Guy Branum

So there's quizbowl content, which you normally don't see in memoirs or novels, which was interesting since the author was essentially a contemporary, albiet he played at a Midwestern school and most of my tournaments were on the East Coast, so they had more time for long van trip adventures.

Admittedly, this was just a small portion of the book and judging from the sample of other reviews I've seen, it's wasn't exactly a commercial for the enterprise, either. But that's how it goes sometimes.… (mehr)

I stumbled on this by way of Twitter recommendations, of all things, and I'm glad I read it, even though I have nearly zero interest in Chelsea Handler, or any of the other projects with which Branum has been involved. Which proves to be a bit of a problem when discussions about those projects becomes the focus of the book for a while toward the much less philosophical, less interesting (more performative, and kind of wheel-spinny) final third, excepting the last chapter, which tidies up nicely the section before.

Or maybe I'm reacting to the fact that it isn't a narrative in which everything turns out great, or is perceived to turn out great. Or maybe it is that it has a more gloomy view of how gay people are treated than I would hope for as a cis het guy.

I don't think so, but I'm leaving open the possibility.

The book is laugh-out-loud funny, surprisingly profound, at times, and is well performed in audiobook format. If you have any patience at all for these sorts of books, this is one of the much better ones.… (mehr)