[Book Review] The Enthusiast
May. 16th, 2021 01:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sorcyressI recently read Josh Fruhlinger's "The Enthusiast". I really enjoy The Comics Curmudgeon, so it was interesting to get to see that same writer make the jump from snarky nonfiction to...well much less snarky but not zero-snark fiction. This is my attempt at a mostly non-spoilery review.
I thought the premise of the book was amazing. Kate works as an Enthusiasm Consultant, she actively gets enthusiastic for things to help encourage grassroots enthusiasm and joy! It's a love letter to the idea of loving things, and I am really excited to see something so directly designed to be about something I'm into.
My thought midway through was "this is very fluffy" and that remains true. Reading it at the same time I'm working my way through Middlegame is fascinating, since that book is the opposite of fluffy --it's dense and complex and layered. The Enthusiast doesn't really have staggering depths or stunning unexpected twists. What it does have is boatloads of charm --a narrator who is enjoyable to spend time with, warm and lovely and...yes, enthusiastic! I found myself genuinely caring for Kate, hoping that she gets to find joy and security in her life and job, with maybe a kiss or two on the side.
(Honestly, one of the most soap opera-y aspects is the selection of men in the background who _could_ be romancable options for our lead. Who does she wind up with in the long run? Ah, spoilers.)
Basically all the other characters were also fun to experience --there were different personalities, and all were filtered through Kate, but in general everyone was fun to read about. The people in the book felt stunningly _real_, and that's where Josh's nonfiction experience really shines. He has spent well over a decade moderating a bunch of real human people sharing their ideas and enthusiasm and their passions, and that means he's pretty good at knowing what real people are like. I could see myself actually interacting with any of these people, without any sense of unreality at all.
The parallel plots wove in and out of each other excellently, and I loved the slight multimedia aspect of it all --text messages, forum posts, emails all woven into the narrative in a way that felt very natural, without being overwhelmingly epistolary. The final ending was unexpected to me --but really positive! I loved the final chapters, and was interested in the ways the book reconciles them with some of the earlier pieces.
If you like People Being Excited About Stuff and want something fun and quick to read, I highly recommend it. Also, if you like trains, you'll find yourself in the pages --there's...a lot of them in here, which is a great choice for me honestly.
~Sor
MOOP!
Edited to add: If you want to buy it, you can do an ebook on Gumroad or a physical copy from Topatoco!
I thought the premise of the book was amazing. Kate works as an Enthusiasm Consultant, she actively gets enthusiastic for things to help encourage grassroots enthusiasm and joy! It's a love letter to the idea of loving things, and I am really excited to see something so directly designed to be about something I'm into.
My thought midway through was "this is very fluffy" and that remains true. Reading it at the same time I'm working my way through Middlegame is fascinating, since that book is the opposite of fluffy --it's dense and complex and layered. The Enthusiast doesn't really have staggering depths or stunning unexpected twists. What it does have is boatloads of charm --a narrator who is enjoyable to spend time with, warm and lovely and...yes, enthusiastic! I found myself genuinely caring for Kate, hoping that she gets to find joy and security in her life and job, with maybe a kiss or two on the side.
(Honestly, one of the most soap opera-y aspects is the selection of men in the background who _could_ be romancable options for our lead. Who does she wind up with in the long run? Ah, spoilers.)
Basically all the other characters were also fun to experience --there were different personalities, and all were filtered through Kate, but in general everyone was fun to read about. The people in the book felt stunningly _real_, and that's where Josh's nonfiction experience really shines. He has spent well over a decade moderating a bunch of real human people sharing their ideas and enthusiasm and their passions, and that means he's pretty good at knowing what real people are like. I could see myself actually interacting with any of these people, without any sense of unreality at all.
The parallel plots wove in and out of each other excellently, and I loved the slight multimedia aspect of it all --text messages, forum posts, emails all woven into the narrative in a way that felt very natural, without being overwhelmingly epistolary. The final ending was unexpected to me --but really positive! I loved the final chapters, and was interested in the ways the book reconciles them with some of the earlier pieces.
If you like People Being Excited About Stuff and want something fun and quick to read, I highly recommend it. Also, if you like trains, you'll find yourself in the pages --there's...a lot of them in here, which is a great choice for me honestly.
~Sor
MOOP!
Edited to add: If you want to buy it, you can do an ebook on Gumroad or a physical copy from Topatoco!
no subject
on 2021-05-27 06:21 pm (UTC)Oooh, neat! As a semi-professional enthusiast myself, the high concept of an Enthusiasm Consultant is rather cool. I may have to buy this one -- thanks!