Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I like your take on it. I hope Nasreen made a fortune from it too. ;)

Awesome review! I as well loved the narrative (except the diversion into all the train, Lawrence, Gaiwan nonsense).... but what the hell is he hiding and why didn't he act sooner? He called the cops? What a whimp. Of course the best revenge is he's gonna make much more on this book than everything else he's written put together and Nasreen will go on with her life in ruins. Again, great review Petite.

I fully agree with your comment - very shady. Much of the story, as told in this memoir, is inconsistent and deceptive. It is also intriguing that none of the other people involved - members of the writing class, etc., - have gone public. There is something hidden, and a sense of unease, about the whole story.

You really called this one. I was once involved in a situation like this. "Stalker and "terrorist" are words that frequently get tossed around by a coward who is ducking someone that has a legitimate grievance with them.

La Petite Américaine wrote: "There's no such thing as a crazy woman, there are only men who make her so.
That's why when a guy tells me his ex was "crazy," I dismiss him as an undatable bastard"
While I don't disagree with your review, this comment is just silly. Women can have mental disabilities. The female half of the species is not immune.

David wrote: "La Petite Américaine wrote: "There's no such thing as a crazy woman, there are only men who make her so.
That's why when a guy tells me his ex was "crazy," I dismiss him as an undatable bastard"
Wh..."

So women should assume that guys are all truthful when they say their exes are crazy? That all of their exes have mental problems? K.

No. I'm just saying the statement "there is no such thing as a cray woman, there are only men who make her so" is absurd. And it's silly stuff like this that helps idiots misunderstand what feminism is.

Oh come on. It depends how seriously you take that kind of comment.

I have to agree with Petite that when a guy calls an ex "crazy" sends up red flags. It's not mental illness is foreign to women, but there's a huge difference between "my ex was so crazy" and "My ex was diagnosed with schizophrenia/depression/bipolar disorder/social anxiety disorder/what have you, and the relationship was very difficult." My boyfriend did have an ex who was diagnosed with a mood disorder, for which she was prescribed medicine that she did not take, but never once has my boyfriend call her "crazy" or make her out to be some horrible, unlikeable, unreasonable person (although I'm sure at times her behavior seemed that way).

Also, I gotta say that in my experience, most of the "idiots" who "misunderstand" feminism do so wholeheartedly & willfully.

Agreed.

I really like how you put it, that men in powerful positions , especially over younger women don't "fall victim" to anything. I think we could almost expand that to include all men, especially those in powerful positions.

It would seem that way...

I have written a long and critical review of "Give Me Everything", where I offer a revisionist standpoint, and suggest that what it says should not be accepted at face value.

The review article has been accepted by LitArt Magazine (a new online magazine), and I hope it will soon appear in their first issue:



I benefited a lot from the insights of La Petite Americaine, and I quote her writings, from Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, in the review.

But assessing this memoir is a fascinating case, and I think I could write three or four lengthy articles about the issues, and the reception of this work, and also - what exactly was James Lasdun doing during the period he writes about? If you look closely at "Give Me Everything" it is very light on detail.

This is a link to my review article about "Give Me Everything You Have." Published in LitArt, a literary, new little magazine.

Read a revisionist view on James Lasdun.

I benefited a lot from the insights of La Petite Americaine, and she is quoted in this article.

The ability to challenge oneself and radically change one's opinion is the sign of avery fine mind, La Petite!
I'm really interested in the comments under your review about crazy ex's. When one goes through a messy break up one relies on ones good friends to listen patiently to one droning on about how ones ex is literally Hanibal Lector and say "the bastard" every five minutes in the short term, whilst trusting them in the long term to dismiss everything you are saying as the ravings of a lunatic (because that is precisely what you are when temporarily trapped in those extreme emotions). If someone had allowed me to write down what I said about my ex and send it to him in an e-mail I'd have been quite rightly sectioned and the poor man would have been terrified out of his wits. One wonders if Nasreen had, had a decent confidante and 24 hour delay button on her e-mail she might have saved poor old James a lot of angst

Dr wrote: "he ability to challenge oneself and radically change one's opinion is the sign of avery fine mind, La Petite!
I'm really interested in the comments under your review about crazy ex's. When one goe..."

There were a lot of ways that things could have gone differently, but here we are...

Afarin wrote: "This is probably Irene, his agent writing this crap. I trolled him with the truth again -- my book. His is dishonest and misogynistic and Islamophobic. ."

Christ, here we go again...

If this is who I think it is: I'm not a literary agent. And I had a review up here for 4+ years siding with you -- you should have read it when you had the chance. I pulled it down because:

a) it brought more scary/psychotic freakshows out of the woodwork than any other review I've written, which not only scared the crap out of me but also had me doing a complete 180 and totally empathizing with the author's experience;

b) when I reread the review, I realized what a jerk I'd been to the author. I was totally mean, and not being able to accept his version of events said *way* more about me than it did about him;

c) the guy is a fucking amazing writer - we can debate the book all we want, but you can't argue with the fact that he's a goddamned great writer. Whatever. The writing and the story should have been the focus of my review from the beginning, esp. when I knew inside that I was reviewing my own experience and not the book itself.

If you are who you say you are: let it go...this isn't helping you.

Juliet wrote: "This book is offensive. Who are you kidding, Irene? lol"

I think I'm entitled to half of this Irene woman's salary for the bs I have to put up with...irritating.

Juliet wrote: "if you read the woman's book you'd understand. why are you whining? no one's doing anything to you. You're a misogynist."

You're aware that anytime you comment here, you push my review up in the rankings, right?

Thanks for the boost.

Juliet wrote: "if you read the woman's book you'd understand. why are you whining? no one's doing anything to you. You're a misogynist."

Also, I say right in my profile, if you're an author, don't use my comment threads to advertise your books.

I've deleted her comment. If she wants me to read and review her book and garner some attention that way, she can contact me via GR and ask, same as everyone else.

Juliet wrote: "you're a psycho."

Don't advertise books on my comment thread. Thx.

Juliet wrote: "Ok IRENE"

Hahah, I don't know who you are, but every comment you leave here not only pushes my review up higher in the rankings, but sends my hundreds of followers an update, linking them to my review.

But you don't want to bring more attention to Lasdun's book, right?

Lol, get a job, Juliet.

Afarin wrote: "And so do you. Enjoy "your ratings." Get a life, Irene (I don't even know who Irene is but you deleted Afarin Majidi's hilarious comment because you are somehow connected to this author)."

Yeah, this crazy bs you're pulling on my thread = you're just confirming Lasdun's account of events.

Yay! They're gone.
Well, that was pleasant.
Christ.
Happy Friday, everyone.