Reviews for Lads: A Memoir of Manhood

The average rating for Lads: A Memoir of Manhood based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-03-22 00:00:00 Kris Rindahl What it is to figure out adulthood, and in particular, manhood is the subject of Lads. At times tragic, at times searing and honest, at times irreverent and laugh-out-loud funny, Lads chronicles its author's (Dave Itzkoff) time working as an editor's assistant for men's magazines as he navigates the confusing post-baccalaureate terrain after graduating from Princeton. Those who attended Princeton as undergrads will understand the academic context at the start of his hero's journey with all of its attendant expectations for a rosy career path, and his dismay when he realizes he simply doesn't know how the real (working) world works, nor for that matter how the world of relationships works either, and the importance of figuring both out. Not James Joyce's Ulysses, for sure, and not a book I would have picked up at first glance, it is one that surprised me with its depth and poignancy, its honesty and authenticity. Well played, Dave, well played.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-06-28 00:00:00 Robert Garfinkle Tiresome memoir of not particularly much that makes stabs at recognizing the author's own repulsiveness as a human being, but cannot escape the limits of his own behavior. Grasping, judgmental misogynist who seems to have no interest in interacting with women other than as quasi-loathed masturbatory objects. *Every single female character* with the exception of the author's mother and sister and one advertising professional he addresses as a "stupid cunt" is introduced with a description of her breasts. I wish I were exaggerating. Awkward, unliked Lad Mag writer who believes himself above what he produces, while embodying the very worst of it.