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You Are Here: A Memoir of Arrival


 
Written By: Wesley Gibson
Customer Rating: Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5   Reviews   Send to a Friend

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Editorial Reviews
Through the past decade, America's most popular TV sitcoms--among them Friends, Seinfeld, and Will & Grace--have cast a spotlight on roommates and neighbors in Manhattan. Now Wesley Gibson tells the true, stranger-than-fiction tale of what really happens when you move to the city that never sleeps. Paired through a roommate service with a stranger named John, Gibson sets out to make his way in the daunting and glorious city of his dreams. Whether he is applying for a series of extremely odd jobs, using his wiles to play the Manhattan real estate game, or recalling the winding path that has made New York his "end of the road," Gibson's keen wit and hilarious insights bring a smile (and perhaps a wince) of recognition to anyone who has ever had to make it on his own in a strange city. What Gibson eventually discovers--in this place where friends are family and family are strangers--is that the invisible bonds that develop between virtual strangers in the city can determine who you are and who you will become .AUTHORBIO: Wesley Gibson is the author of Shelter, a novel. He has taught writing at New York University and the University of Richmond, and currently teaches at Vassar College. He lives in New York City.
Spotlight Customer Reviews

"I'll Have A Gibson"

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
I didn't really think I'd enjoy this book because it was advertised in the New Yorker. Shallow reasoning eh? But anyhow a very good friend gave me a copy of Gibson's book for my birthday and so I felt I had to read it. Well let that be a lesson to me, from now on I will scour the New Yorker looking at all its ads, for this particular book, a cross between a memoir and a novel, turned out to be very good. I could not put it down, even though I had a zillion other things to do. I just kept reading as the day wore on and the sun went down and I had to fumble with the lamp to switch it on without diverting my attention from the page.

I felt I had to know what was happening with John, and what was up with Alan, and what was going to happen to Wesley once the full dimensions of John's illness became obvious. It isn't that the plot is so strong, indeed, hardly anything happens, so don't come to this book looking for Clive Cussler style action. No, it is Gibson's wonderful insight into all the little crazy things we humans do, that make the book so compelling. I feel not so much as that after reading his book I know Wesley Gibson, but rather that through some magical gift of X-ray vision into the heart, he knows me.

I used to live in New York so I'm familiar with the rat race of trying to find somewhere decent to rent. And who hasn't lived through the misery of having someone die on you; even if you aren't in love with them, it still knocks you on your ass. With his love of language and his discernment and humility, Wesley Gibson brings all these things right to the surface, the place where the reader and writer extend hands and touch fingertips.

Don't waste your time

Customer Rating: Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5
Maybe a requirement of reviewing a book is actually finishing it - but I just couldn't get through this one. The book basically details a gay man moving to New York and attempting to make it..... I thought it would be a great book, but I was mistaken. The author's language was obtuse... the phrase: TRYING TOO HARD comes to mind.... I'm sorry Mr. Gibson if I am being unfair - I'll try to finish your next one.

Very touching story of a gay man in New York City

Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
This book is generally good. I liked it and am glad I purchased it new. The problem is that it's almost like Gibson wrote this novel like a session on a psychologist's couch, with every little detail of every person he ever met and everything he ever experienced - without full regard for what the reader would like to hear. There are some details in here I find too graphic and disgusting, such as when he helped a morbidly obese neighbor off a toilet.

The book gets a lot better halfway through, and continues to become more moving through the end. The story of Wesley's roommate John and his eventual death from lung cancer paints a beautiful picture of human frailty and the bonds that exist between us.

I am enraptured of New York City and like to read people's accounts of it. I am also a writer like him. Gibson did not disappoint.


Get over yourself.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5
I read "You Are Here" as a recent vacation read... the cover design alone was inticing. I'm not sure I had an expectation of the book, but I found it to be dull and uninspired. Like the author, I moved to New York right out of college, but a lot of his experiences seemed more whiney and priviledged than pithy or universal. Can't live well in New York at a young age? Join the human race! Most people don't live well at that age. At times he seems grandiose, such as in passages where he talks about being depressed that he isn't a published author yet. Considering that his writing isn't much better than a lot of aspiring writers, his egotism (which may just be poorly expressed irony) detracts from his storytelling.

All in all, "You Are Here" reads like the memoirs of some guy who lucked into a publishing contract. David Sedaris, breathe easy.

Disappointed

Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
I did not find this book as good as other reveiwers made it sound. Most problematic for me was the too frequent use of tortured and cute metaphors and similes. More editing should have been done. Unless you can read "my heart hummingbirded in my chest". . ."I rolled my dewy Coke against my cheek". . ."platters of tuna melt the size of satellite dishes" and many, many more of such passages without a wince, you are better off with David Sedaris or Augusten Burroughs.
Product Details Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780316740845
ISBN: 0316740845
Label: Back Bay Books
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2004-01
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Studio: Back Bay Books

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