The Subtle Art of not Giving a F*ck – A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life, is the complete title of the book.
Pages : 224
Genre: Non-Fiction. Self-help.
Available in: Ebook format, Hardcover, Paperback, Audio CD format
The Plot:
‘In life, we have a limited amount of f*cks to give. So you must choose your f*cks wisely’ is the line on the book jacket that caught my eye.
The rough translation of ‘Not giving a f*ck’, according to Author Mark Manson is, learn to focus and prioritize your thoughts effectively – how to pick and choose what matters to you and what does not matter to you based on finely honed personal values.’
Now that sounds good, and something we all would benefit from learning, right? Reason enough to ask my sister to gift me the book.
My Thoughts:
As I began reading this book, I tried to recollect when was the last time I read a self-help book. I couldn’t come up with an answer. For the simple reason that I find all self-help books using the same cookie-cutter philosophy, just worded differently.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck though, with its bright orange cover and the eye-catching title, got my attention. Mark Manson is a ‘star blogger’ and now a published best-selling author, reason enough for my sister to gift it to me.
It starts well. With some refreshing thoughts, ‘Not giving a f*ck does not mean being indifferent; it just means being comfortable about being different’ and a story about Charles Bukowski’s no less.
Manson has done it all, from drugs to depravity, and reformed himself to tell a tale. The book progresses, on a steady downward spiral. Studded with profanity, sharing examples and quotes by known people, and with a sprinkling of Buddhism philosophy, Manson glorifies himself as he goes on and on.
Doing exactly what he rants against, self-help books, by telling us how we are going wrong and what we should do right. An angst-filled rant, to sum it up.
Though the book is funny, in bits scattered far and wide, reading it exhausted me.
Reading it was like being saddled with a drunk friend who babbles away. It is only after you’re rid of him do you realize that all that he said made no sense at all. Share on XSomebody get me a Panadol!
1 * Star to The Subtle Art of not giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
My rating chart;
*Use it as a doorstop.
**Read it if you have nothing better to do.
***You may like it if you like this particular genre.
****Must read!
*****What! You haven’t read it YET?!
Worth showing a dustbin to it! Go for a detox Mayuri…
Need one, Anagha! To think I was so looking forward to reading this book!
Uh oh! That bad. I guess I will give it a miss. Thanks for sharing your review, Mayuri.
Thanks for reading, Rachna.
Hahaha. Oh my God! I can’t stop laughing after knowing what 1* means to you 😛
I have never read a self-help book and because of the hype around this one, I had added it to my Amazon cart only to remove it a the last minute. Thank Goodness! Loved the review, Mayuri 🙂
This is the first time ever that I have given a book a one star rating, Shalini!Thanks for reading:)
well, like you I too was caught by the title, but glad I read your review and rating before picking it up. Not investing on a doorstop.
Such a disappointment, Roma! Thanks for reading.
Oh wow.. What a let down! I was, thankfully waiting for your review before purchasing it myself and have now been saved from wasting my life reading it apparently!! So why ia there so much buzz around it??!
I’ve been on it since past few months now. And unable to get past a few chapters. After reading your review, I found myself saying, okay I’m not the only one who’s suffering to read this book which is being appreciated so much!
Your tweet said it all, Mayuri! Perfectly summed up! 🙂
This book was on my radar for the same reasons it interested you. But I see your point, so I am glad I read this review. I’m going to give this a miss.
Aww, that’s too bad. I read excerpts from the book and wanted it to be my next read. Not about to spend money to read a drunk rant.
Liberal use of profanity in a book as such puts me off. You must be having loads of patience to have completed reading the book.
Glad that I read this review because I was intrigued to catch hold of the book after seeing it on my TL many times before!