“Writing a book is a fantastical exercise in manic depression”
Apparently Jason Mulgrew was/is a wildly popular blogger, internet figure and one of People Magazine’s 50 Hottest Bachelors (2005). I had no idea. Thanks to BookBub, I got the e-book free and it lived in my Kindle for a few months before I finally gave it a try during a recent bout of insomnia.
This memoir of growing up in South Philly in the 80’s and 90’s is often profane (with chapter titles like “Guns. Fucking Guns” and “Hooker Hunting”) and sometimes amusing, but I just couldn’t connect with this guy. It reminded me of that one loud, fat dude at every college beer bash; he’s trying so hard to be funny and self-deprecating that you can see (and sadly, smell) the flop sweat. I still gotta hand it to the guy because a) he actually sat down and wrote it and b) he does not even try to make himself look good in this thing. Kind of like the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia gang. He could seriously be Mac’s little brother. I get that he’s making fun of himself before anyone else can, thus taking some–not all– of the sting out of it, but all that shouting and riffs on mastubation got old. It was a bit of a chore to drag myself to the end and I certainly didn’t want to sample the excerpt from his next book, 236 Pounds of Class Vice President that was included.