Kyle MacDonald, “One Red Paperclip”

This is the story of that guy who took a red paperclip and traded up until he got a house. You know that guy. That guy is like that.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2007, 310 pp.
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 12.25.07
Date finished: 12.26.07
What I liked: Kyle’s story is all about the potential inherent in the smallest things and how powerful people are when they work together. I have to admit I got a little teary in the last two chapters.
What I didn’t like: This book is exploding with awful, awful jokes. And every chapter is punctuated by a page of “dude, no seriously, dude” philosophy. And it’s all written in a stream-of-consciousness style that should have been edited down really heavily. (I was hoping this book was searchable in google books so I could see just how many time he follows up a sentence with “[Noun I was just referring to] is like that.” I know it did occur on two sequential pages, and more times than I cared to keep track of while reading.) I felt like I was living in this man’s head the entire time I was reading, and it was often excruciating.
What I learned: Dudes who do awesome things shouldn’t necessarily write their own stories.