Shane Dawson

I'd never heard of Shane Dawson before I got this book. I read to my disabled wife every day, mainly humor, and I was out of books to read (having gone through the entire output of Dave Barry, Bill Bryson, Steve Martin, David Sedaris, and George Carlin, to give you an idea of what we laugh at). So I bought this solely on the basis of amazon's rating. He's younger than our daughter and inhabits a world that we never have and never will. He is demonstrably immature, vulgar, and generally show more weird. But, the thing is, we started liking the little s**t. He has admirable traits that are really kind of, well, sweet. He also doesn't hold anything back, his documentation of self-embarrassment second to none. We laughed as he laughed at himself. There isn't much in this book that's mean or snide. Well, except for waiting for Lindsay Lohan to die. The book ended too quickly for us. Now I have to look for something else to read to her. show less

First and foremost, thank you to Shane for providing me a First-reads copy of this book! Second, I must confess the only knowledge I had of Shane prior to receiving this book was seeing a copy of his first book, "I Hate Myselfie" and thinking what a great title for a book! I had not had a chance to read it nor had I seen his YouTube videos, possibly because I am probably twice the age of his typical fan.

So...with my obvious lack of familiarity with Shane why did I request a copy of his book show more you may ask. Two reasons: I love humor and I love books containing essays and/or short stories. Based on that vague criteria I feel I struck gold with this book.

Reminiscent of the genius that is David Sedaris this book was exactly what I had hoped to find when entering the giveaway. Raw, uncut, sometimes offensive and always hilarious this book was a real gem! I cannot say enough good things about it. Each story was engaging and grabbed you from the start. I often felt like I was in the same room with Shane.

After reading the last chapter, written by his mother, it is clear where he got his wit, humor and gift of storytelling. Next on my to read list is his first book; I've already checked it out from my local library. You have gained a new fan Shane! Looking forward to the next book. show less

I liked it, read it all in two goes, Shane's humour isn't my kind of humour and at times it felt too much, I do wonder if he doesn't embellish stories too much at times, he is obviously exaggerating stuff, but I'll have to trust the core of the stories is true and he does have some interesting experiences and insight.

It's not a masterpiece, it's not the highest quality of writing ever, but it's not that kind of book, is entertaining, it's good, and below all the jokes it feels real, I find show more Shane's life intriguing, born in such a low class life and then becoming the millionaire he is now he still has so many problems, he surprisingly has been through a lot, his obesity, bullying, struggling with his sexuality, bulimia, being poor, self steem issues, but even though it's not over he has found the way to overcome and keep going, and that's amazing, he ain't the story of an overachiever, of a perfect example, he's a normal guy that struck gold by following his dream, with his nice loving and fucked up family beside him, and that's inspirational in a different way, not the perfect story, just a story, I don't really agree with his humour but he's probably a good model for many kids that are were he has been.

(And he is very persistent, even if he hadn't become a YouTube star he'll probably be okay doing stand up or something, I do not believe it was only luck that got him here). show less

Is this high literature? 'Course not, not even close, but for what it is it's totally worth it, Shane is a really good writer or he has a good editor/ghostwriter maybe, he does write exactly like he would speak, and I like him so that's a good thing.

If you don't though you will hate this book, it isn't a serious book but behind all the jokes I do think I got to know a bit of the real Shane, he can't just give up the character, is he's way of dealing with things.

I hope he gets his happy show more ending one day. show less