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14th out of 20 books
—
42 voters
I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing but True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut,Wife, Mother, andFriend to Man and Dog
by
Diana Joseph (Goodreads Author)
Meet the men in Diana Joseph�s life: �The boy,� Diana�s fourteen-year-old son, who supports the NRA and dreams of living in a house with wall-to-wall carpeting; Diana�s father, who�s called her on the telephone twice, ever, and who sat her down when she was twelve to caution her against becoming a slut (she didn�t listen); Diana�s brothers, or, as her father calls them, �t...more
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published
March 5th 2009
by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
(first published January 1st 2009)
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I was able to talk to the author last night (she called into our book club discussion)to clarify some questions we all had. It was great to get perspective and immediate feedback which made me like the book even more. It's brutally honest, gritty, funny, tender, uncomfortable and questionable throughout the read...although I found myself turning the pages wanting to read more and finishing the book. I can see how some people would not be amused by some things written but that's where the brutal...more
It took me a while to warm up to this essay collection/memoir -- one of the first stories describes her attachment to the worst boyfriend in history, and my initial reaction was Ick, this woman is an idiot -- but by the end I decided that she's a genius. I'd like to refrain from my usual David Sedaris comparison, but she and Sedaris share the ability to shape each story into a perfect bittersweet comic gem.
3 likes · like · see review
Just because you have writing skills, and even teach writing for a living, does not mean you have a life that is memoir-worthy. I know memoirs sell like crazy these days, and this one got a glowing review in Entertainment Weekly, but literally NOTHING HAPPENS. She's divorced; she has an uncommunicative teenage son; she has a dog that humps things; she knows people who drink. So what? This is what I have friends for--everyone has this life in some variation. This is not what I read books for.
7 likes · like · see review
I've spent the best Sunday in recent memory sitting on my futon, eating string cheese, and laughing uproariously at this gem of a book. I gobbled up the whole thing in one sitting, and now I'm desperate for Joseph to hurry up and write more stuff. If you are a girl--if you are a person--you should buy this memoir.
2 likes · like · see review
Hilarious and unflinchingly honest. This glimpse into the world of men, from one woman's point of view -- is often dark, always real, and ultimately extraordinarily generous. Joseph is a beautiful writer, with a style that's so direct and clear the pure poetry of it sneaks up on you.
2 likes · like · see review
More an essay collection than a memoir. Each chapter is an essay about a male figure in her life. The last chapter killed me.
Here are a couple of favorite passages. I've written about men and vacuum cleaner bags before. Here's her take:
“Decades of bachelordom meant Al could run a vacuum. This impressed me, and that he knew that vacuums had bags, and that those bags occasionally needed changing, and which aisle in Kmart they keep vacuum cleaner bags, made me want to take my shirt off.”
And her hon...more
Here are a couple of favorite passages. I've written about men and vacuum cleaner bags before. Here's her take:
“Decades of bachelordom meant Al could run a vacuum. This impressed me, and that he knew that vacuums had bags, and that those bags occasionally needed changing, and which aisle in Kmart they keep vacuum cleaner bags, made me want to take my shirt off.”
And her hon...more
1 like · like · see review
This book often is quite funny, amid rueful observations of bad choices or simple unfortunate circumstances. It has a conversational tone that easily pulled me along til the end.
What I missed, in this book billed as a memoir, was the feeling I was getting the whole story. The author is a creative writing professor at Minnesota State University. It’s hard to envision from this memoir how she got there – there’s little that bridges the gap between her writing she stole, to “cut corners…toilet pap...more
What I missed, in this book billed as a memoir, was the feeling I was getting the whole story. The author is a creative writing professor at Minnesota State University. It’s hard to envision from this memoir how she got there – there’s little that bridges the gap between her writing she stole, to “cut corners…toilet pap...more
I'm Sorry You Feel That Way is the catchy title of Diana Joseph's book of essays about her life. Subtitled The Astonishing But True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother, and Friend to Man and Dog, Joseph recounts incidents from her life that made her the woman she is.
The book is an honest, funny and touching look at Diana's life. Her father, a man who preferred to be sans shirt most of the time, gave his twelve-year-old daughter some advice on boys: "Don't be a pig". Translation: Don'...more
The book is an honest, funny and touching look at Diana's life. Her father, a man who preferred to be sans shirt most of the time, gave his twelve-year-old daughter some advice on boys: "Don't be a pig". Translation: Don'...more
If you’re in need to laugh, then this charming memoir is just the thing for you. Don’t mistake the adjective charming for endearing. This book is not for the faint of heart. Inside the pages you will find hilarious memories, dysfunctional families, poor decisions, tragic conclusions all woven together to form a delectable prose. Joseph is keenly observant and is able to make her quite ordinary, often disappointing life into a witty and fun tale that will leave you begging for more. Written in th...more
2 likes · like · see review
Feb 14, 2011
Kristy
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Kristy by:
if you enjoyed the glass castle?
Shelves:
own
Well, this was a mess. A crazy, messed up mess and I mean that in the best way possible. It was hilrious and fun, yet sad and disturbing. I agreed with parts, but wanted to scream at others. The back cover states "somehow hard-boiled and warmhearted all at once". It's extremely accurate. I am conflicted on how to rate this one.
I adored the way this author told stories. She was witty and interesting. But, it all felt so thrown together, like a rough draft almost. It was very random, almost like r...more
I adored the way this author told stories. She was witty and interesting. But, it all felt so thrown together, like a rough draft almost. It was very random, almost like r...more
4 likes · like · see review
More like 3.5 stars, actually.
A very fast read. Do not pick up if you're looking for something with an intricate plot!
What this book does offer is a journey through the narrator's everyday life. And even if you have nothing in common with her, you will be able to empathise with how she feels about very many things.
She talks about her blinkered (in some ways) upbringing, how her views changed as she grew up. She does this without any drama, just states these things in an idly-musing sort of way...more
A very fast read. Do not pick up if you're looking for something with an intricate plot!
What this book does offer is a journey through the narrator's everyday life. And even if you have nothing in common with her, you will be able to empathise with how she feels about very many things.
She talks about her blinkered (in some ways) upbringing, how her views changed as she grew up. She does this without any drama, just states these things in an idly-musing sort of way...more
In "I'm Sorry You Feel That Way," Diana Joseph provides us with a peek into her comic/tragic, fascinatingly neurotic life. Her wry sense of humor shines through, as does her huge heart and her fears. I could really relate to her and was surprised frequently by how often our lives seemed to have touched upon the same issues - I then stumbled across a paragraph that mentioned she was born in July of 1970, same as I, which was really a surprise.
Her essays range from the hysterically funny to the do...more
Her essays range from the hysterically funny to the do...more
1 like · like · see review
I've been trying to put my finger on what makes Joseph's pungently and accurately titled collection of memoirs so unique since I finished it in late spring--the best I can say is it is transcendently unliterary. The woman has parent issues, picks bad men, smokes and drinks like a fiend, struggles with siblings and academics, likes a good country song, sports a permanently furrowed brow and clenched heart with regard to her son (referred to only as "the boy"), and writes with mordant wit, a keen...more
I was Christmas shopping at the bookstore, and glanced at this title, which I thought I recalled from my "To Read" list. I took a quick look at the back, and saw this excerpt/blurb:
"'Yesterday my son was turning the pages in his eighth-grade yearbook so we could play a game I came up with called Guess Which Kids Are Retarded. The boy thought the game was terrible, so cruel and so mean that I should have to pay a fine, I should have to pay him ten bucks every time I was wrong.'
If you find that pa...more
"'Yesterday my son was turning the pages in his eighth-grade yearbook so we could play a game I came up with called Guess Which Kids Are Retarded. The boy thought the game was terrible, so cruel and so mean that I should have to pay a fine, I should have to pay him ten bucks every time I was wrong.'
If you find that pa...more
1 like · like · see review
A very honest, heartfelt, oftentimes downright gritty personal memoir. I enjoyed Joseph's refreshing and hilarious style, and found myself cackling on one more than one occasion. While I enjoyed the unique structure of the novel - it's broken up into 15 chapters which each focus on one particular person or crisis in her life - the lack of a unifying theme or transition between chapters sometimes made for a jarring read. Furthermore, I feel a little chagrined that after completing the novel I sti...more
Diana Joseph has entered into the glut of humorous memoirists that is currently dominated by gay men David Sedaris (Naked, When You’re Engulfed in Flames) and Augusten Burroughs (Running with Scissors). There have been other women; Mary Carr had some luck over a decade ago with The Liars’ Club. However, if you were to ask any modern reader about the genre, they’d mention these two men first. Is there any room for Joseph at the top of that list? I certainly hope so!
Joseph does something very simp...more
Joseph does something very simp...more
For the first 75% of this book I was mildly irritated with the author for being neurotic, misguided and occasionally unfunny, but I also enjoyed some of her descriptions and her willingness to laugh at herself, but then she had a whole "funny" but about playing "Guess the Retard" with her son while looking through his yearbook, and now I think she is a fucking asshole. But I guess she's sorry I feel that way. Interesting that she'll spend an entire chapter defending her son's weirdness because t...more
I empathized with so much of this book, and as someone who's about to have a son, I felt I got a lot of insight out of it--not your crappy parenting book insight, but flawed-and-loving-and-neurotic mother insight, which is worth so much more. (Also, I love Joseph's tendency to string long series of words with hyphens, a quirk I share.) Though I meant to sit down to read a few pages, I ended up nearly reading the whole book in one sitting, only stopping when my schedule demanded it, and finished...more
(The past two memoir-essay books I've read are making me consider having a shelf for 'supposed-to-be-humor' where they would be more appropriately shelved.)
I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing but True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother, and Friend to Man and Dog makes me wonder: Just because you can write, should you write a memoir? I mean, Diana Joseph's life doesn't seem to be really memoir-able, at least, not in the way that most memoirs are.
The book is more a collecti...more
I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing but True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother, and Friend to Man and Dog makes me wonder: Just because you can write, should you write a memoir? I mean, Diana Joseph's life doesn't seem to be really memoir-able, at least, not in the way that most memoirs are.
The book is more a collecti...more
When I first started reading Joseph's memoir, I was not that impressed or more aptly I wasn't that engrossed. However, after warming up to her brutal honesty and subtle humor I became hooked. I found myself relating to her in ways I could not imagine. Her love for a very terrible puppy and just the idea of love itself. Her insecurities. Her relationships with men. With such candor, it is hard for a woman to not find common ground in Joseph's I'm Sorry You Feel That Way.
If you're going to compare an author to David Sedaris, the author must be wickedly, laugh out loud funny and constantly surprising. This is not that. The chapters quickly become formulaic and the overall tone is pretty tired. Yes, you're messed up, depressed, and lonely. We all are. Either get over it or make me laugh. The author has done neither.
On the plus side, it's a pretty quick and easy read, so if you're in a bind at the airport, this can be a good solution.
On the plus side, it's a pretty quick and easy read, so if you're in a bind at the airport, this can be a good solution.
Mar 16, 2010
Cindy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Jane Pain, Laura Dobson, Barb London, Carla Evonne, all the Mikes, and more.
first two chapters, humorous and disturbing, want more...and got it. i cannot think of a memior i'd rather read. the detail is exacting if not excrutiating at times yet necessary to offering up each character as the person they are, as he or she exists in each of us. read this if you are in your 30s, 40s or 50s, lean outside the box or escaped it altogether, and ache for a good sense of humor that isn't contrived, plastic and sitcom generated. cheers diana joseph. can't wait for more.
There are those authors that can use material from their lives to comic advantage, such as David Sedaris, David Rakoff, Sarah Vowell, and Laurie Naturo. There are other authors that can create true and gritty or insightful and poetic memoirs (Bukowski). Unfortunately, Diana Joseph's life is not humorous, interesting, 'normal,' or enlightening. It is well written, but an unsatisfying and unrewarding read. This memoir is (non)fiction's equivalent to junk food.
I admit, it was the title that pulled me in. However, the book itself lacked the same firm grip. Each chapter was about a different man in her life and issues she's had and although at times funny or even a bit sad there was nothing shocking enough to really pull me in. I read majority of it but didn't finish, I couldn't find enough steam. As always I recommend it however, might not have been my cup of tea but I'm sure someone else will enjoy it.
It's funny how I have a whole huge stack of ARCs I've acquired and I don't have the interest to read a lot of them and yet I got this title about 10 days ago and it's done! Why? Because it drew me in by the title and the writing. Immediately I thought of at least two people who would like to read this one also and that's a good sign too. If I read a book and can't think of anyone to pass it onto, then that's a bad sign in my opinion. But her style of writing and the fact that she's about my age...more
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If being conflicted, contradictory, and confused can be funny, this memoir accomplishes all that and more. Joseph has written a most offbeat, irreverent, and honest memoir about womanhood, motherhood, relationships, and just plain being human. Best of all she shows the rare ability to question her own thoughts and assumptions with wry humor. If you like the idea of a satirical memoir, try this cute little book.
This is a different type of memoir in which the author describes her relationships with the various men in her life, including ex-boyfriends, ex-husbands, her father, her brothers, her son, and her current husband. The writing is honest and almost a little detached; and I was never quite sure if at times Joseph was trying to be funny, or just giving the hilariously painful truth about her life. Maybe both.
I really enjoyed this memoir. It is random moments in an ordinary life, but due to the author's honesty, seem quite extraordinary. She is blatantly open about feelings of inadequacy, moments of completely wrong decisions, and expressions of those closest to her. Her descriptions of those people in her life that have made a difference, whether good or bad, are people, that despite their flaws, we feel connected to. I found myself nodding my head a lot, understanding her low key self deprication i...more
Diana Joseph teaches creative writing in the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato. I bought this book because I love the title and I love memoirs. Her characters, especially "the boy" and Al, Joseph's husband are the opposite of quirky, people you would run into in the grocery store and not notice. Most of the memoirs I read are heavy on disfunctional families and tragic secrets--I imagine it is more challenging to write about "normal" characters like Joseph's.
(page 151): "When I w...more
(page 151): "When I w...more
I appreciated the humor in this memoir. I was entertained and laughed out loud. I did not walk away feeling I learned very much or gained much from reading this book, other than to appreciate Diana Joseph's bravery. At times I shuttered because she was able to articulate her feelings, some of which would scare me even in my own head, in a painfully honest way.
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Diana Joseph lives in Mankato, Minnesota, where she teaches at Minnesota State University.
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“When a state trooper passes me on the highway, I grit my teeth, check my speed, and hope nobody put a dead guy in the trunk while I was in Wal-Mart last night at two a.m.”
—
19 people liked it
“there's not a girl who's more hopeful than a slut, more optimistic.She may give in but she doesn't give up.She keeps looking, she keeps hoping, she's always waiting for that someone who will say it: i love you too.”
—
7 people liked it
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Apr 13, 2009 12:17pm