![]() ![]() Overall, Diary of an Oxygen Thief is a really interesting autobiographical story which can at times be either very funny, or extremely shocking. It’s all a part of the character and not an actual criticism of the book. Especially when this is a story of a manipulative misogynist. However, since I consider this to be more of a character study of the author rather than just a story told by him, it’s hard to regard this as a negative aspect of the story. The only main criticism for the story I have is that sometimes it can seem rather self-indulgent. Not only with what he has said, but the evident mannerisms that have shown in his writing, even without knowing what his name is. And by the end of the book, you get the sense that you know the narrator extremely well. Because, technically, that’s most of what the story is, until you take into account that it is more of a character study. However with the constant sense of almost certain unreliable narration, a thread of paranoia weaved throughout every page, and rapid jumping forward and backward in time, it becomes much more interesting than just a simple story of a man’s rise and fall. It follows his journey, beginning as a ruthless misogynistic man who takes pleasure in causing psychological damage, until, as he describes early on in the book, receiving the same treatment later on as he finds himself falling for a woman. Moving onto the actual book, the story is a very interesting retelling of a character’s (whether it’s fictional or non-fiction is up to speculation, and part of the interest of the story) struggle with life, and particularly his relationships with particular women. I’m not sure why and I know they say not to judge a book by its cover but there’s something about it I just love. In fact the main reason I picked it up in the first place was because I loved how minimalistic it looked. I think I heard someone mention it once a while ago, but apart from that, I had no idea what it was about or anything else about it. Because of his sense of self-loathing he seems to go through life unworthy of the very air he breathes.ĭiary of an Oxygen Thief quickly became popular from its initial publication in 2006 to 2016 where it was listed on both Amazon and iTunes 20 top selling books.I didn’t really have any expectations for this book whatsoever. The "Oxygen Thief" in the title refers to narrator's low self-esteem. Later, he meets a young, aspiring photographer in New York and falls in love with her. Internally he grapples with paranoia, addiction, and a legacy of pain. After taking a job in the United States, the narrator is confronted externally by the absurdity of corporate America, culture shock, and the conflict of moving from the lower to upper-middle class. ![]() After the narrator starts attending AA meetings, he sobers up and looks back on his past relationships with a measure of remorse. ![]() ![]() Purporting to be an autobiography, Diary of an Oxygen Thief begins with the narrator, an Irish advertising executive living in London, describing the pleasure he used to receive from emotionally abusing women. Diary of an Oxygen Thief was called a "surprise dark-horse Williamsburg best seller" by New York Magazine, referring to the independent art, literature, and music scene in Brooklyn, New York. Diary of an Oxygen Thief is a 2006 Dutch novel, written by Anonymous and published in Amsterdam by NLVI. ![]()
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