Oh the Glory of It All Audiobook

" Mildly amusing- that Dede Wilsey what a fucking bitch. "

" Hillarious and depressing, just like me. "

" I recommend this book to all my friends living in SF. It's interesting to read about this guy's childhood growing up in the City. "

" This follows the autobiographical (though I am sure rather embellished) account of the son of a famous millionaire family (the Wilseys) on the West coast of America. Life must be weird when you grew up around Danielle Steele and I would guess things could only get better from then on. Our protagonist is a wreck and can't seem to get over the separation and divorce of his parents. While it's true that their relationships becomes strained with him caught in the middle and that he is not given the same great attention is new step siblings are, this is no male Cinderella here. The bottom line is that he has thousands more opportunities than most kids get and was raised in luxury. What he did instead of try to work through his issues and prove to his new step mom that he wasn't a complete wastrel is to fulfill her prophesies and flunk out of every rich school his parents sent him to acquiring all kinds of drug habits and venereal diseases in the meantime. As his options wane, the schools become successively more restrictive and like prisons but it's really his own choices and volition that have brought him these consequences and I can't say I felt too sorry for him at all. What I disliked greatly about the book is that I think his point was that you were supposed to feel a little sorry for him. He makes a huge effort with his poor me routine and makes his eventual recovery seem like this magnificent feat when the truth is many more have done greater things with less. The only slight satisfaction I received is that the stepmom, who I hated even more than the main protagonist, probably received her just desserts when the book was released and slandered her. "

" I really liked this book. I think people born in the 70's will like this book the most. When I read other reviews of it, other people said that it was too long and could have given the same info in less pages. I agree, but I still really enjoyed it. I also love books that take place in San Francisco. "

" A totally entertaining memoir of a trouble-making kid and his dysfuntional family... "

" This book is about a kid who grows up in an extraordinarily wealthy family. This, in some ways, is what makes the book interesting. As a regular person we cannot help but be fascinated by the uniqueness of the author's childhood and the behavior of the wealthy. The book tends to wander off into self-indulgence at points and this is especially true as the book progresses and the accumulated psychological damage of growing up rich and neglected has taken its toll. Not a bad read, but in many ways exactly what I would expect from someone with the author's history. "

" This was an interesting book in a gossipy kind of way. It was long winded. It kind of caters to our desire to know that rich people are bad parents. Leaves one feeling sad, self-righteous and guiltily happy. "

" Fun if you live/ have lived in San Francisco. "

" About growing up in one of the most dysfunctional families of all time (including the worst stepmother ever), and then surviving a series of remote and insane reform schools. Truly hilarious, but also extremely sad. "

" Fascinating for the San Francisco history alone, and a really terrific voice for a dude basically my age. I mean, I'm an idiot. "

" Dark humor, very funny and telling memoir. He works for McSweeney's. "

" Oh the boredom of it all. "

" Not bad, for a memoir. Dude lived an interesting life. "

" shoudla been shortened by 150 pages. editing is a good thing, people! still pretty fascinating in parts. "

" Crazy life, crazy parents. Another great tale of survival. "

" it's never too early to start summing up your story "

" this was so honest and fed right into my love of anything to do with SF! "

" I didn't actually finish the whole book. I am just done reading it, because I couldn't stay into it. "

" honestly, my favorite part is the cover art. "

" I just finished this massive book in a record amount of time because it's hilarious and about the scandals of SF socialites from a child's perspective. Read it if you want to laugh and feel like your family was sane! "

" I have been trying to remember this book for AGES!!! I absolutely adored this book! "

" This memoir could have benefitted from some editing; I kept reading it only to make sure the author was ok in the end (spoiler alert: he is). "

" Interesting but not recommended unless you are planning to send your child to a lockup school. "

" Enjoyed reading about San Francisco through the eyes of the author -- and all the ins and outs of the crazy socialite world. Author can be hilarious/heartbreaking yada yada. But -- too long. Way too long. "

" Like Burroughs/Running With Scissors... could have been an interesting memoir but it's very self-important and self-pitying. "

" Dave Eggers-esque, but much less cleverly written. Still worth reading, but not something I'd drop another book for "