I Know You're Out There: Private Longings, Public Humiliations, and Other Tales from the Personals
by Michael Beaumier
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 164)
Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone who likes David Sedaris, David Rakoff, etc
This is one of the funniest books I've ever read. So funny that I cannot believe I'd never heard about it. I thought I knew all the NPR humorists, but I stumbled across this gem a few days ago and couldn't put it down. A small part of me is paranoid that all you hipsters knew about this book ages ago, and I'm only catching on now.
One of my favorite This American Life segments is the prologue to "Time to Save the World." Michael Beaumier, who runs the personals ads in the Chicago R...more
One of my favorite This American Life segments is the prologue to "Time to Save the World." Michael Beaumier, who runs the personals ads in the Chicago R...more
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Read in February, 2007
The book is a collection of stories and insights garnered from the author's stint as the personals editor for the Chicago Reader before the Internet became the cesspool, er, center, for finding your special someone. His anecdotes are humorous; even the sadder stories are not especially depressing, because Beaumier treats them lightly, but with respect for their quest in finding love (or sex). He intermixes the situations of his advertisers with those of his own personal life, which include a hyp...more
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Read in November, 2006
Michael Beaumier was the personals editor for the Chicago Reader for seven years and I Know You're Out There is his reflections on that tenure: tales of the extremes of the personals ( the freaks, to put it kindly), stories of the myriad ordinary searches for love, behind-the-scenes with Beaumier and his small staff, and course of his own love- and family-life during that time.
With such a broad focus, and the fact that some of t...more
With such a broad focus, and the fact that some of t...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in October, 2007
Grabbed this from the endcap at Target, while there grabbing a tiny shampoo and then running for the airport. I liked the title and the bear head, I scanned the premise: good enough for travel reading.
I didn't have any expectations of this book, so I guess I wasn't "disappointed" but I was... kind of bored? I dunno. I thought that it was going to have more to do with the crazy things that people say in the Personals, and less to do with the effed up background on the people who wri...more
I didn't have any expectations of this book, so I guess I wasn't "disappointed" but I was... kind of bored? I dunno. I thought that it was going to have more to do with the crazy things that people say in the Personals, and less to do with the effed up background on the people who wri...more
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This book is a cute, fast read, and not as salacious as you might hope. The author was (is?) the long-time personals editor at a Chicago alternative paper, and the chapters alternate from his views on the "advertisers" who place personals ads (for dating, sex, friendship, etc) to more autobiographical bits about growing up with his huge Irish Catholic family, and his more current troubles in his own stagnating long-term relationship. Interestingly, it is not until half-way through the ...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
people who like david sedaris, this american life, etc.
My best friend got this for me for Christmas... and since we are terrible at actually giving each other things on time, I just got it from her. HA. The book was cute.
This is one of those books I'm glad I read, I thoroughly enjoyed it - had I still been working at the bookstore, I would have been CHOMPING AT THE BIT to get my grubby hands on it since the author lived in Chicago and the book is about Chicago.
As it is, it was a cute, fast read. I liked it, will reccomend it, and will tota...more
This is one of those books I'm glad I read, I thoroughly enjoyed it - had I still been working at the bookstore, I would have been CHOMPING AT THE BIT to get my grubby hands on it since the author lived in Chicago and the book is about Chicago.
As it is, it was a cute, fast read. I liked it, will reccomend it, and will tota...more
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Read in June, 2007
Summertime, and the living is easy.....actually, I've just been reading a slew of memoirs/things you would hear on This American Life, and I picked this one up after I finished reading Dork Whore. DW is about sex and losing 'it' and travel, and spiritual fulfillment besides the yin in yang, while this is about love. Finding it, losing it, and trying all over again in the personal ads.
And really hating on poetry.
But it made me laugh, and the cover is inspired.
And really hating on poetry.
But it made me laugh, and the cover is inspired.
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Read in May, 2007
I really enjoyed this insider's view of an alternative newspaper's personal columns. And I liked that it wasn't just a "freak show," - the author was always compassionate and respectful and clearly aware that he was not above any of the people who submitted personal ads. I liked the way he wove his own story with the story of the personal ads - many times I would think, "Where on earth is he going with this?" but the story came together nicely in the end.
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Despite its endorsements by sweethearts Ira Glass and David Rakoff, [Book:I Know You're Out There] was an exceeding disappointment. Instead of "Tales from the Personals," it should be "Personal Tales with work stuff thrown in once in a while." Beaumier does annoying things like referring to his significant other as "the boyfriend" nonstop. The personal ads of yore are clearly far less juicy than reading the Craigslist missed connections.
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone with a sense of humor
Sometimes I read personals ads just for amusement. The things that some people write are just really out there, and you think that these people can't possibly be serious. But then you read a book like this, one written by the editor of the personals ad section, and you see that these people really do exist. And they really are that depraved. All in all, it was a very good book. I laughed out loud at many points.
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Beaumier handled the personals for the Chicago Reader long before they went all high-tech online and subsequently got sold to a indie. publication conglomerate that has made it so much less than it used to be...but, I digress.
He gives a funny, sometimes, poignant, and all to strange look into the world of personals and how one man can sometimes be set up to play matchmaker to a bevy of strangers!
He gives a funny, sometimes, poignant, and all to strange look into the world of personals and how one man can sometimes be set up to play matchmaker to a bevy of strangers!
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone looking for something quick
I read this book in two days during a wicked snowstorm. It was cute, it wasnt really what I was expecting. I thought it would be more about the people that place personal ads and less about the author and his love life. However, it was interesting and a quick read during a really boring time at home. I wouldnt say it was life changing or anything, just cute and mind occupying.
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Read in August, 2007
Picked this one up while browsing at Target because it sounded like it might be fun, but I expected a book about the people who place personal ads, and while there is some of that, this is primarily the story of a young-ish man who works in the personals department of a Chicago newspaper. Wasn't great, wasn't bad.....probably forgettable.
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I was disappointed by this book, largely because I was expecting it to have more (about) the tales from the Personals and less about the guy who edits the personals. Still, it had some very funny, some very touching parts. Not worth reading more than once.
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Read in January, 2007
A very strange memoir of a cynical misanthrope who edits personal ads for a weekly newspaper. Musings on love, compatibility, his own struggling and failing relationship, and life as part of a large dysfunctional Irish Catholic family
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Read in December, 2006
recommends it for:
people ISO a SO
This was a really amusing read, especially for someone who's been doing the personal ad thing since god...probably way too long. The author handled the personals for a mainstream newspaper for a while. I really enjoyed it.
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Read in October, 2007
I think this guy probably pitched himself as the David Sedaris of the personals. He's not. The essays are only intermittently interesting, not all personal-ad-related, and overall, pretty disappointing.
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Read in February, 2007
Funny tales from writing the personals. It's a kinder, more empathic look at the world than Dan Savage's, but if you like his writing (or, um, humorous things in general) you'll undoubtedly enjoy this.
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I read this just because the author is from Chicago. This book has drawn comparison's to writing by Sedaris, and although it's funny at times, it's definitely the Wal-mart brand of Sedaris.
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This book was amusing but it didn't have me hooked. It was something I went back to now and then until finally finishing it. Not bad but definitely not a great work.
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