Customer Reviews

Can't You Get Along With Anyone?: A Writer's Memoir and a Tale of a Lost Surfer's Paradise

5 star:		(119)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

A friend of mine once told me he likes to watch the Grammys because during the course of the night you were guaranteed to witness at least one train wreck.

My response to this was that I don't enjoy watching people make train wrecks of themselves. Just like I don't enjoy watching Siamese twins appear on Geraldo, or Sally Jesse Rafael--if that isn't by now too dated a television reference, or whoever is currently exploiting people like this.

I suppose Mr. Weisbecker should get snaps because the train wreck he's exploiting is himself. But that doesn't make it any less loathsome a reading experience to drag oneself through.

My biggest beef, I suppose, is this: Weisbecker makes a big deal--A REALLY BIG DEAL--about the ins and outs of good writing. Talks a lot about building suspense, carrying the reader along, giving the reader a pay-off at the end. He talks about his obligation to the reader. And yet, when it comes to executing those very things he preaches (in a manner so pompous I can only assume his picture is used to illustrate the entry for "blowhard" in Wikipedia), he completely drops the ball.

About half way through I got sick of his mewling self-pity. About three quarters of the way through I decided to stop reading. At the end, with him curled in a ball, unable to confront his toxic, two-timing lover, I all but threw the book across the room shouting "That's it? That's it, you complete pussy?"

And so okay--I did read it to the end. There were extenuating circumstances, but I did read it to the end. So the author wins. But, as the saying goes: fool me twice, shame on me. I don't anticipate reading another work by someone whose book made me want to take a shower when I was done.

I pre-ordered and read the UK version of this book when it came out a year ago. At the time, my son was 8 months old and teething, & let's just say that I hadn't had much real sleep in those last 8 months (or the year since)...sleep is a rather precious commodity in my world, & I had only stopped short of prying my eyes open with toothpicks to finish this damn book! I can't even remember the last book I read that had that effect on me.

I have very little in common with Allan. I've never surfed, run drugs, dealt with Hollywood types, or even had anyone hire someone to kill me, but I completely identified with him as I read his memoir. Allan took me on a brutal journey through the truth of his life. I felt his pain when I read it, I felt like I was there with him, and wished I could do something to help. His unrelenting pursuit of truth, despite what it costs him, amazes me and has earned my respect. I wish I had the (figurative) balls to be that dogged.

This book has Allan's heart, soul and guts poured into it. You'll love it, and you won't be the same after you read it. It will beat the crap out of you, make you think and you'll still be laughing throughout. Allan truly has a gift and this book is tangible proof.

Buy this book, and get to know an honest, funny and real person. It will move you and you will not regret it.

Everything I thought about this book has been stated in the reviews above. I read and enjoyed "Capt. Zero", but this book is horrible. I would give it zero stars if Amazon allowed me to give that rating. The only reason that I finished the book was that it was the only reading material that I had on a vacation to Panama. I left it for someone else to "enjoy" at my own "end of the road".

like lots of other people I like ASW. His previous book have been consistently funny and engaging.
so, I was excited when this was out.
But page after page my excitement turned in disgust. This book is just wrong. He's using the book to settle his own scores with arrogance (with his previous publisher, with his expat community in Pavones, with his girlfriend...).
why? How childish of him, trying to circumvent us with the "world global conspiracy" in order to have our empathy.
I just personally feel that the way the book is written it's just unhetical and unfair (can Stecyk reply, can his previous publisher reply?).
I guess I won't wait for his next one... and I doubt there will be a next one anyway.

Allan Weisbecker treats nonfiction as nonfiction. That is, he names names concerning and provides detailed evidence about shady land deals and murder. He describes many sordid events of his life and the lives of people he knows well. His brutally honest approach to writing allows him to ask what writing really is, what integrity really is, and why most people think it's fine to bulls*** each other.
Allan exposes his faults and fears and hopes to his audience more than any other writer I've read. If you want a transparent look at the chaotic and painful, but ultimately rewarding, creative process, please read this book.

If you try to read it when you have other stuff to do, this book will ruin your life.

I ordered it, intending to read it "eventually", and when it came it I was already under the gun with three separate writing deadlines and multiple books the required reading queue.

But I opened the damned thing and COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. It was clear early on that I wasn't going to get anything done until I FINISHED THIS BOOK. So I read it, 500 pages, in less than 72 hours. Keep in mind I'm an ADD case who has trouble sitting through a movie if it's more than two hours.

Weisbecker is a master craftsman - he knows how to keep you wanting more. And thank God he has such an insane life, because once he's created the desire, he fulfills it.

Like his other books, if you don't immediately put it at the top of your recommended list, well, it's probably not gonna work out between us.

I have read all the reviews that others have written about CYGAWA on Amazon. I don't get it. This book wasn't a great read. It was a painful read. I had to force myself to finish the book. It was dark and negative from beginning to end and rarely humorous. His obsession with Lisa was insane. Secret tape recorders and constant questioning and checking up on her got old. Why would anybody stay in such a volatile relationship with such a treacherous woman? I don't get it. I surf and I love my dogs too, but I wouldn't execute my beloved dog because it can't get along with the other dogs. Surely, there was a better solution. No matter how painful it was to execute his pet, and no matter how much it pains him to think about what he did, I have no sympathy for Weisbecker. It was wrong and this book was wrong. I'm not saying it wasn't well written or occasionally interesting or that others should not read it. We can't expect every book we read to be great or wonderful. This book was neither.

Alan!...what happened? As a huge fan of "Captain Zero" i rushed to the book store to pick up your latest and dove into reading it immediately. What I found was completely unrecognizable. With respect, I bored my way through every self obsessed and insecure page to find that you have nothing to say. Stories about your girlfriend cheating on you might be interesting for a few pages, or even a chapter, but for more than half a book??? Sorry, I see that this might sting but I implore you to find the woman who edited Captain Zero and beg her to take you back.

I cant truly say how people have rated this book as having any literary merit. Please dont buy it, go to the library and read a few pages, then imagine the entire book driveling on about the same story and you'll have the idea. As for Alan, I apologize for trashing your book, Captain Zero was phenomenal, by far the best book ever written on surfing adventures. Some people were born to live and some were born to write, not too many are both.

Enjoyed the first two books, but this one was a drag and painful to get through. It needed to be shortened up.

Stunning piece of work. Scales the pinnacles and plumbs the abysses of the human condition with an unblinking eye that misses nothing. The main narrative is gripping, in and of itself, but the undertone examination of good and evil is even more gripping.

Rich, ramified, recondite, with more than just a dash of Solzhenitsyn tossed in for good measure.

Well worthy of multiple reads, and considered pondering.