Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

Suck City Not Bulletproof, But Worth the Trip

In SUCK CITY, Nick Flynn enters a world most of us are content walking past with the drop of a quarter into a cup. This is the world of desperation, of addiction, illness, and despair, the world of Jonathan Flynn, a father whom Nick knows little about. Using obvious narrative skill and free-flowing prose, the story moves between an instropection of and a documentary on Nick's life and its bizarre criss-crossings with his downward-spiral father. Though, clearly, introspection is the stronger attribute, and in this sense Suck City does show a chink in its armor: While Nick takes great pains in recounting Jonathan's life, the details of his own life remain somewhat obscure. His relationship with longtime girlfriend Emily is understated and peripheral, while others (his Pine Street friends, his brother) move in and out of his life at random, leaving us at times to wonder who Nick is, what impact his parents have had on feeling for others. While this book can be bolstered in some places and trimmed elsewhere, Nick achieves an impressive feat nonetheless. He introduces us to Jonathan Flynn, a figure of deceit, an alcoholic, a deadbeat dad and beatdown poet, and shows him for what he truly is: a human being. In turn, Jonathan gives voice to thousands of other human beings who lie at our feet in Suck Cities across the country, revealing their story (or one variation) at last. For this, the read is well worthwhile.

7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Searing, emotional and stunning; this story could be anyone's st

Searing, emotional and stunning; this story could be anyone's story. In
a rare gift the movie adaptation; Being Flynn is just as excellent as
this book which it is drawn from. Flynn writes at times in poetry style
about his smart yet delusional father who came in and out of his life.
His mother who did her best raising 2 boys and ultimately committed
suicide. It's a story we really never want to talk about here in
America where everything is always so wonderful. Yet, until we no
longer have people struggling with depression, living on the streets or
in shelters and spiraling downward; we will always come up short of
being great. This story reminds us of what is necessary as human beings
and that is to be mindful of how we are all are broken in some way.
It's also our responsibility to help each other with our greatest gift
of all; compassion. This story only heightened my compassionate nature,
made me tear-up at times and made me want to simply embrace Nick Flynn
and wish him well. It's simply unforgettable and changed me forever.
Thank you.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great read

Highly enjoyed

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A

Very good read.

Compelling memoir! Looking forward to the film starring Robert DeNiro and Paul Dano

I found this memoir about the writer's homeless, alchoholic father very compelling. Since he's a poet it's written in a style a bit out of the box but i ultimately enjoyed it. I must admit "enjoyed" is a funny word for a book about such a troubling subject !!

Great Read!

This has been one of the most inspirational books I've read in months! This books isn't necessarily happy, but it made sense to me.

For anyone who's ever doubted their grip on reality

Poet Nick Flynn crafts an unflinching portrait of self- doubt in his debut memoir, the story of his accidental relationship with his absentee father. After a misspent youth of making do with substitutes¿other questionable men his mother takes in¿Flynn¿s encounters with his father begin in his 20s while working in a homeless shelter. Now 40, the author braids his past with his father¿s, based on personal observation and the memories of others. The elder Flynn, a poet himself, has spent his life nurturing but one thing, a belief he will write the Great American Novel, even as he descends into alcoholism and homelessness. Set in and around Boston, the story invokes the drama of the sea, Moby Dick and Noah¿s ark without hyperbole, successfully blurring the line between fact and fantasy, a mirror of Flynn¿s reality. Done without hyperbole, even his mother¿s suicide is described bluntly as a ¿palmfull of pills, a gunshot wound, a splintered chair. A nightgown left heavy with blood.¿ Despite the evidence it won¿t end well, Flynn turns to drugs and drinking whenever possible. He drops out of school and skitters on the verge of homelessness himself, living on board a ship for a time. When redemption does come he resists the urge to offer up easy answers, instead pulling aside the thin veil that separates he and his father. Rather than label the man¿s painful existence as insanity, something to dismiss, he says, ¿he is constructed entirely of the stories he tells, like the scaffolding around a building still unbuilt.¿ This tale, by contrast, is pitch perfect.

Waaaaay out and very good

I can't but echo what so many other reviewers have said in praising Nick Flynn's account of working with the homeless, including his own father from whom he had been separated from early infancy, and with dealing with the impact of his mother's suicide. A unique contribution to our understanding of what it means to be down and out in contemporary America. But I can tell you that it¿s one heck of a book all-round, the same way McCrae's 'Katzenjammer'is with its downtrodden theme of being abused and taken advantage. I highly recommend this one.

An honest and fascinating book

Most men reading this book will not have a father like Nick's but we can all recognize the difficult relationships that can exist. This book was honest and forthright and interesting. You can't ask for more. Also, you learn a lot about the homeless and the underside of Boston.

Non-fiction written like it's the opposite

I loved this book. I'm normally a very dedicated fiction reader, but this book grabbed me. From the title, to seeing Flynn on the Dennis Miller show, I decided it sounded like an interesting enough TRUE story for me to read. Flynn writes pretty much in the same minimalistic fashion as Palahniuk, Clevenger, and Baer, where the only punctuation is periods and commas, but the story isn't hinged upon perfect prose. If, however, you are a literary snob, you might want to put this down and go re-read Michael Chabon's latest. Flynn tells an interesting story like he would if he were talking right to your face, and manages to get across what he needs to without being too sentimental. A couple times I was sure it was fiction, but only because of my overwhelming enjoyment.

A beautiful weaving of literature and poetry.

This is simply the best book that I've ever read. Perhaps biased by having grown up in the same town at the same time, a fact that allows his imagery to truly come alive for me, I was also blown away by the way every line is so delicately, perfectly constructed. Self depricating without being pitiful, saintly without expecting, or I imagine even accepting recognition, Flynn tells his hugely emotional life story as if it was that of the average Joe. I learned about myself, about my city, and about the world through his eyes. I sincerely hope that he writes more, and soon.

Outstanding

Nick Flynn has written, arguably, the best memoir of the year. Do not be turned away by the hipster title: this book carries weight, while the narrative is punchy and jarring, the prose soars, weightless and atmostpheric. There is a sublimity to the language, and the story he tells with it, that Flynn can call his own. This is not a confessional. It is a radical aporia of a text, bearing witness to the true and often terrifying relationship to the father. Please buy this book and read it, and then give it to many others.

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