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Lost At Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries

Jon Ronson

Discussion: 2012-Oct-Nov-Dec

Why we're reading this: October 31 , 2012
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2012-Oct-Nov-Dec

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* December 2012
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 23 views

last updated Dec 14, 2012 05:18PM

* November 2012
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 23 views

last updated Dec 02, 2012 04:34PM

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Nov 04, 2012 Kathrina rated it liked it

Shelves: essays-interviews

I admire Ronson's courage in having conversations -- not arguments or interrogations, but respectful give-and-takes -- with people whose beliefs are wildly opposite of his own. But I imagine the downside of making your living this way is when you slowly start to doubt your own long-held beliefs, when common sense starts to turn a little gray when you've tried on too many other peoples' shoes. How long can you fake being part of the crowd in order to get the story, before you find yourself gettin I admire Ronson's courage in having conversations -- not arguments or interrogations, but respectful give-and-takes -- with people whose beliefs are wildly opposite of his own. But I imagine the downside of making your living this way is when you slowly start to doubt your own long-held beliefs, when common sense starts to turn a little gray when you've tried on too many other peoples' shoes. How long can you fake being part of the crowd in order to get the story, before you find yourself getting caught up in the dogma? You can spot every moment Ronson is faced with a comment he can't process without exposing his own bias -- he simply writes: "There was a silence." Such courage and steel to refrain from comment.
The first few essays here were thoughtful, light-hearted, funny. I thought I had a handle on Ronson's style and preferred subject-matter. But then towards the middle, and somewhere around midnight as I was reading, things got weird. Things weren't funny anymore. People weren't doing quirky things like interviewing lifelike robots as if they had a human backstory, or reenacting a James Bond road trip. Very suddenly, they were doing unconscionable things, like murdering their families, or performing assisted suicide for anyone showing the slightest interest and $7000. There were no more jokey asides. I felt a little "lost at sea"; did I get on the wrong boat?
It's not that I didn't enjoy the essays, I just couldn't anticipate the tone, and it left me nervy. I do wish Ronson inserted a little more of his own perspective in some of them, or an encompassing forward to contextualize just what was going on in his head. I loved the Sylvia Brown piece -- she is a grouchy old fraud -- and The Man Who Tried to Split the Atom in His Kitchen overlaps a lot of the same compelling material in Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character.
So I thought I'd check out more work by Ronson, and was dismayed to learn that most of this stuff was already published in previous collections. That annoys me. His last book brought him some fame in the US, and it seems this one was repackaged for the American audience to cash in on that fame. He does have some singular titles in his backlist I'll take a look at, since it's his inherent curiosity that I find so compelling about his writing. And the constant threat that, at any moment, he may start to take his subjects' views to heart, and wouldn't that make an interesting story? ...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Eileen rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

A book that is hard to describe , but great fun to read. A variety of true tales about odd things, but not so odd as to be dismissed. Favorites include North Pole, Alaska, Stanley Kubrick and the "psychic" who appeared on the Montel Williams show. Hope to read another Jon Ronson book soon! ...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Danielle Dandreaux rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction

I added Jon Ronson as one of my must read authors after reading The Psychopath Test. I didn't realize that this was a collection of stories that Jon reported on before. I still enjoyed the book. There was an interesting collection of stories. Jon Ronson has a way of seeking out really interesting stories. ...more

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