Book Report: 'Everything is Fucked: A Book About Hope'

 

A Journal: EVERYTHING IS FUCKED: A BOOK ABOUT HOPE by Mark Manson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mark Manson is a sneaky philosopher, wedging in classical, Freudian and Buddhist themes with his rough-hewn, locker room-style comedy diatribes. Delivered in the audiobook via a deadpan style that sometimes undercuts the urgency of his message, the often rambling, occasionally poignant set of observations on the misery wrought by materialism manages to carve a sharp impression.

The subtitle is misleading. The book is only about hope in that it is out to destroy it. In Manson's thinking, hope is an ever-dangling carrot that is the root of depression, violence, rage and misery. Only through the rejection of fleeting highs, he reasons, can you strive to a higher purpose. The pleasure, as he sees it, is in the pain.

There is much to relish and appreciate in Manson's book, and there is also plenty of unkempt, half-baked solipsism that might have been cultivated into a more consistent theme with better editing. But Manson pulls off a parlor trick by dreaming up a fantastic title, beginning and ending, leaving the reader feeling fulfilled. These may be empty calories, but they sure are tasty.

View all my reviews