I will be recommending this to my followers who want to hear the the tales of marriage and writing....

I had very mixed feelings while listening to this book, and I have resisted the urge to look up the author and try to use his biographical info to help crystalize my reactions. Much of the earlier sections called forth an "Oh for God's sake, quit the navel gazing and go work for a living like the rest of us." Then I got a bit annoyed with his lamentations concerning his son's medical conditions. Yes, I understand as much as an outsider can, how devastating it must be to learn of probable life-long limitations for your child, but both the author's son and daughter remain mostly caricatures throughout the book, and I can't help but feel he missed the opportunity to better share their individual natures with us. And while he talked about assuming the role of primary care giver after the birth of both his kids due to his wife's struggles with postpartum depression, I nevertheless felt enormous sympathy for her as he describes his year-in and year-out dedication to finding ways to share his navel gazing with the world. Case in point: he describes at length an eye-opening psilocybin mushroom trip, but I couldn't help but sympathize with the poor dog who was left crated throughout, then dragged on miles-long hikes throughout the coming-down process, while wifey was sent off with the kids to give the wisdom-seeking ponderer peace and quiet. The book wasn't all that brief, and it certainly told me more than I wanted to know about some things but far less about meaningful lessons the author could have gleaned through interactions with actual human beings.

Very honest, very raw - but still made me laugh. While I don't think this one will stay with me for a long time, I definitely enjoyed reading it and would recommend most everyone give it a go!

I received an advanced audio copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy the book by a couple of chapters in but it grew on me and the way the author spoke about grief and death and marriage and the goddamn glorious beauty of it all really spoke to me. There are no answers so live in awe that you are here on this planet experiencing this life with your people exactly the way they are is what I took away from it. It was really beautiful.

✨BOOK REVIEW: Be Brief and Tell Them Everything by Brad Listi✨
Format: audiobook
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading goal: 48/100

I was lucky enough to have a chance to read this book prior to release.

This book was an unexpected joy. I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this book, but was pleasantly surprised. Part memoir, part novel, this book is written as a stream of consciousness. I was given an advance copy of the audiobook, and the stream of consciousness worked perfectly in the format.

The author is a podcaster as well as a writer, and their experience in front of the microphone is certainly evident in his narration.

I related heavily to many themes in the book. The musing that maybe he should exit the rat race and live in the middle of nowhere, perhaps somewhere in Switzerland before concluding it wasn’t practical or realistic. The musing on his passive suicidality and concluding it wasn’t real. The writing and rewriting, essentially looping around to where he started. The angst as he did his best while interviewing a billionaire who didn’t want to play ball and cooperate, and how he knew it would reflect poorly on him despite his best efforts. While we live different lives, the elements felt eerily familiar.

This is a must read!

4.5/5

Be Brief and Tell Them Everything is released 10 May 2022

Thank you to @netgalley for providing me with a copy to review.

(To be shared on Instagram following release)

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but I quite enjoyed the stream of consciousness. Very random and different, but somehow it worked.

I would have predicted that I would have taken a dislike to what is basically a stream-of-consciousness novel, but this worked really well.



Review copy provided by publisher.