rockythefreak's reviews
17 reviews

So fun! I devoured this book over a few hours. I wish I had more to say; you really just gotta pick it up!

I thought I would enjoy this book, since the titular essay was an interesting assignment in one of my college classes. Well, if you think racism, ableism, child abuse, and gay stereotyping is funny, you'll love the first three chapters of this audiobook. 

When Sedaris' is the butt of the joke, it calls to mind unfunny teenagers that self-deprecate to garner a pity laugh. When others are the butt of a joke, he's punching down, like when he mocks Japanese children's accents and the clothes his guitar teacher wears since he's a little person. 

One truly disgusting "joke" suggests (child sexual abuse)

someone abusing him emotionally would enjoy mutilating children's genitals.

Run, don't walk, away from this garbage. I'm glad for what I got out of the one essay I enjoyed. This shit aged like milk.

The book is long and detailed, but somehow, I kept wishing for MOREI details. While this book is framed as a guide, I don't think it's REALLY a book for novices. I think a moderate amount of knowledge on fostering and kitten welfare will help readers get more out of the book. If you've been a fan of Hannah's videos, but you feel overwhelmed by the lack of organization scrolling through YouTube, this book is perfect for you!

I wish there was more "why" given in the book. For example, explaining WHY it's a bad idea to use fragranced or clumping litter with young kittens. A lot of things were said AT the reader, assuming there was a base of knowledge, rather than truly explained TO the reader. The book was still enjoyable and informative, but it is somewhere between a textbook and a narrative, which may be difficult on any copy other than the digital text, where you can Ctrl+F for relevant information.

A wonderful read for kids and their parents, particularly for families experiencing grief and change. As a white reader I cannot say this with certainty, but I think children of color will benefit from the contents in this book, especially black children.

While the book was cliche and predictable, I think that's okay. It's purpose isn't to be groundbreaking and new, it's purpose is to serve young readers. I know that if I had found this book as a young queer child discovering my identity and dealing with my first loss, the book would have been so important to little me.

The worldbuilding was fun and refreshing, but a bit black and white. The characters who were percieved as good ARE good, and the characters portrayed as evil ARE evil. I think that even though it's a book for children, it could benefit from more nuance. After all, children are nuanced themselves.

This book was an enjoyable read. I am not sure if I'll come back to it again anytime soon— it was a quite stressful read. The sort of thing you can't look away from. Like when someone you love just keeps making all the wrong decisions, and you can't change their mind, so you stick by them the best you can.

That might sound like I disliked this book, but I really enjoyed that theming. You really get into the head of someone who seems to be making all the wrong choices, at least, in your eyes as the viewer. It served the narrative greatly to have this be part of the experience.

the litany of typos and lack of human-ness to the characters felt like i was reading an amateur fanfic. at times, i felt like i was being talked down to by the narrator. the erotica was mediocre,  and i didn't care about these inhuman characters, so i couldn't find a reason to stick with it.