet, and clever. The setting works really well, and while some references may become outdated (Facebook plays a bit of a role), I don't know how one could write a book about teenagers set in modern times and just pretend that social media doesn't exist. She also handles the fact that these young adults do have parents without necessarily making it all about those relationships. It'd be odd if 17-year-olds just existed in the Hamptons with no reference to the adults raising them. There's clearly some 'yeah, right' feel about some of the actions of these kids, but it's much more believable than, say, Gossip Girl.
I’m glad I bought the electronic version, because I’m pretty sure it’ll become my go-to relaxation read.
In 2001 I was diagnosed with agoraphobia. I was at Wal-Mart looking for shelf liner. I stood in the aisle and felt a feeling similar to vertigo - everything around started to tilt one way, the shelves leaned in toward me and I suddenly couldn't breathe. I had to get out! The crazy thing is I used to work there, so it wasn't even like it was some new place.
On my way home I had to pull the car over because I started to see black dots and couldn't drive straight. I couldn't figure out what was going on, I just knew that something was wrong. Really, really wrong.
Benincasa writes about the voice in her head telling her what a loser she is, if she leaves her apartment she's going to die, she should die! I know that voice. The earliest that I can remember hearing this voice was some time in 5th grade. The voice told me the world was unsafe. Everything was unsafe. And I was going to die. And that feeling stayed with me the rest of my life.
So much of what Benincasa wrote is also true of my own journey. I had very, very specific people who I could trust. They were my safety people. They were the ones I trusted to drive me around. If I got sick these few people were the only ones I trusted to not let me die. Every time I went without a safety person I got "sick". Sick really meant that my anxiety levels were rising and my body was registering that anxiety by giving me stomach aches, dizziness, my body temperature fluctuating from cold to hot almost instantaneously. It's an awful feeling!
By college the voice was very loud. My freshman semester I lost 25 pounds in two months. I just stopped eating. Eating meant I could get food poisoning and if I got food poisoning I would throw up and if I threw up I would die. That was my thinking. I was all alone at school. My safety people were all at other schools. I finished the semester and returned to school at a university an hour away from home where my high school BF was going. She was my roommate, I was safe again.
My husband became the replacement safety person when my parents moved from Alabama to Tucson. But my depression - because you just can't be agoraphobic, you get the joys of depression too! - sunk me.
Fast forward 2001 - my husband has moved to Florida from Pennsylvania, and though I'm surrounded by aunts and uncles and cousins I have no safety people. None. I spent three nights going back and forth to the ER for unexplained chest pains, nausea, horrible dizzy spells. Finally someone I knew from community theater who also happened to be the on call psychiatry practitioner actually figured out what was going on. She found a bed for me in the psychiatric ward at the hospital and I spent the following three weeks learning about my illnesses and being treated for them. Three weeks I barely remember because along with agoraphobia and depression there's a fun little side effect of memory loss.
After reading Agorafabulous I'm not embarrassed (at least not right now) about my mental illness. Yes MENTAL ILLNESS! I'm actually certified crazy! I was in a psyche ward for three weeks because I was crazy.
Okay, now that that is out of my system I want to recommend this book to everybody - both the ill and the people who love the ill. Sara gets it. She understands. She explains it so easily. So read it and find comfort that you will, one day with work, be a little less crazy. Like she is. Like I am now. Ask your friends who have loved you through it or who don't know about it to read this book. So they can understand and love you even more.
Well, that was something. I don't think many people will like this book(it stayed pretty close to the original characterization, which means basically ALL THESE CHARACTERS ARE AWFUL), but since I am strange and enjoy retellings of classic and unsympathetic characters, I loved it. What a great setting for a Gatsby retelling.
Retellings need to be careful that they incorporate something unique and different to set them apart from their original influences. Unfortunately, Great is missing that unique difference. In fact, there is really nothing original about the story at all. Any differences are generic, like the changing of genders of the main characters and their names. Even the same-sex love affair at the heart of the story feels predictable and somewhat stale. The rest of the story is just too similar to ignore, as it buffers that fine line between a modern-day retelling and just a regular copy of a classic.
While glimpses into the lives of the fantastically wealthy are usually interesting, there is little to enjoy about the fabulously wealthy in Great. They are just so shallow and uninteresting. It is like watching an episode of Jersey Shore for the insanely rich and powerful, which is not a recommendation. There is the ubiquitous drugs, alcohol, sex, and general disregard for the rules because the kids’ parents make those rules. The sense of entitlement is sickening, especially because it occurs in kids who have nothing to recommend them other than the family into which they were born.
Naomi could have been the one bright spot within the narrative. In fact, she is meant to be just that as she recognizes the sycophancy to which her new crowd is accustom to experiencing. However, as she too falls under their thrall, Naomi becomes less interesting. She is just like everyone else and as such loses her normal-girl credentials that she loves to cite as the reasons why she is so different from her new friends. It is a disappointing transformation and one that intimates that Fitzgerald’s story really does not translate well with teenage protagonists.
Great is not really all that great. It tries too hard to be a refreshing update of The Great Gatsby, complete with not-so-sly nods to the original. It ultimately does not succeed in that endeavor. It misses the wit and sparkle of the original as well as its surprises. While it is still an entertaining story and one that may have more relevance to modern teens, one can never outdo Fitzgerald’s masterpiece.
The Great Gatsby is one of my all-time favorite "classic" reads. I know it's totally cliche, but such a small book packs such a punch, every time I read it I get something new and fresh and different from the story. It embodies everything about the 20's that I love and tacks on some other scintillating topics as well: lust, secrets, murder, lavishness, drama...you name it, it's in the story. That's why, when I saw that Sara Benincasa was doing a 21st century retelling of the story of Gatsby with Great, I jumped at the opportunity to read it. I've had some luck recently with classic re-tellings and figured this might just continue my streak.
Read the rest of this review at The Lost Entwife on March 14, 2014.
I do not read non-fiction that often but after reading the synopsis I knew I had to get my hands on this book. I have personal experience dealing with someone in my life with anxiety and this book helped me in some ways understand this person better. I felt so bad when I read about Sara's trip to Sicily when she was in high school and had a massive panic attack. Her pain and mental instability was tangible and I wondered how she would recover. Her trip to Sicily was the start to something harder for her to deal with, agoraphobia. Her actions may have seemed strange to an outsider but I understood how having panic attacks turned into a fear of certain place and situations.
Benincasa has a knack for recreating situations and making them very real (and quite hilarious). I enjoyed watching her grow and deal with her issues to make the woman she is today. I liked her ability to turn her situations into something funny that others who have no idea about the disorder can relate to. There were so many quotes that I loved that I dog-eared almost half the book! Most of them are not appropriate for this venue but I can say topics right? (to those who have read it)..."Planned Parenthood" "One night stand" "Urine under bed" "Scissors!"
Overall, this is a wonderful book that I think everyone (18+) should read. I do think that those suffering from panic disorders or the like might get something out of this book, even if it is the fact of realizing you are not alone. But even without the underlying agoraphobia in this book, most situations that Sara gets into I think anyone can get a good laugh out of it. And isn't laughter the best medicine?
Benincasa takes us to different chapters of her life. The trip to Sicily with other high school kids tells us about her early panic attacks and her place in the social hierarchy:
'I was generally liked in my own grade (I cracked jokes in class and wrote funny editorials about the cafeteria for the school newspaper) but had few friends on the trip to Italy. And I was certainly not loved by Amber, who seemed particularly irritated by people who liked clowning around for laughs. She disliked them even more than she disliked people who made art on their own time, people who wore vintage clothing, people who listened to non-Top 40 music, and people who read books. And Amber really hated people who read books. I once heard her say in an English elective, "I have a boyfriend. I don't have time to waste on a fu#@ing book."'
The anecdotes throughout the week long high school trip kept me chuckling and wincing in equal amounts. When she weaves in how she told her best friend about her weak attempt to cut her wrists, I felt like I was there in the restaurant and wanted to cheer her up.
Agorafabulous! is a funny, frank, and engaging account of a young woman growing up and into herself.
ISBN-10: 0062024418 - Hardcover $24.99
Publisher: William Morrow (February 14, 2012), 272 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
The description of the history of Sicily will have you laughing your ass off
A self deprecating honest look at life with a mental illness in a hopeful yet extremely hilarious way - this to me is hugely important and should be required readings for those dealing with these types of issues - things will get better no matter what
Doesn't blame her illness on anyone and doesn't go go all self-pity about it - just honest, straight to the point and did I mention OMG hilarious
Love the blender recipes
Her stories about her trip to Sicily as a teen, her boss at the Blessed Sanctuary and her trip to Planned Parenthood will have you laughing and cringing at the same time
Impressed with her bravery to come out with some very personal stories
She doesn't hold back with her recovery - she makes you know it was very slow, painful and it never completely went away but she can live and most importantly laugh at it which is incredibly healthy in my humble opinion
The Not So Good Stuff
I had a hard time with the jump from chapter to chapter - left me a little disorientated at first (only lasts for a sec though)
The many mentions of the bowl of pee grossed me out
You will snort out loud on the bus and people will stare (why oh why can I not learn that reading funny/sad books on the bus is not a good idea for someone who wants to be ignored during commute)
Favorite Quotes/Passages
"The island was independent for, oh, six seconds, at which point the Kingdom of Aragon (not Aragorn, the foxiest dude in the Lord of the Rings) kindly stepped in."
"HELLO. ARE YOU THE DOCTOR?" he asked in the loud, slow voice that Americans reserve for non-English speakers (as if screaming in a foreigner's face is going to increase his or her comprehension of our mongrel tongue.)
"I imagine several generations of my father's Celtic ancestors consulted the same shaman whenever young Arthywolgen was possessed by the tree-spirits or little Domnighailag expressed an interest in Christianity,"
"I prayed for forgiveness, but to the Virgin Mary, not God. I figured she'd be more sympathetic to the whole unplanned pregnancy thing, especially since she and I both knew I wasn't carrying any messiah. And I'd always had a sneaking suspicion it was Joseph who knocked her up, anyway, and the Archangel Gabriel thing was a less secular version of the stork story."
Who Should/Shouldn't Read
Definitely not for those sensitive about religion or bodily functions- if that is you - do not pick up the book (but your world will be sadder for it)
Anyone who has or is suffering from a mental illness - especially agoraphobia - this is a must
Quite frankly other than those who are sensitive or serious about religion - you will get something from this (At the very least a good chuckle)
4.5 Dewey's
I received this from Williman Morrow in exchange for an honest review
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What I do object to, and what almost makes me give just one star, is the incredibly crude language. It's really over the top. I could spend a half day with it but if this book had been longer I would have abandoned ship. (this makes me feel like an old lady. I'm horrified to think that this is normal conversation between young kids!)
Also - I got this for .99 which made its shortcomings far more palatable.