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Radio On: A Listener's Diary
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Customer Reviews
Rating:  - Let's be frank...
Here's the long and short of it: Sarah Vowell is a whiney bore, a genius of the obvious who makes it very easy for folks to make fun of the entire NPR culture.
Rating: - Refund Requested
I have read all four of Sarah Vowell's books. I believe that is all of them. I thoroughly enjoyed three of them and would strongly recommend them. With for Radio On, her first book, she seems to be in a different place. Radio On is a diary of Sarah listening to the radio. Although the concept is interesting, the result is a lot of very short entries in which there is little opportunity to develop anything. But the real reason I didn't like Radio On is because of Sarah's perspective at that time. She is a very critical person in this book. Nirvana is the greatest band ever, and The Grateful Dead is worthless. Whether it is music, politics, or a variety of other topics, you get the clear impression that her opinion is right and any others are wrong. Radio On is a very mean and negative view of life and our world. The worst case scenario, though, is someone reads Radio On first and doesn't read Sarah Vowell's other books. That would be huge mistake.
Rating: - This book is great if you like pompous, pretentious, pseudo-intellectuals!
I love "This American Life". I love "The Incredibles". I hate Sarah Vowell. She is rude and mean, and I wonder what gives her the right to think she is so much better than all those mass-cultured, uneducated people she scorns so much. I'm a 20-something, college educated, art-loving female punk musician from New York City (have I impressed you yet, Sarah??), and I am certainly unimpressed by Sarah Vowell's ability to randomly name-drop and brag about the artists, musicians, and authors she likes. Her condescending tone and mundane analyses of life leave much to be desired. All in all, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who actually knows a thing about art, music, or life.
Rating:  - Obviously her first book
Being a great fan of Sarah Vowell's, I have read all of her books. "Radio On" is my least favorite. However, it is her first book, so I cut her some slack for that. It is interesting enough to get through without a struggle, but it does not leave you wanting more, the way her other books do. The book has an interesting premise (it's basically her journal of one year of radio listening), but the format quickly becomes tiring. It makes you think that you could write a book, too. You can tell how young Vowell was when she wrote this, and while I too was a Nirvana fan in the mid-90's, her obsession with the band and Kurt Cobain in particular is distracting and does not add anything to the book. The book seems all the more dated in this era of satellite radio & podcasts. We no longer have to listen to bad radio, and you don't need to read a book about it. Skip this one and buy "Assassination Vacation" instead - Vowell's writing is much wittier and you get a history lesson as a bonus!
Rating:  - Love!
When this book was written, I was in my Junior year in high school, unfortunately I didn't read it until later in life. Reading it though took me wayyyy back to those days and myself as a teenager listening to the radio. I grew up in Chicago, so most of the "journaling" was very reminiscent of those days because most of her entries are while she was living in the Windy City.
If you're a big radio fan like I am, then you'll really love this book. If you're not or can't handle her opinions, then don't read it, or just read it and say you didn't!
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