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Another Bullshit Night In Suck City
A Memoir
by Nick Flynn

Another Bullshit Night In Suck City reviews


9.3

based on 14 reviews
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based on 6 votes
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Official Publisher Site

Critically-acclaimed poet Nick Flynn turns to prose with a look at his own life during his twentysomething years while working at a homeless shelter in Boston, where his path crosses with that of his troubled and estranged father.

W. W. Norton & Company, 288 pages
09/30/2004
$23.95

ISBN: 0393051390

Nonfiction
Biographies & Memoirs

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

San Francisco Chronicle Stephen Elliott

Stunningly beautiful... a near-perfect work of literature.

Library Journal Felicity D. Walsh

Hilarious and heartbreaking by turns, it has been compared Conroy's Stop- Time and David Eggers's Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius but is really in a class by itself. [1 Sep 2004, p.149]

Los Angeles Times Thomas Curwen

Told with energy, critical reflection and sensitivity, [Another Bullshit Night...] is less a memoir than a study of one of America's darker conundrums: homelessness. [10 Oct 2004]

Publishers Weekly

Although it's depressing, the book never seems hopeless, because readers know the author has succeeded at doing what his father only pretended to do: write, and write well. [21 Jun 2004, p.52]

The Spectator Alexander Masters

A remarkable memoir: uneasy, evocative, sometimes funny.

The New York Times Book Review Vendela Vida

A potent, distinctive autobiography.

Village Voice Darren Reidy

However built for payoff the plotline is, Flynn's novelistic sense of emotional distance, omniscient temperament, and grounded prose help us keep our heads above its mucky water.

Booklist Allison Block

Readers of memoirists Frank Conroy and Tobias Wolff will relish Flynn's pungent account of two rudderless souls who navigate their way back into each other's lives. [Aug 2004, p.1891]

Boston Globe Kate Bolick

In place of a straight narrative he builds a spine of interlocking memories and fragments that, for all its gentle overlapping, still pushes the story forward page by page.

Entertainment Weekly Troy Patterson

Unlike the pity parties that too many memoirs have become, ...Suck City has no maudlin gestures, no ''inspirational'' tones, no hysterics; it stares down emptiness with clear, dry eyes.

Houston Chronicle Fritz Lanham

An unsparing, unsentimental, often darkly comic piece of work.

Kirkus Reviews

The voice here is boiled just right: tough, articulate, mindful, without self-pity. [15 Jun 2004, p.566]

Washington Post Michael Mewshaw

Although no autobiography can be accurate in every minute detail and Flynn, an accomplished poet, deserves his license, there's an implicit truth pact with the reader that can't be squared with the holes in this narrative.

The Guardian Christopher Priest

The style of this book is its main achievement. The problem with it is the subject, which no matter how well it is contrived as literary journalism, remains banal, depressing and sordid.

The average user rating for this book is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kate W gave it a9:
A very poetic piece of non-fiction. Commendable, unique stlye. Deep...

gwenn c gave it a10:
a beautiful prose poem disguised as memoir.

Bert N gave it a9:
Very good writing. Keeps reader interested and is very funny, with a good sense of pathos.

Robert S gave it a9:
I appluad Nick Flynn for his fine work and doing what many others only dream of doing. He has in a sense looked his life in the eye and succumbed his fears and humilities into this 341 pg modern classic. In its sometimes hilarious and often brutal nature, this book will leave a lasting impression on anyone who reads it.

Proteus Minimus gave it a9:
This book really hangs with you.

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Another Bullshit Night In Suck City A Memoir by Nick Flynn

Another Bullshit Night In Suck City
A Memoir
by Nick Flynn