Stoned, Naked, and Looking in My Neighbor's Window: The Best Confessions from GroupHug.us

by Gabriel Jeffrey

GroupHug (www.grouphug.us) was started as a place for people to totally anonymously post their deepest, darkest secrets. To confess them to the world. GroupHug received 13 million hits in the first three months, and is the fastest growing confession site online.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor

264 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2004

Reviews

[PirateSteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A best of compilation taken from an internet site used to make anonymous confessions.
In this spirit I offer my own confession... I don't always pick 5 star books.

[Ash Hillary · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who frequented confession sites like F My Life, My Life Is Average, and Texts From Last Night when I was in college in the late 00s, I was surprised that I've never heard of Group Hug. I checked out the archived site after reading this book and was pleasantly surprised that it's what's on the can: anonymous confessions with no voting or commenting abilities. You just read for as long as you want. I can't imagine how many more hours I would have wasted away in my dorm room glued to this site.

These confessions are something else. Some are a single sentence, others are paragraphs. A few made me laugh out loud and too many made me worry about the submitter and/or the people in their lives affected by their actions. I hope they're doing okay today. There is truly no way to find out.

I like how this book is a time capsule that captures the breadth of humanity in 2004. So little has changed; we are all messy but rich tapestries.

I knocked off two stars because I didn't care for the forward/afterword or his own stories that would accompany each section. I don't think he's a very good writer and was kind of surprised to see where he's had bylines in the past in the author blurb.

Overall a good quick read to kick off January and my most ambitious Reading Challenge yet!

[Bertha Leal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of people's darkest secrets will only prove what you already suspected: we are all depraved, weird, and beautifully flawed human beings.

[D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book if you're an emotional voyeur (which I am).

Did not finish this book - but would have were life dull and boring. I gave my copy to a younger friend who has similar taste in humor and debauchery.

It was not all that captivating after several confessionals; it becomes somewhat repetitive in tone - one awkward admission after another. Another title might be, How to be Human, or, Everyone's An Idiot At Some Point.

A decent read to leave in the powder room.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

About what youd expect from a book full of anonymous internet confessions. Some gave me a good laugh, others were boring and stereotypical

[Beans]

Admitting that I read this book feels like a confession in itself. I’m not one for online reading, so this kind of entertainment in paperback is a gem.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love confessional books, this one is no exception. I laugh, cringe, and in the end, I feel better about myself. We are all crazy in our own ways.

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars-- If you're going to confess something, the anonymity of the Internet might be your best bet. The confessions here range from sad, to funny, to bizarre, to obviously fake (or at least I hope).

There is an overabundance of teenage angst in this collection...the kids who were bullied made me sad, and those who tried way too hard to seem "tough" or "freaky" made me roll my eyes.

One post in particular was memorable in a disturbing way. It was from a young woman racked with guilt after having an abortion when she was RAPED AT 14. She was full of regret that she didn't carry the fetus to term, despite the fact that she WAS 14 and neither physically nor mentally mature enough to birth and care for a baby, FFS. Clearly she made the best choice for her own well-being and that of the potential child, but it angered me that we live in the sort of political climate where even someone in such dire straits is shamed this way.

[Antisocialite · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimately, the shortcomings of this book are, as you'd expect, the same as those of the website. For every entertaining, funny, or moving confession, there are pages of repetitive ones. And, of course, admissions from anonymous narcissists (a bizarre phenomenon, but one that has become fairly common on the web).

[CH Howell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grouphug.us is now closed, which is good and bad. The bad is it is gone! The good, is that the site posts had been reduced to childish people insulting each other, they were using is like a chat room almost, which is not at all what it was for. Surely this book captured some of the funniest ones. I cried I laughed so hard at some of them. I wish I could find another such book.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun to read for about 5 minutes and then it just sat on my shelf forever until I forgot about it. It's fun to open up once in awhile and read a confession but not a sustainable source of entertainment... Some of the confessions seem hokey and/or fake.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was recommended from Amazon when I bought the "Found" books, so I jumped. I love the idea of the Web site from which this collection was born, but I found the decisions as to what to include sometimes trivial/childish.

[Kalle Wescott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this, having met Gabriel, and also as market research in thinking about apps like Secret, Whisper, and the like.

It was a lot more engaging than I thought it would be, and had about 10 lols.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learning strangers' intimate secrets made me realize I'm as twistedly normal as the next guy.

[Guillermo · Rating 4 out of 5]

check out top of page 77!!!!

[Kira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not stop laughing. And I was shocked for the most part. Makes me feel better about all my sins..

[Slavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Straight from the website, but a great washroom read.

[Beki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in this book. My first published work!

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of confessions, mostly short. Great bathroom reading.

[Jennafhur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically a Post Secret without the artwork. It took me a while to pick it back up after I originally started it, but I ended up reading the majority of it in two days.

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will never again think about toothpaste the same way.

[Caty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Makes you feel better about yourself by listing a whole panopoly of sins committed by the anonymous contributors to gtouphug.us.

[stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

grouphug.us is better as a website than an anthology.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anonymous secrets.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievable. Some confessions were so bad, that I had to continue to read... they closed the website September 7...

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confession, pretty straight forward stuff. Most are most likely genuine, definitely some trolls in there though.

[Vyvyan Wormwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has always been a personal favorite. There is comedic and tragic confessions alike. Each one shows you the lives of other people, no matter how small the entry. People are weird. I love it.