Book Review

I've been wanting to write this for some time now so I'm making myself do it right now.  

I'm reading this book called, It Could Be Worst, You Could Be Me by Ariel Leve.  It's essays on how she sees the world.  Most are funny because they are correct. We have a lot in common in many ways.  

One essay is called, I Know You Don't Like Me. Yeah, Leve is pretty direct.  I'm sure she figures life is short, let's get to the point. In this essay she thinks people should just be forthright with their feelings.

She writes, "Think of all the time it would save.  No more lying to get out of a relationship. No more trying to figure out what you may have done to make someone distant or wondering if you're being paranoid.  They wouldn't have to offer a reason.  'I don't like you' is all I need. Knowing where they stand would be enough." I agree with all of this except I'd want a reason.  It doesn't have to be a big reason. But something.  When I was in third grade I was somehow connected to Andrew, a kid in my class.  We'd hold hands as we walked to the lunch room each day. He told me he didn't want to do it anymore because he wanted to be with Christina, another girl in our class.  His reasoning was, she wore a training bra.  Not the best reason but still at least he had a reason, and that made a difference.  One of my biggest pet-peeves is when people make up their mind about me without my input. They can't possibility get it right.  Well, they often do when their thinking is positive but if it is negative, it is no doubt based on misinformation.

One of my favorite essays in the book is about Facebook.  She writes that she joined Facebook under pressure from her friend Sophie.  "'I'm so excited!'" Sophie wrote on her wall. "'Finally!' You'd think I'd gotten engaged."

Leve says Facebook for her, "opens up a whole new world of paranoia.  I always knew I had the potential to alienate people in real life but now I can drive away thousands of people in cyberspace too?"  She writes about her friend Emily who she had been trying to get in contact with. Emily hadn't gotten back to her so Leve assumed she was just busy but then Emily left a status message on her wall saying, "'Emily has just spent eight hours doing nothing and is incredibly bored.'"  Now what?  I'd be hurt too!  I'm as paranoid as Leve.  When I ask someone to be my friend and they don't "friend" me I'm thinking, "what's up with this? She's friends with so and so, what's wrong with me?  Who am I, chopped liver?"  I often end up leaving a message saying "friend me for crying out loud; I'm getting a complex." Usually that does it; we become friends and I'm so happy. :)

She sees FB as a tool to replace email. "Now even texting and phone calls have become a chore.  I'll get through to Madonna before I'll get through to Lisa."  

Facebook does open up an opportunity to find out about the mundane of our friends.  Leve writes, "'Liza is folding laundry.'  I felt so included. God only knows what else I've been missing." I find out a lot about people from their status.

Another essay is about Recycling.  I found this essay especially enlightening.  I had never thought of this..that being childless is a benefit to the environment.  Now I feel better about not having kids.  Leve writes, "Putting fewer people on earth does far more to prevent global warming than buying organic blueberries." She makes a point, so much that I really feel better.  I'm not making trips to soccer games or carting my kids from place to place. I'm not buying non-biodegradable toys, electronic devices or containers. I should get a rebate from the government for my conscientious decision.  Thanks Ariel, I feel so much more superior!

I think I write a lot like Leve but I hold back a lot so I don't offend.  Like the day after my surgery, two ladies from the American Cancer Society came to my room to talk to me about some of the benefits of having cancer; the counseling, literature on the disease and other things that are available to me.  They gave me a cute Teddy Bear too.  I think if Leve got this she'd be thinking about all the germs clinging to this stuffed animal.  She'd be happy for the gesture but disgusted by the contamination collecting on it.  Bringing it to a hospital has to be the worse place.  It crossed my mind but I wouldn't be able to put it in words on my blog...I'd just be thankful for the gesture. :) 


At first I wasn't as impressed with the book but as I got to reading more and more and understanding Leve's personality I loved it.  I highly recommend this book!