3.5/5

A+ idea, C- execution

The main problem was that there were too many lists that had nothing to do with the story. Only one or two developments in the story were actually interesting. 80% of the book was exposition, telling random stuff about the characters' pasts that were mostly not entertaining or funny.

Also, the romance in the story was kind of horrible. The girl was completely flat and made no sense, and the main character idolized her strange behavior and built her up so much in his mind in a way that is just insane. Such a bad story, on that front.

I wanted to like this book, but it fell flat.

I found the lists were difficult to get into at first, but after a while it seemed almost natural. It almost reflects the way people really think (me at least), because every thought is linked by something. And Darren's reactions seemed honest to the way any teenager would react to all of the situations in the book. I'm not entirely sure what I expected from this, but it was so much better than that. I would definitely recommend it.

Everyone has their limits, and I have long exceeded mine. DNF @ 71%.

[b:Me Being Me Is Exactly as Insane as You Being You|22456952|Me Being Me Is Exactly as Insane as You Being You|Todd Hasak-Lowy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1402687670s/22456952.jpg|41780299] is a novel written entirely in lists. I love it when books have various different formats like emails, text messages, newspaper articles, lists etc mixed in with the regular descriptions and dialogue. It makes things interesting. It's one of the many reasons why I really enjoyed reading The Princess Diaries series way back when. So naturally, I was very intrigued by the concept of an entire novel written in lists. And I still do think that the idea itself is fascinating. Unfortunately, that's where my fascination ended.

Now, I appreciate that it cannot have been easy to write a novel in the form of lists. And that is probably why there were a lot of times when I felt that lists really weren't necessary, but were just forced into the book to keep with the list theme. For instance:

1 Place He Finally Finds Maggie, Who Might Have Actually Been Holding Hands with Tyler Weintraub, or Whatever the Fuck His Name Is, and Who Then Sort of Tries to Hide This, but Not That Much, Meaning She Doesn’t Really Care if Darren Saw, Which Either Means That It Doesn’t Actually Mean Anything to Her That She Was Holding Tyler’s Hand, or That It Does and So Too Bad for Darren, and He Kind of Gets the Sense It’s the “Too Bad for Darren” One, Since She’s Just Not Being Very Friendly with Darren at All, to the Point That Darren Can’t Even Get Himself to Ask in This Kind of Joking/Friendly/Intimate Way, “Hey, So How Was the Pie Last Night?” Which He Had Been Looking Forward to Asking Maggie Ever Since He Entered the Building, So Much So That He Was Already Picturing It Becoming Some Kind of Inside Joke between the Two of Them, Even If He Wasn’t Sure What Exactly It Would Mean or in What Situations It Would Be Used:
1. Tyler Weintraub’s locker, or whatever the fuck his name is

But then there were these other lists which were just spewing unnecessary information that really nobody cared about.

4 Objects the Crumpled Kleenex Overflowing the Small Wastepaper Basket Sitting Next to His Bed Could Be Said to Resemble
1. A cloud, of the cumulus variety
2. A snowy mountain range
3. A human brain, if something was really wrong with it
4. Cauliflower, maybe

It's not a very long book, because every list starts on a new page, and some lists are really quite small; but it is definitely longer and more dragged out than it needs to be. But I could have overlooked this if I had actually liked anyone in the book. The main character Darren is just this very ordinary guy, nothing special about him whatsoever. I liked this initially, because I'm tired of every author writing about characters who are extra beautiful and extra brave and extra everything. Regular people have stories too. But there really was nothing to set Darren apart from the rest of the universe - no specific likes or specific opinions or specific passions. Just nothing really. To make matters worse, he is the type of guy who will lust after just about any girl who so much as looks at him. First he makes out with Maggie, then he goes on a trip with Zoey and fools around with her as well, and then he fools around with a third girl Rachel, whom he doesn't even care for, while still pining for Zoey. He's even thinking about Zoey while he's with Rachel. Despite the fact that he thinks he's in love with Rachel. (And that is just so far.) Clearly, it's not really love, but I can't even understand why Darren thought it might have been. He knows literally nothing about this Zoey girl. At all. She barely even seems interested in him.

And then there's the whole thing with his dad coming out. Darren keeps saying that it's not a big deal and then does everything to act like it is. He goes around behaving like it is this huge thing that has happened to him while having no consideration for his father at all. Or for his mother. Needless to say, I really disliked Darren. In fact, there wasn't a single character in this book that I actually liked.

The plot was barely there. It just ambled on aimlessly; no specific destination in mind. I didn't even know what I was reading towards. There were flashbacks and fast forwards that I cared little for. So, for me, the book wasn't just a good concept that was poorly executed. It failed on many more levels than just its execution. In fact, apart from the idea of a novel written in lists, there was really nothing else I liked about this book. I almost never leave books unfinished, so that pretty much says it all. I read for a long time after I'd lost interest, but now I'm absolutely certain that nothing at all could happen that would make me like this book more.

Ps. That title, just like a lot in the book, made zero sense to me.

Liked the idea of a story told in lists, but the storyline was all over the place.

This book is told entirely in lists, at first I was like what I love lists! Now after over 600 pages of lists I'm really starting to despise them.

In this story we meet Darren, a teenage boy who gets given a massive shock at the start of the book, after hearing the news he then quickly leaves to go visit his brother who is at university. In over 600 pages we follow Darren's life of love and parental arguments, homosexuality and divorce.

Although this book is very inventive (yes it really is entirely made of lists), I think we soon realise why this has never been done before. You just can't go into that much detail with the book being entirely in list form, it just doesn't make a good writing style. The blurb makes it sound like Darren immediately leaves to go to see his brother however after 15o pages nothing has really happened, this is the trouble with lists. There is only so much information you can put into a list and therefore it requires a lot of lists in order to get your point across as to what the story is about.

At the start of the book we are given some pretty shocking news however from that it literally becomes related to everything in the story. I feel like although it was a large piece of information I don't think it would change everything about your life. The book from then on becomes all about this topic and just when you think we might be wondering somewhere else nope, something happens so that we are drawn straight back to the original issue just in case you thought you'd forgotten.

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An interesting format: a story told completely in list format. I liked the story. I liked the characters, as they were well written and real. it was enjoyable to read about a teenager who wasn't perfect... or the chosen one. It's a story about a sad boy with a LOT of life upheaval looking for ways to cope.

Well done and poignant.

This book had some good writing and characters, but it was way longer than it needed to be.