Half Empty - Hardcover

Rakoff, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385525249 ISBN 13: 9780385525244

Publisher: Doubleday, 2010

Synopsis

The inimitably witty David Rakoff, New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Get Too Comfortable, defends the commonsensical notion that you should always assume the worst, because you’ll never be disappointed.

In this deeply funny (and, no kidding, wise and poignant) book, Rakoff examines the realities of our sunny,  gosh­ everyone-can-be-a-star contemporary culture and 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.

The book ranges from the personal to the universal, combining stories from Rakoff’s reporting and accounts of his own 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 perfect 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 flickered with rats in a feeding frenzy. He also weaves in his usual brand Oscar Wilde–worthy cultural criticism (the tragedy of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, for instance).

Whether he’s lacerating the musical Rent for its cutesy depic­tion of AIDS or dealing with personal tragedy, his sharp obser­vations and humorist’s flair for the absurd will have you positively reveling in the power of negativity.

About this title

About the Authors

David Rakoff is the author of the books Fraud and Don't Get Too Comfortable. A two-time recipient of the Lambda Literary Award, he is a regular contributor to Public Radio International's This American Life. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, Wired, Salon, GQ, Outside, Gourmet, Vogue, Slate, Harper's Bazaar, and the New York Observer, among other publications, and has been included in Da Capo's Best Music Writing, The Best American Travel Writing as well as The Best American Non-Required Reading. He can be seen in the movies Capote (fleetingly), Strangers with Candy (fleetingly; mutely), and, most recently, he adapted the screenplay for and starred in Joachim Back's film The New Tenants, which won the 2010 Oscar for Best Live Action Short.

DAVID RAKOFF is the author of the New York Times bestselling Don’t Get Too Comfortable and Fraud. He is a writer at large for GQ, regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine, and frequent guest on This American Life.

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385525249
• ISBN 13: 9780385525244
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224