Allie Iacobelli

Useless and unlistenable

Revisado: 08-16-23

Robo-Voice Discussion of common knowledge and pseudoscience ideas without any evidence to back up claims. Wish I could get my credit back.

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JD’s best work yet

Revisado: 03-03-23

I listen to this audiobook at least once a month, it’s so good, I always find another detail I hadn’t picked up on that peels the layers back even more and connects it all the threads together. Big warning for graphic descriptions, but done in the masterful and poetic way that John Darnielle has injected into the lyrics of his band The Mountain Goats for 3 decades. Any tMG fan will be pleased as you slowly pick up on the lyrical easter eggs placed throughout the book. Captivating, thrilling, and wrapped up in a satisfying conclusion that still leaves you thinking. Highly recommend for any lovers of psychology/thrillers, fantasy, mystery, and especially tied up in scrumptious little layers that let you try to figure out the ending as you go.

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John Darnielle is brilliant, but may be an aquired taste.

Revisado: 03-03-23

If you enjoy this author’s music (the Mountain Goats), you will probably enjoy this story - JD has one of those unique voices, a la Bob Dylan, which some people just can’t stand, so I’d recommend sampling first. If you have no interest in the idea of fantasy and the worlds we build in our mind to escape lesser realities, you probably won’t get a lot out of this. Any fantasy lover will enjoy being transported to the toxic wastelands of Trace Italian - you may even find yourself disappointed when those sections end, only to realize you’ve been pulled from the fantasy to experience the high-stakes mystery plotline. It’s done masterfully.
If you’re not okay with having a visceral reaction to semi-graphic descriptions of recovering from and living with a painful deformity/disability, skip this one, and try Universal Harvester (Devil House is hands-down his best work, but it’s also way more graphic and depicts a lot of violence). If you enjoy WIWV, I highly recommend skipping UH and going right to Devil House, Darnielle’s best work yet.

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Anti-Semitic and misbranded.

Revisado: 01-13-23

Purchased to share with a non-Jewish partner thinking, as per the description, it would be a series of simple explanations of Jewish & Yiddish vocab - holidays and slang that gets thrown around - but instead I received a barrage of bad one liners about jewish people, all based in one bad stereotype or another, performed in a caricatured voice of a Brooklyn Jew. If shared amongst Jews to laugh at themselves as “it’s funny because it’s true” fodder, I think that’s fine - but this book is not funny so I’d recommend a different author. If you give this to a non-Jew entering a jewish family, they’re going to receive some misinformation and hear offensive jokes at best, at worst they’ll repeat or insinuate some of these statements as truth to a family member and make a bad impression despite good intentions. Really disappointing and I’ll be seeking a refund.

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Condescending language, poor quality of narration

Revisado: 09-08-20

Obvious information presented poorly and with heavy condescending tone. Ableist and disparaging to anyone who has experienced addiction. You don't need to spend the money or the hour, here is the information given in this audiobook: origins and activities that create short term release of dopamine (phone, food, sex, games, etc) are bad for you and distracts us from long term goals. Try eliminating these habits ("fasting") and replace the time you would've spent engaging in them, with thinking about how bad your life is (literally, the book says you should try to get yourself upset; have a goal of making yourself cry over how crap your life is and how you've squandered everything -- by playing candy crush and watching porn) and make a plan for steps to make it better, then enact those steps during all the time you have now that you're no longer 'comfortably numb'.

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Surprised by how slow & dry it is; not convincing.

Revisado: 08-25-20

I purchased this title WANTING to be convinced; I've been on the fence about whether I should remove social media from my life entirely for quite a while, and while I suspect it that would have an overall positive impact in my life, I'm a very scientific/fact-driven person and I want to weigh all of the evidence and data, and based on the description given of the book, This sounded like the perfect place to start.
I was on board for the first several arguments, but soon realized that in order to follow the entire book, you actually need to memorize the several acronyms used - maybe if I was reading the physical edition and could highlight, take notes, and easily flip back to reference all the acronyms, definitions, and niche vocabulary introduced, I could've followed better.
For instance, early on, the author's defines a "B.U.M.M.E.R" and the way you remember what a BUMMER is, is that a bummer will always A.B.C.D.E.F - I understood all of this information and exactly what the author was trying to convey and define.
From that point on, however, pretty much every paragraph contains the phrase "BUMMER" - while the author uses the word as a verb and a noun. Since this is a phrase you've just learned, when you hear the word 'bummer', you're still going to go to your context of 'bummer' in your head, not the authors - and then you remember it's this BUMMER, but what was the criteria for something to be a BUMMER? ABCDEF? The "arguments" get increasingly repetitive as you go on, most varying slightly from each other; the evidence given is all common sense/common knowledge, not the hard facts I was looking for. Again, I think if I read it and could flip back and maybe take some notes, I'd follow better and enjoy it. Definitely do not recommend as Audiobook though.

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