Half Empty

David Rakoff

Random House Digital, Inc., Sep 6, 2011 - Pessimism - 240 pages

The inimitably witty David Rakoff,This American Lifestalwart and bestselling author, looks at the modern world and his own life in defense of the commonsensical notion that you should always assume the worst.

In this deeply funny memoir, David Rakoff examines his own life and the realities of our sunny, gosh-everyone-can-be-a-star contemporary culture. He finds that, pretty much as a universal rule, the best is not yet to come, adversity will triumph, justice will not be served, and your dreams won't come true. Although David has a long-nurtured abhorrence of "inspirational" memoirs, much of the book recounts his own personal experiences: the moment when being a tiny child no longer meant adults found him charming but instead meant other children found him a fun target; the late evening in Manhattan when he was young and the city seemed to brim with such possibility that the street shimmered in the moonlight — as he drew closer he realized the streets actually shimmered with rats in a feeding frenzy. He also weaves in his brand of acute and Oscar Wilde-worthy cultural criticism (the sad state of the outdated "House of Tomorrow" at Disneyland, for one). It all adds up to proof of the proposition: Always be a pessimist, and you'll never be disappointed.


From the Hardcover edition.

What people are saying

Review: Half Empty

User Review  - Krista - Goodreads

I am venal and glib and too clever by half. My daughter was just involved in the Sears Festival, an adjudicated presentation of youth plays from area high schools, and we showed up on the night that ...

Review: Half Empty

User Review  - Garrett Zecker - Goodreads

At times indicting, and at times heartbreaking, this collection by Rakoff really hit me in the final essay that allowed him the space to explore his own mortality and existence in the face of his ...

About the author

DAVID RAKOFF is the author of theNew York TimesbestsellingDon't Get Too ComfortableandFraud. He is a writer-at-large forGQmagazine, and a regular contributor toThe New York TimesMagazineand Public Radio International'sThis American Life. He has also written forOutside,Vogue,The New York ObserverandSalon.


From the Hardcover edition.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Half Empty
• Author: David Rakoff
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc., 2011
• ISBN: 038567032X, 9780385670326
• Length: 240 pages