Customer Reviews

Solipsist (Henry Rollins)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In an age where I'd almost given up on honesty and authenticity in writing, a friend introduced me to Hank - and I was amazed. Maybe one or two people on earth are capable of having me in a screaming, raging fury of disgust at one moment, then two lines later can write something that lances straight into the center of my soul and gouges out something that I've been ignoring - or afraid to say - for years.

Henry Rollins speaks with a voice that has been forgotten by most of us. The voice of anger, sorrow, joy, love and murderous hatred... honest and truthful in its own fictional way, consequences be damned.

There are many people who'd tell you he's the Messiah, but in reality, he's just a screwed-up guy with some really good things to say - and the talent required to say them. I have great respect for people like that - and I recommend this book highly. It is, for me, and incredibly profound read.

"I saw the word Solipsist while reading the dictionary in 1993," Rollins writes on the dust jacket to his latest book. "I was living in NYC at the time and the word defined how the city made me feel. I worked on the book in several cities all over the world until 1996. The writing is obsessive and claustrophobic. To be solipsistic is to totally realize the ego and the nightmare of utter self-possession. I went for it and it swallowed me whole." That pretty much sums it up. While Rollins' writing has always been misanthropic, this is his manifesto. Lines like "all you ever did was take and watch yourself in the mirror the whole time" litter the pages. It's tough going at times, but there's an oddly positive undercurrent that tempers much of the negativity that's overshadowed much of his past work. Rollins has turned a corner with this one. As he explores the themes of alienation and self-knowledge, he lets a little more of himself bleed onto the pages than before. The topics of sellouts, fans and critics are also addressed in a much more holistic manner. Rollins seems more at ease with himself and his lot in life. Some have criticized him for being a cartoony punk Celine, but there's more to his writing than that, and it shows through in SOLIPSIST, his most consistent and literate book to date.

when i first read "solipsist" i cried.
yes. i did... i am not some rollins fanatic,but i have to admit that this guy really knows what he is talking about.the way he describes loneliness,pain,humiliation that goes along sometimes with "being real" with women,the alienation that big cities can make you feel...this book sums it all up-in living colour,simple language and gut wrenching honesty.
rollins talks about situations that many of us go through- the need for someone,the sleepless nights after a loved one leaves...
the burning need to know where she is and what she is doing....
but! unlike others,rollins offers different solutions.rollins confronts his fear instead of being over sensitive (although his writing IS very sensitive and intelligent)- rollins offers confrontation instead of fear,long periods of loneliness instead of forced agony in marriage. he does NOT give the easy option.
he tells it like it is:"wonder where your EX is? let me assuer you-she is with someone else".brutal? yes.. but true.
this might not be easy reading,but whenever i was down,whenever i have felt bad about myself-whenever i woke up in the middle of the night- i opened "solipsist".didnt even matter which page ,and started reading.
this book is a MUST for everyone who has ever had a hard time and DIDNT break.
i will close this recommendation with a quote from "solipsist":

AND YOU NEVER FORGET WHAT YOU ARE.

WARRIOR.

I could not stop reading this book but I feel like I am definitely harmed by it all. It is scary and it makes me wonder what is real and what is not. I feel like I am crazy now and worried I won't recover. A-ha, that's Life. Maybe Maybe.

I stopped reading Henry's books after"Now Watch Him Die", which aided my downward spiral into the black hole of depression. Now 5 years and thousands of dollars worth of therapy later, I tentively reached out to the writings of dear old Henry. I came away from this experience with one MAJOR thought(and lots of smaller, yet more important ones). That thought was: I NEVER WANT TO BE FAMOUS. Another thought was, this guy needs some friends. Anyway, a prime book, by one of the greatest "see-ers" of this generation. Somehow, this book was more caustic than past works, but it was not so blatant. Please read this book, then read Henry Miller...

Was not one of his best. Way to much I am alone and I want to sit and stew with it.

I've read four of HR's books and this one was the best. It's edgy enough to keep me coming back for more. Read it with a highlighter and mark the passages that mean something to you. If you've reached a point in life when the walls of your room are better company than those worthless people you once called friends, then this is 100% the book for you. Rollins is not a social isolationist, he's just tired of dealing with the bull and his words have the anger and insightfulness you are looking for. He is a philosopher of true existentialism, though he'd probably kick me in the head for labeling him.

If you've never read any of Hank's books, this one may not be a good place to start. It will either hook you or send you packing. Even for Hank, it's strong medicine, and not pleasant going down. Some of the things written herein I've thought my whole life, but just didn't know it. There are probably half a dozen or dozen passages that had me sitting with my gaping mouth open in disbelief at what was written on the page.

This is not a book to help you identify with any other person. This is a book rife with the alienation and isolation that I'm guessing most people feel on some level. It's not all written from the same point of view, but the theme is the same: The world burns and no one knows you. What you do with that is up to you, it doesn't have to be bad. In fact, maybe it's good that you're alienated from the destructive and weaker elements of human-kind. "I am evolving as they go DEVO".

This book and ROOMANITARIAN are both written in the same vein, and are among my favorites.

By far, Solipsist is Henry's most emotional book. I could not put the book down. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Henry Rollins or interested in reading a scathingly brilliant book!

I have read and enjoyed many of Rollins books, and dont get me wrong I enjoyed this one too! A book that can turn your stomach and pickle you off like this did me, must be an amazing book... Henry Rollins has this way of making you want to hug him and then immediatly kick him. He tells us how he sees the lifeless faces, then pouts in his stained room for hours if not days, he tells how hes lonely and horny and then He tells us to go away. Through every page of this book I found myself wanting to rip out his heart, then mend his heart then maybe rip it out again and start over. hence I realized I must be just like Henry just like myself!