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Goat: A Memoir Hardcover – February 3, 2004

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Brad Land (Author)
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Brad Land (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars 83 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (February 3, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400060931
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400060931
  • Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,377,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA good, hard read.
By A Customer on February 29, 2004
Format: Hardcover
I read Goat reluctantly, not wanting to keep going through the awful moments with the author, not wanting to see any more ugliness in the world than I do already, and not wanting to feel that there would never be any easy answer to the questions I encountered here. Yet I couldn't put it down. It doesn't surprise me that other people submitting reviews reject this story--it's a truth too hard to swallow for too many Americans. The violence, and maybe more importantly, the gang mentality of this book are the elephants in the room that no one wants to talk about. It's the truth made into art, and it's a beautiful, haunting, disturbing read. For any thinking person who doesn't seek to see his or her own experience reflected back as if in a self-designed mirror, it's the kind of book that makes you look back on your own comeuppance, and note the various fears and desires that motivated your own behavior, your own life path. It's an essential contribution to the public conversation about where we are as a nation, and how we got here. It's not so much about fraternity as about humanity, and if the exposure that this book gets is centered only on the unfavorable portrait it paints of certain campus organizations, then we are all flightless birds with our heads in the sand.
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3.0 out of 5 starsVery Unclear
By B. Wolinsky on October 16, 2012
Format: Paperback
My problem with GOAT is that it's almost impossible to follow what's going on. He tries to "wax poetic" in his writing, but he just makes everything more arduous to read. The part where he encounters the "stranger" at the party is not told clearly, so I couldn't picture what things looked like. He doesn't make any real effort to describe the people; did they look like wretched white trash, or were they sharply-dressed? Were they white or black? In his town, were people usually wary of giving rides to strangers?

Despite the uncomfortable writing, I can sympathize with the author. He younger brother is the socially successful one, and the scene where the girl tells him to his face "you're boring" and goes into the tent to have sex with his brother (and another girl) sums everything up. His self-esteem is already low when the "incident" happens. Perhaps he was so used to being second-fiddle to his brother that he'd developed a servant's mentality. Maybe that's why he felt obligated to give those two strangers a ride?

After what he'd been through, I figured he'd be turned off by the fraternity hazing, but I was wrong about that too. This guy takes it all for too long. I was getting sick of this guy; he's approaching "loser" status because he keeps trying to follow in his brother's footsteps to try and beat him. He doesn't seek out his own abilities to develope them.

GOAT is not so much about violence as it is about sadomasochism.
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3.0 out of 5 starssome of it is pretty far fetched
By RGA on April 13, 2015
Format: Audio CD Verified Purchase
It is an acclaimed novel but I did not find it that interesting. It was kind of slow and both of the main characters were really weird. Although it is taunted as a true story, some of it is pretty far fetched.
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3.0 out of 5 starsSometimes less is less
By Edward Aycock on March 23, 2004
Format: Hardcover
Being from an area of the country where campus frat life isn't quite as revered as it is in the South or the Midwest, Goat was a view into a different world. Goat is a subjective work, and it's obvious that frat life is not the area Brad Land should have focused so much of his attention on while in school. But then, Brad Land probably shouldn't have done a lot of things.
Some have criticized this book for the spare, faux hipster style. I didn't have a problem with that as its very apparent that Land is a true writer and I will chalk up the moments that seem a bit too flowery and overwritten to his youth. What I criticize is that we don't know enough about Land. After reading this book, my only thought was, "This kid's a nut." I wish he could have maybe put his life into some bigger perspective. Just learning that he was severely beaten and then obsessively tried to join a frat wasn't enough for me to figure out who Land is. We only know this kid from his present, no real background, no past and it makes it hard to picture him as a fully-rounded person. Doesn't he have any other thoughts in his head? Also, why he would willingly put himself through such torture as fraternity hazing after his experience being kidnapped and beaten just smacks of masochism. Of course, that seems to be the central question that never really gets answered. (...)
I think Land's talents would best be suited to other types of prose, and to that end, I look forward to seeing his talents producing good fiction in the future.
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3.0 out of 5 starsa tepid disappointment
By telefunken on March 19, 2004
Format: Hardcover
I had been reading great reviews of this book for a few weeks before it came out and had a lot of interest in reading it.I was predisposed to like it, but I found it surprisingly lukewarm, tedious, and ultimately kind of irritating. The first section, dealing with the carjacking and assault, is very well done and moves right along, Land's minimalist, stream-of-consciousness style serving the story well. After this, though, the book essentially chronicles this young man's descent into a severe, anhedonic depression and a form of obsessive-compulsive
disorder. He elected to go to college and pledge a frat where he underwent the usual boneheaded initiation stuff, and yes any alert reader can easily draw a parallel between the initiation ordeal and his earlier assault, but I have a feeling Mr. Land would have been just as depressed and traumatized by almost anything he undertook at that point in his life. I mean, the frat stuff just ain't that bad. The author laments that he has to eat breakfast with his pledge brothers for a whole week. The frat jerks yell in his ear. They threaten to hit him with a football. He has to fetch one of the frat boys an egg roll, and then, sob, the guy doesn't even eat it! Sunlight coming in a window depresses Mr. Land. A teacher's cologne makes him "wince". The smell of the frat house makes him "scrunch his nose." His body "quivers" when his car goes over a bump. "It hurts to look at things." "The air hurts." Get the picture? This guy is monumentally depressed and as fragile as an eggshell. (And as an aside, it's not just the author. His fellow pledge brothers all seem like exquisitely delicate little hothouse flowers.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

Quick read but I never cared about any of the characters
Won't re-read

Published 2 months ago by Jonell Kehias
5.0 out of 5 starsWorth a read for sure!

Wonderful honest, easy to read memoir, with some pretty scary scenes, and honesty about how life can turn into crap on a dime.

Published 12 months ago by Donald Jans author of Freaks I've Met
3.0 out of 5 starsOK Read -Hard to follow

Goat is a memoir about the author Brad Land who goes through a horrible experience getting robbed and beat up to pledging at a fraternity. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Lizzie
2.0 out of 5 starsReview of Land's Goat

I saw another reviewer describe this as a tepid. That's spot on. There's nothing objectionable about this work; it's just a dull entry into the teen memoir genre. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Ryan Mease
4.0 out of 5 starsI judged this book by it's cover ...

I found this book at a library book sale. We all know the old saying of not judging a book by it's cover, but I did just that with this book. Read more

Published on May 13, 2013 by Harrybear's Mom
5.0 out of 5 starsIncredibly compelling read

I read this book in one sitting. The story, as rendered by this very talented author, is really compelling, and the sparse, fragmented, style adroitly compliments the... Read more

Published on November 28, 2010 by J. Michael
1.0 out of 5 starsArrested Development In Fratland

This review is not meant to dismiss the author's horrible episode at the beginning of his memoir. He's lucky that someone didn't find him dead on the side of the road. Also, Mr. Read more

Published on November 3, 2010 by Franklin the Mouse
2.0 out of 5 starsStyle over substance

As a former fraternity member, this did nothing to capture the essence of fraternity life, or hazing for that matter. Read more

Published on August 7, 2010 by swimcharlieswim
4.0 out of 5 starsMoving story

Based on these reviews it appears this is a book you either you love or hate. Well I loved it. Brad's voice is clear and I personally love the stream-of-consciousness style of his... Read more

Published on July 17, 2010 by F. Richards
3.0 out of 5 starsAlienation, Violence, and the Modern American Young Man

Usually, whether you enjoy a memoir depends largely upon whether you like the memoirist. Goat, however, presents the reader with a unique dilemma--Land portrays himself as so... Read more

Published on December 26, 2009 by James R. Gilligan

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