brief interviews with hideous men book review

There’s all sorts of crazy stuff, like the guy who for some unknown reason is compelled to shout “victory for the forces of democratic freedom” just before he has an orgasm. Sometimes the interviewees appear in an antiseptic room talking into a microphone, and sometimes the events they’re describing are dramatized.

The interviews start on a lighthearted note and progress to some nasty revelations about what men are really capable of. It’s somewhat simplistic to say that all men are this terrible, but it makes for better storytelling. Most of them don’t have a clue, but their deceit and manipulation are so clever and deep-seated it’s like watching a car wreck on the side of the road: You can’t take your eyes off of it. Krasinski has added a female character, an academic played by Julianne Nicholson, who interviews a cross-section of men about their relationships with women. I’m in the former camp, but even so some stories just left me bewildered or mentally exhausted (for example, “Tri-Stan”), unsure whether the effort to get through these was even worth it. And then pieces of genius like “Forever Overhead”, “Adult World (I)” and “Brief Interview #20” remind me why I think David Foster Wallace was one of the greatest writers of the 21st century.Guest Column: How the Use of Open Captions Can Enhance Creativity, Not Just Accessibility The reactions would be love it or hate it.

I get the feeling that very few people could read this and find it mediocre. Examining self-consciousness, loneliness, misogyny, and other more lurid aspects of modern life, the narratives flash between ridiculous, heartfelt, skull-achingly painful, and very occasionally beautiful. Everything is laid bare, all small details magnified, even the parts of human life we’d normally avoid or ignore.īrief Interviews with Hideous Men is an uncomfortable but insightful book of short stories. He’s been described as a human eyeball, which is also a good way to describe how he makes a reader view the world. I love David Foster Wallace, but he’s a strange one. Then each drove home alone, staring straight ahead, with the very same twist to their faces.” She laughed extremely hard, hoping to be liked. “When they were introduced, he made a witicism, hoping to be liked.

Brief interviews with hideous men book review