Half Empty: Essays

Listen. This isn't an easy read, a beach read or necessarily a page turner for the average bear. BUT it's really great. I laughed so hard in a few bits at such brilliant twists of phrase that I had to put the book down and collect myself. If you like the dry and the sardonic this is for you.I love David Rakoff's work and have had this book preordered for a long time. I have both Fraud and Don't Get Too Comfortable as audio books and in print and have been jittery with anticipation for something else from the essayist. It's dark, sure. But I think that bodes well for the times. If you haven't noticed the ridiculous at every corner, take a ride with a practiced eye for picking up on details that the average miss.There are no "good" chapters and "bad" as some folk have posted here. Some will appeal and some will appeal more. This is not formulaic writing and as such you may get tongue tied in a couple ramblers. And he's no simpleton with the word crafting. But grab a dictionary and enjoy. In a society filled with LOL and OMG, I find Rakoff's high minded humor at the absurd to be refreshing.

Purchased this book the day after Mr. Rakoff died. I watched a speech he gave at a college wherein he read passages from this book.I cried and cried and cried at his "The Invisible Made Invisible" speech. If you haven't seen it, watch it, it will make you purchase this book.I waited one month due to backorder, and was happy to. I bought it 3 months ago and cannot bring myself to finish it because it would be the final nail in my mental coffin for David Rakoff. Truly a genius.

You'd think maybe since David and I know each other and worked on a project together a few years ago that I would be biased, but with an Oscar (TM) on his resume, several best-selling books, and now (just announced 10/3) a Thurber Prize for Humor FOR THIS BOOK, I'm pretty certain I'm not the only one who recognizes Rakoff's talent and comedic genius. If you don't get it, or his humor, perhaps Where's Waldo is more your speed. This is filled with hysterical views on everything life offers. Read it. Then read it again. Then give it to friends as gifts.

Despite the fact that David Rakoff is a wonderful writer of darkly funny essays about a wide variety of topics;this collection was not the best of the three published so far. The first half of the book induces feelings ofdeja-vu and has a dated feel to it. How relevant is a trip to Disney to visit a house of the future? How relevantis an essay on Jewish people who love to eat pork and shellfish? In light of current events; not very meaningful,insightful or even interesting. The numerous asides included,though meant to engage the reader,are actually annoying.Until the subject of his own illness is broached there is not much to recommend here. Perhaps there is truth inadvertising though because of the clever disclaimer that appears on the cartoonish cover art.

I love the essays of David Rakoff, partially because having heard him numerous times on the radio, I can hear his voice when I read them, which is an added pleasure.I like his mix of pathos and dark humor. He's a very smart writer and a shrewd observer.I get a little sad when I think about the fact that he's gone.But these essays are great.

Rakoff is obviously incredibly talented; his writing is witty, intelligent AND hilarious. Yet I find myself having to "be in the mood" to pick this book back up! I think I was expecting a "lighter" read. That being said, I LOVE it so far, and appreciate Rakoff's insight.

David Rakoff had a very amusing take on life. He was funny about his own weaknesses, fears, and his fatal disease without coming off as self pitying. He was gone much too soon.

Glad to have this to remember his voice and brilliance. He will be missed. I will listen to it again.

The cover of this book warns that, "No inspirational life lessons will be found in these pages." This is mostly true. It sets out to challenge the 'think positively and everything will work out all right' mentality and does so very effectively, yet without being a total downer. I was left neither with a sense that I could change my life just by changing my 'vibes' into shiny happy ones, nor that I should just give up and surrender to the inevitable hardships and tragedies of the world. Rather, I was left with an understanding that when bad things happen I won't be able to control them but I don't have to let them control me, either. As Rakoff so simply observes, "Everybody's got something." While this seems very heavy (and at times it really is) anyone who has read or heard Rakoff's work before knows that this insight comes with incredible wit. While there may not be "inspirational life lessons" in this book, there are lots of laughs.

This isn't as good as Rakoff's earlier books but entertaining nonetheless. What pervades throughout the book is this ominous feeling that he won't be able to shake his ailments. Sadly, this was proven the case last year.

Admittedly I only started reading David Rakoff's books after his death, I was gifted  Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, the Torments of Low Thread Count, the Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and  and after devouring it in a day I had to order the follow up. Reading Half Empty in light of his death has an incredibly profound effect on the last few chapters of the book where he relates the start of his illness, it is fraught with tragic irony and as such reduced me to mourning. Nevertheless its as side-splittingly brilliant as anything he's ever produced.If you haven't heard him speak I recommend digging out a reading on YouTube or one his This American Life contributions (the live show in particular) before taking on this book, reading it in his tone of voice adds to the dry wit and makes it so much funnier. Unlike Don't Get Too Comfortable this is more memoir than criticism but that doesn't mean it is less capable of making you laugh so hard it hurts when you eventually manage to pick yourself up off the floor. Through his pessimistic and superbly cutting aphorisms he tears apart absurdity on all levels and takes no prisoners. It just makes it more saddening when you reach the end and have to acknowledge that this is it. Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, the Torments of Low Thread Count, the Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and

Can't recall

As ever, the late Mr Rakoff had me howling with laughter. A great writer, sadly missed. Looking forward to rereading