Daniel Nayeri

[4.25] This creatively crafted memoir of an incredible boy would have been a 5-star read had this twist-filled story unfolded in a more linear fashion as opposed to what the author admits is a “patchwork text.” But he later notes that a “patchwork text is the shame of a refugee” who often has no family records to peruse and few relatives to consult. I could have lived without the heavy dose of ancient lore in the first quarter of the book. While the contextual links are clear, the tales seemed to needlessly delay the riveting biographical theme. But I quibble. “Everything Sad is Untrue” is an enlightening, heartwarming and occasionally hilarious coming-of-age tale that will stay with me for a long time to come. Are all of the remarkable anecdotes that grace the pages true? Nayeli assures readers that he made every effort to accurately recount his extraordinary life as a boy who was born in Iran and ends up in Oklahoma. But he also reminds us that all of our memories “are dotted with fiction.”… (mere)

I could not get through this. It felt like I was reading someone's rambling diary, not a novel.

My favorite part of the book was when I skipped forward to a random page to see where all this meandering was leading and my eyes fell on these lines:

"Are you still there, reader?
No?
Maybe you've gone and the only eyes are the ones who flipped to this page accidentally. Or you've skipped ahead from someplace in the beginning and missed all the parts that explain me to you--from there to here.
Maybe I'm the patchwork text.
Maybe I deserve to be hit all the time.
Maybe I'm a liar.
Maybe I don't deserve a welcome.
And maybe I never had anything good."

I feel like this passage gives you a pretty good idea of the kind of book this is.

It reminded me of [b:Hokey Pokey|13642591|Hokey Pokey|Jerry Spinelli|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348791506l/13642591._SX50_.jpg|19257831] because on some level I can appreciate that it's weird and experimental and might be fascinating to some readers. But it is most definitely not for me.… (mere)