Official Review: There and Back There Again by Andrew Alsup

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Samy Lax
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Official Review: There and Back There Again by Andrew Alsup

Post by Samy Lax »

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "There and Back There Again" by Andrew Alsup.]
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2 out of 4 stars
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There and Back There Again, a memoir (of sorts) written by Andrew (Andy) Alsup, is an aggressively emotional collection of short essays that detail the difficult experiences and a handful of happy-cum-funny experiences from Andy’s daily life. The book recounts Andy’s constant struggle with auditory hallucinations, featuring voices that try to manipulate and lure him into doing things he doesn’t want to do. By introducing us to these voices—christened “Chipmunk” due to their squeaky nature—Andy tells us how his fear or lack thereof for them keeps him constantly on the edge. Andy makes it known that his privacy is being destroyed every second through “psychic intrusion.” This leads him to draft a constitutional amendment for privacy, for which he is currently requesting public support.

I can honestly say that there are some really enjoyable essays in this book that made quite an impact on me. One such notable section talked about Edgar Allan Poe’s distinctive style of writing. These essays had me hooked all the way through to the end when it presented the thought process that led to Poe’s creation of the famous poem “Raven.” Actually, Andy keeps us engaged and thoroughly interested when he talks so lovingly about Rudi, Amber, Sasha, and Dummy—his pets. I love the way Andy has written these small essays. He also manages to make us empathize with him when he talks about how he felt harassed by people who make personal “psychic” attacks at him for some of his character traits and how he had to face a hard time from his former colleagues when he quit work for health reasons.

From the way he writes, you can definitely make out that Andy is highly intellectual. He does no lackluster job in showing just how affected he is by the several people and events in his life that got him to be on the guard constantly. He also does extremely well in describing how people never talked to him when they should have and how it’s too late now to sort things out with just talk. I often felt concerned for him, reading of the dangers that he felt surrounded him and wondered what would happen next.

However, I have to say that “characterization” was totally lacking in this book. It was really difficult to identify when Andy was referring to real-life people and when he was referring to those imaginary voices. Also, whom did these voices belong to? Maybe some of these belong to people that he knew from before? Or, are they all unidentifiable? From the author’s blurb, I gather that “the voices belong to real people behaving badly.” But as you read the book, you get confused beyond measure.

I understand that this book is just a compilation of Andy’s thoughts that he wanted to share with the world—and these include some of his most personal opinions and feelings. I really appreciate that. Nevertheless, what the author seems to have missed is that a book needs some coherent thought binding it all together. Most essays from the start of the book just begin and end with Andy expressing his frustration over people and voices—both real and imaginary—that he says are interfering with his life. He could have probably inserted a small introductory paragraph explaining what or whom he was angry with before he started each of these essays.

As an author writing about his life, Andy makes sure that his readers never forget how terrible his life was most of the time. He definitely does succeed in drawing empathy from his readers, but with his incessant swearing, he does get us irritated a lot as well. He also manages to hinder his storytelling with phrases, descriptions, and events being repeated so often that I felt as though I could easily guess what would be the next lines to follow on that page.

While the book shows that a lot of events have contributed to Andy’s distress in life, I cannot ignore the lack of sufficient interesting content in it that would make it appealing to someone who doesn’t know him personally. The unnecessary repetition, the lack of necessary description, and the lack of an understandable sequence of events also affected the overall reading experience. However, the book had minimal grammar and punctuation mistakes, which I appreciate.

Keeping all this in mind, I give this book 2 out of 4 stars. As this is no book for leisure reading, I would recommend it to those who enjoy essay compilations that don’t necessarily have a structure and pertain to random thoughts. However, the book might not be the best choice for someone who likes positive, organized content in their reading material.

******
There and Back There Again
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Post by DathanReeves »

I take it there was an essay about Tolkien or his works given the title? Your review paints Andy as a contemporary Nietzsche, and that makes me curious to read this, even with the flaws you mentioned.
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Post by kandscreeley »

Wow! It definitely sounds like Andy has a lot going on. I'm really not an essay collection type of person, so I think I'll pass on this one. Nevertheless, I do appreciate your information. Sorry that this one wasn't more to your liking.
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Post by Nmesoma »

The review was wonderful and critically examined. I love your writing style
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Post by Anon_Reviewer »

I like books with a clear and well thought out structure so this one gets a no from me. The swearing would also irritate me. Thank you for your review.
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Post by Samy Lax »

DathanReeves wrote: 19 Jun 2018, 23:11 I take it there was an essay about Tolkien or his works given the title? Your review paints Andy as a contemporary Nietzsche, and that makes me curious to read this, even with the flaws you mentioned.
Surprisingly, no. No mention of Tolkien anywhere. It was just about the author's life and a section dedicated to Poe (which I really enjoyed). If you think this book might be up your alley, you should definitely give it a go. Let me know if you like it!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! :wine:
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Post by Itameo »

At first the title didnt call me but hey"dont judge a book by its cover" the reviewer really have done a great job reviewing this book looking forward to adding it to my shelve.
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Samy Lax
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Post by Samy Lax »

kandscreeley wrote: 20 Jun 2018, 07:40 Wow! It definitely sounds like Andy has a lot going on. I'm really not an essay collection type of person, so I think I'll pass on this one. Nevertheless, I do appreciate your information. Sorry that this one wasn't more to your liking.
Yeah, I do understand your choice to stay away from this one. It's not everyone's cup of tea. Sadly, I had a lot of expectations from this one.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! :romance-heartbeating:
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Samy Lax
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Post by Samy Lax »

Nmesoma wrote: 20 Jun 2018, 08:54 The review was wonderful and critically examined. I love your writing style
Thank you for your kind words. You made my Monday! :romance-heartbeating:
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Post by John Makathimo »

This is a great review and quite honest about the author's state of mind as he grapples with oblique characters who are his contemporaries. Despite the flaws reviewed, I will add it to my bookshelf.
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Post by QueMustReadJA »

I have actually started reading a few pages already of There and Back There Again by Andrew Alsup. And thus far it's thought provoking, he certainly pulled me in already with how he talks about the voices he calls "Chipmunks" in his head and the battle he has with them everyday, almost as if he's insane. While reading I say to myself "it looks like am going have to brace myself for this one🧘🙆💆" ahah!, but it's got me. And based on reading the review done by Samy Lax it's seems I'll be locked in till the end. Very interesting book so far and I've only gone a few pages. Now that alone says a lot.
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Post by Anna Maria 86 »

Great review! I've already finished the book to write a review myself, and I think you are being very professional and rather kind. I don't know if I am able to full it off that well, I really didn't like the book. By the way, the part about Poe that you liked, it's because it's an actual Poe's essay about his own writing process. I read it years ago at university, but I am sure it is the same text, simply copied. Double-check that if you want though. Well done for the review!
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Post by SomaKenya »

Great review Sammy Lax. I have to agree with Anna Maria 86, you really did try to be very professional and kind. I encountered a problem though, chapter 14 to 20 was missing. From Chapter 13 you move to chapter 21, did you encounter that yourself or it was the writers writing style to show how dementiated he was as part of his story line?
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