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Don't Get Too Comfortable (2005)

by David Rakoff

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,4244513,030 (3.54)32
"David Rakoff's bestselling collection of autobiographical essays, Fraud, established him as one of today's funniest and most insightful writers. Now, in Don't Get Too Comfortable, Rakoff moves from the personal to the public, journeying into the land of unchecked plenty that is contemporary America. Rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly and wittily skewered. Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism ; our manic getting and spending have now become celebrated as moral virtues. Whether contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good-times-and-chicken-wings of Hooters Air, or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core video shoot, where he is provided with his very own personal manservant, Rakoff takes us on a bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess. He comes away from his explorations hilariouosly horrified. At once a Wildean satire of our ridiculous culture of overconsumption and a plea for a little human decency, Don't Get Too Comfortable shows that far from being bobos in paradise, we're in a special circle of gilded-age hell" -- container.… (more)
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» See also 32 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 45 (next | show all)
This is going to sound like an insult, but I sincerely mean it as a compliment. I love listening to this right before bed because it helps me sleep. David Rakoff's voice is soft and calm. Even when he's uncomfortable and being subjected to indignities I find this soothing. ( )
  LibrarianDest | Jan 3, 2024 |
This was a good collection of essays, I particularly liked, "Love it or Leave It," "What is the Sound of One Hand Shopping?" and, "Off We're Gonna Shuffle." I like a good slightly-pessimistic-and-yet-actually-deeply-optimistic essay, and many of these pleased. ( )
  dcunning11235 | Aug 12, 2023 |
Don't know what to think. Very Sedaris-esk, so don't if I should just be happy that it made me laugh or not to because it is just so close... ( )
  jmdavis413 | Apr 2, 2023 |
a few of these essays really stand out but in general they're all alright. and in general they're not better than that. just fine. sometimes a little humorous, sometimes a little insightful. the consistently best part of the book are the subtitles of each essay that you can only find in the table of contents. i particularly like the ones that have a more political bent; those seem the best to me.

"Unless it's your own heyday as a peepshow dancer you're fondly recalling, it's dangerous to drag a sepia-dipped brush over the sleaze of yesteryear." ( )
  overlycriticalelisa | Mar 16, 2020 |
Interesting Eleanor Roosevelt quote from page p. 62 of the book
"no one can humiliate you without your consent..."
Shira Destinie
MEOW Date Tuesday, April 24, 12014 H.E. (Holocene Era) ( )
  FourFreedoms | May 17, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 45 (next | show all)
It's a terrific idea for a book, perfectly suited for a self-indulgent and self-analytical generation, and Rakoff has some stinging things to say. But there's no getting around the fact that, at heart, this is more a collection of vaguely related magazine pieces (much of the material here has already appeared in places like Details, Harper's Bazaar, Seed and GQ, and on public radio's "This American Life," where Rakoff is a regular) than a coherent seriocomic manifesto.
 
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George W. Bush made me want to be an American.
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"David Rakoff's bestselling collection of autobiographical essays, Fraud, established him as one of today's funniest and most insightful writers. Now, in Don't Get Too Comfortable, Rakoff moves from the personal to the public, journeying into the land of unchecked plenty that is contemporary America. Rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly and wittily skewered. Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism ; our manic getting and spending have now become celebrated as moral virtues. Whether contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good-times-and-chicken-wings of Hooters Air, or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core video shoot, where he is provided with his very own personal manservant, Rakoff takes us on a bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess. He comes away from his explorations hilariouosly horrified. At once a Wildean satire of our ridiculous culture of overconsumption and a plea for a little human decency, Don't Get Too Comfortable shows that far from being bobos in paradise, we're in a special circle of gilded-age hell" -- container.

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