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René's Reviews > Das Café am Rande der Welt
Das Café am Rande der Welt
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Offensive rant incoming.
Fuck everything about this book. Over 100 pages of "just do what you love and everything will work out :)))) just be yourself bro :))))"
NO. FUCK YOU. THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS.
This book is thinly veiled New Thought Law of Attraction esoteric feel good wish wash, which at least explains why so many people like it. (Spoiler: many people are kind of stupid)
This book is your college stoner roommate telling you that advertising just like, totally makes you unhappy and plays on your fears, man, just to get you to buy stuff, man, ever think about it like that, man, so deep, man.
This book is your teenage rebel punk kid that just hit puberty and is trying to explain to you how all grown ups do is work and sleep until they get old and die and there is absolutely nothing worse than working for a living.
This book is a trust fund baby telling you to just quit your job and go backpacking through Europe.
This book is Brad Pitt telling you to just be yourself if you want to be more attractive, because it obviously works for him.
This book is assholes in the comment section of articles about mental health telling clinically depressed people to "just man up and get over it".
This book is the one guy you kinda knew in High School and now have in your Facebook list for whatever reason posting inspirational quotes, self-affirming rants, selfies in ill-fitting suits and huge excerpts about his business plans on a bi-hourly schedule.
This book is like Paulo Coelho's literary works had an orgy with every spiritual health pop science bullshit blog on the internet and somebody took the afterbirth of the resulting miscarriage and translated it in 33 languages just to fuck with the world.
This book reads like it was written by one of those creepy "life coach" gurus preying on unhappy and unstable personalities and trying to sell 10 easy tricks on how to have AWESOME SEX and A BETTER LOVE LIFE and - oh wait, it actually was written by exactly one of those guys.
This book personally offends me on a deep level. Fuck you.
And if you found anything in this book even just slightly enlightening, you make me both ashamed and scared of being human.
Fuck everything about this book. Over 100 pages of "just do what you love and everything will work out :)))) just be yourself bro :))))"
NO. FUCK YOU. THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS.
This book is thinly veiled New Thought Law of Attraction esoteric feel good wish wash, which at least explains why so many people like it. (Spoiler: many people are kind of stupid)
This book is your college stoner roommate telling you that advertising just like, totally makes you unhappy and plays on your fears, man, just to get you to buy stuff, man, ever think about it like that, man, so deep, man.
This book is your teenage rebel punk kid that just hit puberty and is trying to explain to you how all grown ups do is work and sleep until they get old and die and there is absolutely nothing worse than working for a living.
This book is a trust fund baby telling you to just quit your job and go backpacking through Europe.
This book is Brad Pitt telling you to just be yourself if you want to be more attractive, because it obviously works for him.
This book is assholes in the comment section of articles about mental health telling clinically depressed people to "just man up and get over it".
This book is the one guy you kinda knew in High School and now have in your Facebook list for whatever reason posting inspirational quotes, self-affirming rants, selfies in ill-fitting suits and huge excerpts about his business plans on a bi-hourly schedule.
This book is like Paulo Coelho's literary works had an orgy with every spiritual health pop science bullshit blog on the internet and somebody took the afterbirth of the resulting miscarriage and translated it in 33 languages just to fuck with the world.
This book reads like it was written by one of those creepy "life coach" gurus preying on unhappy and unstable personalities and trying to sell 10 easy tricks on how to have AWESOME SEX and A BETTER LOVE LIFE and - oh wait, it actually was written by exactly one of those guys.
This book personally offends me on a deep level. Fuck you.
And if you found anything in this book even just slightly enlightening, you make me both ashamed and scared of being human.
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Das Café am Rande der Welt.
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Reading Progress
June 11, 2018
–
Started Reading
June 11, 2018
– Shelved
June 11, 2018
–
35.16%
"Very intriguing concept. The authors way of trying to be quirky gets annoying quickly though."
page
45
June 11, 2018
–
56.25%
"Advertising is bad and true happiness lies within, oh my God how deep and profound"
page
72
June 11, 2018
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 65 (65 new)
message 1:
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[deleted user]
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Jun 01, 2019 12:28PM
I regret that I have spent £6.99 on this crappy book. I would rather have given money to you for writing this fine review.
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I couldn‘t express it any better. You‘re on point with every letter!
I'm only a third in, but I think you got the gist of it. It reminds me of 8th grade ethics, but like... less (didn't know that was possible).
Can you please please please write a book? This review was the best piece of literature I read this year😍
aaaaah couldn’t have said it better
I hate the book, but love your review. You saved my day with this, thank you!
I’m amazed by how bad this book is and how good your review describes it!
Thank you for this amazing review. I've just finished the book and it made me very sick! Fortunately it doesn't have too many pages. Most of books, movies, most of everything is for most of people( as you said they're kind of stupid).
Dude why this language? 😂 not saying this is an amazing book, but you clearly had pre-assumptions when picking up this one. Otherwise, I don't understand why you would not see that this book is very much not about quitting your job and go travel Europe. This book is about reflecting and thinking about your life and if you love what you’re doing. It is about really thinking about your strengths, your needs and what fulfills you. it could be that you’re stuck in a consulting job or whatever, but you much rather would become a psychologist or a teacher or whatever. Just an example... it’s not at all just about quitting your job and chill for the rest of your life
@sophiep I think you can only relate this if you're as angry as him (and I) after reading a bunch of captain obvious crap and also: you're the idiot who spent money on it + wasted your time reading it + feeling insulted and sick from all this "Wooow I found the key to life" crap. The language discribes pretty accurate how I felt afterwards😁
My mom keeps recommending this book to me and your review confirmed my assumption that I do not in fact ever wanna read that. Also love that you just straight up called people stupid. I felt that in my soul.
@Lilly my condolences to you 😭but let mom enjoy stupid literature, not sure what I'd do in your position, probably spout some noncommittal vague niceties.
Didn't read it all but agree on the first few lines
Your 100 % right! I read the first 50 pages of this book and thought ‚why is everyone so in love with this? Why is this book hyped that much‘... it’s completely overrated. I was very disappointed while reading and even afterwards.
Never have read a better review that described my thoughts
Thank you for the review! Thanks to you I avoided this mess. I love libraries. In the beginning I thought this is going to be that cosy 3 or 4 star story about a library from wich you can get loads of new book ideas, learn about authors and everything a bibliophile loves. I enjoy positive thinking, but I am aware that we need more than that and it is a whole different story for people who struggle with mental health. You should seriously consider writing. Great review
Thanks for your review. It‘s very funny and well written 😉 I had a good laugh reading it.„NO. FUCK YOU. THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS.“
So if this doesn‘t work for you, what does? I am seriously interested in your answer.
Say what you want about this book, but this review is not even slightly better. It’s extremely pretentious.
Thank you, I enjoyed reading that very much <3
Reading this book worths to enjoy reading your comment :) it was a bad masochism!
Haven't read the book and never will but oh I loved this review!
Michael wrote: "So if this doesn‘t work for you, what does? I am seriously interested in your answer."I'm not sure if this is an issue with a single correct answer, but I found it very helpful to train one's ability to simply accept some things as they are. Life is not fair, sometimes good people suffer in unjust ways, sometimes the bad guy wins in the end. There are things one can change and things outside of one's influence, it's important to clearly recognise which is which and to act accordingly.
It might happen that you give it your best and send nothing but positivity into the world, and the world turns around and punishes you in cruel and unexpected ways. That's a reality of life (and you should still give it your best and have a positive outlook!).
As for literature, my personal recommendations would be primers on Buddhist mindfulness practices, and Marc Aurel's writings on Stoicism. Not as flashy as most modern self-help literature, probably will not resonate with everyone, but there were at least some things in it I am glad I exposed myself to.
Antonia wrote: "Say what you want about this book, but this review is not even slightly better. It’s extremely pretentious."
But it's free!
I‘m sorry that life hasn‘t been easy for u René! I really am!And I’m also really sorry to tell you that you will never be able to fully understand what this book trys to tell u about life. And that’s even worse than any stoner boy or rebel Punk kid.
So instead of writing some shitty ‚FUCK YOU‘-Comments for free about the hard work of someone passionate you might consider writing something better and sell it instead of just criticising😉
Laura wrote: "I‘m sorry that life hasn‘t been easy for u René! I really am!And I’m also really sorry to tell you that you will never be able to fully understand what this book trys to tell u about life. And th..."
Hey Laura, I'm grateful for your empathy!
I like that you point out how people whose life hasn't been easy will never understand this book. I agree with it.
It’s comments like these that sour the experience on Goodreads. I wish for a more well-reasoned critique rather than a litany of complaints.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!After ten pages I was like "Waaait a minute, is this just the bullshit from The Alchemist, but specifically aimed at people in busy jobs?"
Turns to last page
"John Straleckie's "Big Five for Life" seminars can be visited in over 10 countries"
Me: "Oh, fuck this!"
This is why I come to goodreads for reviews! Thank you!
Yes yes yes yes. Thank you
Here’s the thing. The book tells you that you don’t just get what you want by thinking it or that it happens immediately. It tells you to start off very slowly doing one thing you enjoy per day. So, with the time it took you to write this rant, you could have used the time to do something you enjoyed that made you feel good, rather than fuel all this anger. Yes, the book speaks from a privileged place in life, but there are still things in it that can be used by people lucky enough to have the Internet and the time to post on goodreads.
Thank you for your comment Michelle, I feel like this is a valuable different perspective.
i 100% agree with this
Every now and then i come back here to reread this review which, unlike the book it’s talking about, is a very valuable piece of literature imo. Makes my day each time :)
Haha thank you for this honest post. Just felt the same during the hole reading. As a psychologist I call this book “kitchen psychology” 😄😄
I have to admit, I think about deleting this review every time I get a notification about it. This is getting way more attention than I am comfortable with - it feels bad if the thing you put out into the world that the most people see is also something through and through negative, if that makes sense to anyone.
I am following this thread for 3 years now and I don't regret a single moment. XD It doesnt feel negative to me that somebody else in this world felt like this well recommended book was a waste of time. your review is the most valuable content in connection to that book. It should come up in Google when you search for the title xD
i adore this review! pretty much sums up my thoughts about these kind of books + people. but if u feel like deleting it, go for it. however, i think it could be a good warning sign and possibly save, say, clinically depressed people from reading this book and then feeling like garbage. but im not a king or whatever so you do you haha
I think you didn’t like it, then. ;-)Just checked the reviews because a friend recommended this book and I wanted to know whether I’d like it. Won’t read it now, because I’ve wasted too much time already with this kind of literature.
I have to say, though, that I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review! So, thank you! :-)
Your review gave me a chuckle. My thought was mainly just that I was offended he expects his readers to believe this actually happened to him. Just be honest up front: it’s a bunch of metaphors wrapped in a metaphor. I think it definitely has some food for thought but it’s not a “keeper” and will not be gracing my bookshelves, as it doesn’t measure up to the quality of my other cherished “read-again” books.
This is the best review I have ever read! I want to read it again and again. It's sooooo good and up to the point! Totally agree! This book drew me nuts.
This comment just made my day, thank you!
I tend to really like the laws of attraction (tempered with a shit-ton of work) and positivity. That said, this review encapsulates the minor percentage of my mindset that wants to make “fuck you” an off-off-broadway musical with epic fanfare. Thank you for sharing your moment of truth.
I woke up this morning feeling depressed because I just broke off a relationship that was not working in so many ways. Now sitting here with my coffee, I am laughing and swiping this book to the left!
Wow. You’re so evil and unhappy person. I feel sorry for you
