All the Sad Young Literary Men

published	2008 by Viking Adult
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0670018554 (isbn13: 9780670018550)
pages	272
description	A charming yet scathing portrait of young adulthood at the opening of the twenty-first century, All the Sad Young Literary Men charts the lives...more [close] A charming yet scathing portrait of young adulthood at the opening of the twenty-first century, All the Sad Young Literary Men charts the lives of Sam, Mark, and Seth, as they overthink their college years, underthink their love lives, and struggle through the encouragement of the women who love and despise them to find a semblance of maturity, responsibility, and even literary fame. Heartbroken in his university town, Mark tries to focus his attention on his graduate work concerning Russian revolt, only to be lured again and again to the free pornography on the library computers. Sam binds himself to the task of crafting the first great Zionist epic even though he speaks no Hebrew, has never visited Israel, and is not a practicing Jew. Seth, thwarted by inherited notions of greatness and memories of his broken family, finds solace in the arms of the selfless woman who most reminds him of his past. At every turn, at each characters misstep, All the Sad Young Literary Men radiates with comedic warmth and biting honesty and signals the arrival of a brave and trenchant new writer.
date added	06-27-07 edit book

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | more...

discuss this book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

groups with this book

friend reviews (0)

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 190)

yulia rated it:

05/06/08

bookshelves: writers-on-writing

Read in January, 2008

I was actually very embarrassed asking where I could find this book in my local Borders, because I'd forgotten the name of the author (which sounds strangely like "keep guessing") and because I find the name of the book, despite its being a Fitzgerald allusion, rather regrettable. So when Frank started reading it to me, we were both surprised and confused to find we actually liked the writing and found Gessen much more talented than his n+1 co-editor Benjamin Kunkel, who'd previously ...more I was actually very embarrassed asking where I could find this book in my local Borders, because I'd forgotten the name of the author (which sounds strangely like "keep guessing") and because I find the name of the book, despite its being a Fitzgerald allusion, rather regrettable. So when Frank started reading it to me, we were both surprised and confused to find we actually liked the writing and found Gessen much more talented than his n+1 co-editor Benjamin Kunkel, who'd previously been over-hyped and proven a great disappointment (I foolishly had bought Kunkel's book, thinking it would be much discussed).

What's also unfortunate is that my brother, who attended a reading of this book, said that Gessen read aloud the passage about compulsively checking his Google ranking, which wasn't at all a representative or worthy passage to read. Why couldn't Gessen have begun at the beginning? Was he trying to appeal to a broader, more internet-oriented audience? Perhaps beginning on page 1 is too predictable?

Well, so far, I'm a third through an still very interested and not repelled by what reviewers in the press were put off by. I also found it strange one reviewer made a point of disliking how the characters in this book all attended "big name" colleges. Well, what are you supposed to do if you attended Harvard and are writing a fictionalized account of your college friends? Research SUNY-Binghamton or Queens College? Is it a crime to write about the privileged? Certainly, now I can see Gessen's affinity for Fitzgerald, if I don't in his voice.

As much as I hate Sam, the failed writer obsessed with his Google count, I love when he's on a date with Katie and it's taking forever to walk her home: "Now it was two, it was past two, and soon it would be dawn and his penis would turn into a pumpkin . . ." What an image!

But after 116 pages, it's starting to annoy me more. If these characters put more effort into their work and less into being sleazy guys, they'd get more more done and get more girls. And why must everyone in this book be an aspiring or successful writer? Is life broken down so easily for Gessen?

Some traces of Don DeLillo and Philip Roth peep in. Not necessarily a good thing. Why must everyone in the book be a firstgeneration Russian-Jew. Couldn't one be a Russian, one Jewish, and one just a random American? Two thirds of the way through, all the characters seem the same to me. Too many sweaty alcoholics in this. My guess is Gessen is a sweaty alcoholic.

Spoiler? Debatable)

Final analysis: Nothing happens in this book. People meet and break up, book deals are made and lost, lives occasionally cross, and some hair is lost, but no insight is gained, no probing questions considered. As Frank puts it, "When you lack psychological depth, you have to make mountains out of shit." Let's call this a hill of shit: a mountain is too great of an achievement. ...less

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

3 comments

Paul rated it:

04/28/08

Read in April, 2008

Here's a funny part I LL'dOL at, in which one character laments that his Google, i.e. the number of hits his own name generates thereon, is shrinking:

His Google too had been a consolation once: if in those heady days, a book deal in his pocket, a girlfriend of complex cosmetic habits in his bedroom, his little AOL mailbox was momentarily silent and unmoving, he simply strolled over to Google to confirm he still existed. Did he ever! Three hundred some odd pages of Samuel Mitnick on the World...more

Like this review? yes

title link
avg rating
small image
med image
large image

All the Sad Young Literary Men

discuss this book

groups with this book

friend reviews (0)

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 190)

book data (includes all editions)

blog this book

popular shelves

other editions