Robar En American Apparel (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Kind of like Bukowski for Millennial hipsters. No, Bukowski's minimalism was earnest. Lin is more like a young literary Damien Hurst, whose artistry comes ironically from an explicitly anti-art aesthetic. The art is a presence outside the actual artwork; it's how a young writer with a "good Amazon ranking" can play the system. Kudos to Lin for this teenage-level of artsy irreverence. Beyond the obvious what-am-I-doing-with-my-life thing, observations re the Millennial milieu are few and of little significance. The relationships between characters were extremely superficial--is this a poignant comment about a generation of developmentally-stunted self-promoting tech-obsessed apathetic consumers? Or is it lazy writing? That's the thing about these young 'irreverent' writers. Being a so-called Millennial myself, I'd admit this novella captures something of our general generational lassitude. But as individuals, we are much more complicated than any of the characters here hope to suggest.I will say there were sparse nuggets of promising language-play. There is potential here. But overall, the whole thing read like a parody of itself, that sort of recursive self-conscious thing artists do to absolve themselves from lazy writing: "well it's supposed to be like that, that's the point." Yes, I get it, the story is vapid because Millennials are vapid. But everybody already knows that. Reach.For a much more clever and insightful reading on Millennials and their vapidities, try Adelle Waldman. She's on to something. I felt empty at the end of this book, which I finished in about 2 days. Could've been one day but I started over for some reason.So many people pop into Sam's life and I found it hard to keep track of why/how he is friends with them. I decided that it didn't matter, though. My favorite part in the book was when Tao described Sam seeing a person who was moving sideways like a crab on the street. I am still wondering why Sam wanted to be a marine biologist.It seems as if this story is pretty much just raw and bleak, only showing the true monotony of an average person's life. Well, actually, Sam did some pretty eventful things but it was described through a kind of filter, almost? Not my favorite but glad I read it!
What do You think about Robar En American Apparel (2012)?
After reading this I want to know nothing about Tao Lin and all that Alt Lit community.
—anna
I felt like the shallowness was supposed to be secretly deep and I just don't get it.
—nicole
This is like a really phenomenal 2 star book. i don't know how else to explain it.
—Lita
It's like this was written to be read on an iPhone. I read it on an iPhone.
—Izzy
made me feel like going out alone to get iced coffee and seaweed salad
—Boggle90
