Failure: An Autobiography [Hardcover]

Josh Gidding (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1905736215 | ISBN-13: 978-1905736218 | Edition: 1

This witty, provocative, and utterly honest exploration of the personal landscape of failure in a larger philosophical context will change the way readers view their own lives. The author’s own struggles are chronicled, from trying to fit in at his posh prep school, to dealing with his rejection from Harvard, to making peace with his failure as an academic, and betraying his beloved wife after she was diagnosed with cancer. By breaking his silence and examining his own enduring sense of failure, he confronts the terrifying fear of failure—a universal feeling everyone can relate to.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With an eye-catching title and an introductory chapter in which academic and freelance writer Gidding (The Old Girl) promises "a case study, written by the case itself" in failure, this seems at first to be something more than a typical autobiography. But what Gidding actually delivers is an unrelentingly depressing account of his many self-proclaimed failures, each given its own excruciatingly detailed chapter, beginning with "The Failure of My Childhood," in which he bemoans his failure "to have an 'authentic childhood' " growing up in "privileged" Pacific Palisades, Calif. His other self-flagellations include admitting shame at not being admitted into Harvard; arguing that he never published a second novel because the writing and selling was "all too easy"; and halfheartedly claiming that his current "academic mediocrity" is really the stance of an "anti-academic academic." The only bright light in his story is his loving wife, Diane, who puts up with Gidding even as she is dying of cancer. But Gidding's confessional turns from tedious to annoying after he admits to being a "virtual adulterer" during her illness by flirting with an old girlfriend through instant messages, and then blames his actions on the "sexual possibilities" of the Internet. (May)
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Review

"Outing himself as a failure, Gidding outs all of us. But what a pleasure it is."  —Sven Birkerts, Briggs-Copeland Lecturer, Harvard University, and author, The Gutenberg Elegies

"This is that rarest of original productions: a book that opens its heart to us so we may understand our own."  —James R. Kincaid, professor of English, University of Southern California, and coauthor, A History of the African American People by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett and James Kincaid (A Novel)

"Gidding writes with extraordinary wit and style. . . . All should hasten to read this book."  —Peter Stansky, professor of  history, Stanford University, and author,  On or About December 1910: Early Bloomsbury and its Intimate World

"Witty, humorous, insightful, ironic, ingenious, self-indulgent, probing, sad, and always well-written."  —Richard E. Matlak, professor of English, Holy Cross, and author, The Poetry of Relationship: The Wordsworths and Coleridge, 1797-1800

"An extraordinary work, a book for our time and place—it's quintessentially American."  —Jerome McGann, professor of English, University of Virginia, and author, The Scholar's Art: Literary Studies in a Managed World

"This is a brave, large book."  —Peter J. Manning, professor of English, Stony Brook University, and author, Reading Romantics: Texts and Contexts

"Insightful, raw, and at times tortured, forcing readers to contemplate what constitutes failure in their own lives. Recommended."  —Library Journal

"It's so good, it's flirting with greatness."  —The Boston Globe

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 282 pages
• Publisher: Cyan Communications; 1 edition (August 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905736215
• ISBN-13: 978-1905736218
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,607,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He's on to something..., July 9, 2007

By 

Miles Chapin (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Failure: An Autobiography (Hardcover)

This is a very brave work, one that without meaning to speaks for many baby-boomers with privilege, liberal-arts educations, and emotionally distant parents (especially fathers) as companions in their life's journey. Failure is something we don't want to talk about in America, and Gidding lays out his own personal failures - as a husband, son, academic, etc. - as he sees them, with the utmost honesty and an excruciatingly analytical intelligence. In trying to free himself of the burden of his expectations (inherited, self-imposed, and learned) he points the way towards a graceful world of acceptance and forbearance, starting with his own view of himself. There are times when you want to slap him for his self-indugence, but Gidding's wit usually saves the occasion; and there will be tears on your cheek when you read of his love for his late wife, who died prematurely of cancer, and his son. A highly recommended read for anyone who's ever questioned why they should get out of bed in the morning, what to do with their lives, or whether to follow a dream - in short, most of us.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Energy Proust, August 31, 2007

By 

Bob Pisani (Boulder, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Failure: An Autobiography (Hardcover)

This is Proust without the boredom. This book is not only a feat of highly literate emotional precision, which you will see if you read just one chapter, but it is an unstoppable read And after finishing it leaves a spell that, at least for me, has yet to dissipate two days later. Check this book out by reading justa chapter or two, which will likely hook you into finishing the entire book in one day.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Failure Wins, December 20, 2007

By 

Douglas S. Brown (Lake View Terrace, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Failure: An Autobiography (Hardcover)

Failure won my heart. It was hard to put down despite some painful revelations it contained. Josh's voice is the voice of a generation who felt the blues but had no instrument to express it and when they tried, couldn't justify it. He reaches you and you are changed. Josh's honesty is a good journey to take for laughter, grief and winning over failure.