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The Really Funny Thing About Apathy
by
Chelsea Martin (Goodreads Author)
Fiction. In THE REALLY FUNNY THING ABOUT APATHY, Chelsea Martin's charming but merciless prose employs mathematical paradoxes and theories of infinity to examine the inner workings of the bored and culturally over-stimulated while they idly consider the meaning of life. Overwhelmed and assaulted by their own inner monologues, these characters stumble through a series of ex...more
Paperback, 68 pages
Published
November 4th 2010
by Sunnyoutside
(first published November 1st 2010)
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None of the stories betray a feeling of apathy and none of them are especially funny. Misleadingly titled. I've got some ill-will for this book, because my expectations have been thwarted. "Everything Was Fine Until Whatever" had me ready for more absurdity, many more stories, and laughs. I liked everything I read, with the cousin-time dad visits story and "The Consumption" as the standouts, but, yeah, that was of five options. And they were all fine. More than fine. But... yeah. I wanted anothe...more
The really funny thing about apathy is it didn't make me laugh at all.
So maybe the really funny thing about apathy is it's not funny?
I don't know. What I do know is I really didn't like this. I swear I tried. But I really really (REALLY) need a story to say something, to GO somewhere, to THINK and FEEL and GROW (and/or help me to!), rather than running around in circles chasing the need to be perpetually clever.
[One star for not really caring at all. (So meta!)]
So maybe the really funny thing about apathy is it's not funny?
I don't know. What I do know is I really didn't like this. I swear I tried. But I really really (REALLY) need a story to say something, to GO somewhere, to THINK and FEEL and GROW (and/or help me to!), rather than running around in circles chasing the need to be perpetually clever.
[One star for not really caring at all. (So meta!)]
May 26, 2011
Liana
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Haiasi or his double
Recommended to Liana by:
Serendipity
Really excellent insight. And funny. I thought I was reading myself while I was reading her. I aspire to do as she does: be real about lost or loved or wanted things, be true to oneself, and over-analyze. There's true beauty in that, I think. She's a girl who can reveal an eternity inside 8 seconds. And she knows that love is an impossible thing to understand (and so is McDonald's, lol).
2011 Book 65/100
Super short, super-indie read - with my favorite chapter being 'McDonald's is Impossible' that ends with the sentence "And eating food from McDonald's is mathematically impossible". Like I said, super-indie.
Super short, super-indie read - with my favorite chapter being 'McDonald's is Impossible' that ends with the sentence "And eating food from McDonald's is mathematically impossible". Like I said, super-indie.
I read this while my friends were asleep on a Sunday morning. The really funny thing is to feel this way you can't be apathetic. This collection made me say "whoa."
"McDonald's is Imposible" is like "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" for severely depressed adults, which is to say, awesome.
The really funny thing about apathy is that I was wholly apathetic to it. "A self-indulgent jerk-off session with Bright Eyes playing in the background," I think is what I called it after finishing, except that as much as I don't like Connor Oberst, I can recognize that he has some skill, and makes people feel some things (all of the things). This just made me angry for having wasted my time.
[1 star for somehow convincing someone to publish that shit. I mean that. That sounds mean. For all I kno...more
[1 star for somehow convincing someone to publish that shit. I mean that. That sounds mean. For all I kno...more
-I liked the transitions and rhythm shifts between the 4 individual pieces comprising this book.
-I would say something about liking the 'thematic concerns' of movement, stagnation, destination, and the paradoxes surrounding them, but that feels trite and degrading to her skill.
-I like the math/ physics (probability) and psychology motifs as a means to approach likelihood of events.
-Martin's narrators think, emote and behave in an oddly systematic and perhaps contrived way while analyzing the sy...more
-I would say something about liking the 'thematic concerns' of movement, stagnation, destination, and the paradoxes surrounding them, but that feels trite and degrading to her skill.
-I like the math/ physics (probability) and psychology motifs as a means to approach likelihood of events.
-Martin's narrators think, emote and behave in an oddly systematic and perhaps contrived way while analyzing the sy...more
neurotic, autobiographical, lovely, true, human, original.
I read it today and liked it a whole lot.
I read the manuscript of this book a couple of months ago and loved it, as I expected to (you'll see my blurb on the back cover). Martin seems to be challenging herself more and more with her writing, as evidenced in stories like this new one at Spork. It's now officially out (just stocked 30 of them at Powell's)--hooray!.
Apathy is funny. It is. And this book is a book you should read. It is good. Thanks for writing it, Chelsea Martin.
so much <3
Apr 09, 2013
Stacia
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Oct 08, 2012 12:28pm