Alright, so. I'm a big fan of "One second after", the first book in the series... but I read it in french.
And I believe that changes everything, seeing as I did not like this one. Initiatialy, at least, I got bored and annoyed with the author's writing style. That was very sad, seeing as I loved so much the first book. Turns out, maybe, what I loved was the translator's work.

Finally, after like 15% of this one book, I got into the story. The writing style somehow grew into me, never reaching anywhere close to what the first book represented, but still something I could enjoy. Still, I found it way too much "americanized-patriotism-shoved-down-your-throat" for my liking ; the whole flag raising, anthem singing, and "America is like that" or "America is not like that". For Christ's sake, let's all remember there's no loyalty to have for an invisible, man-made imaginary line. 

Also, Jen, one of the main characters of the first book, is still around. And yet... She never gets to be an active part of this story. No dialogs whatsoever for her, just a few comments in passing from the hero about her... I'm so confused. Write her off, if you don't want to actually write her.

I ended the book with a sour taste in mouth, seeing as it raises a whole lot of questions... and never answers them. I won't spoil, but like... ? Where's the goddamn answer to the question you outright wrote ? Where's the explanation for the mysteries you brought me ? This is deceiving and disappointing.

To end this comment, this book follows the exact same outline as the first book, only with way, way less originality since we've already seen it all in the first. Once again, highly unpleasant for who went in this expecting a new favourite book. However, it was still an OK read, and it was somewhat nice to come back in contact with John, Elisabeth and the other characters... Even if they felt like shadows, ghosts of who they were in the first book.

Toujours incroyablement bien écrit et bouleversant. L'un de ces livres, l'une de ces trilogies qui vous abandonnent avec un grand vide, vous savez ? Sublimissime œuvre d'art de la littérature fantastique.

Toujours aussi spectaculaire. Un livre adapté à tous les âges, et que chacun devrait lire au moins une fois dans sa vie. Une des rares fictions si belles, si bien écrites, qu'elles arrivent à me faire pleurer. Emotionnel à souhait, et intelligemment réalisé.

Une de mes trilogies de jeunesse, que je suis contente de retrouver (au point de ne pas dormir juste pour siffler le livre en une nuit !). Bien que les années aient passé depuis mes premières lectures de ce livre tant aimé, rien n'a changé, il est toujours aussi qualitatif, émotionnel, magnifique. C'est censé être de la lecture de jeunesse, mais ça a toute la profondeur et la gloire littéraire des grands classiques. Ne passez pas votre chemin ; arrêtez-vous dans les royaumes du Nord !

Hard to note this book. First, the writing itself is truly built on some stellar humor. I find myself envious of the author's say with words, and that has to count for something.

HOWEVER, and that is a big one. We do not separate the author from the person, especially when it comes to memoirs, which are all about the person itself. That's where we run into an especially wild amount of just unacceptable things. Yes, this is mostly about the life of a young, uneducated american woman; does not change anything. Here comes, some fine american "braining" : 


"She shared with me that she had had more than thirty sexual partners in her twenty years. Since, at twenty-six, my sex number was three, this caused me to see little cartoon STDs float around her head" here, we see some very unacceptable sex shaming, from someone who made a whole book about her sexual adventures. The problem is not that she's herself aventurous in the bedroom; it's the fucking hypocrisy.


"let’s just say Sheryl Sandberg had some points about the likability of successful women. Also, not unrelated: Nell Scovell, the cowriter of _Lean In_, was a successful female sitcom writer.)" reading this right after Careless People, where I learned who Sheryl Sandberg really is, tells it all. Read these books in this order, you'll get it.


"He told me in kilos, so maybe it was forty, or two hundred, I’m not really sure. The metric system is stupid. But a lot." suffice to say that I have nothing more to add. Americans.

And the worse of it all : 

"It turned out that the Israelis were fresh out of the military, where one of them had flown F-16S [...]
Anyway, wherever in the world you find these ex-soldiers, they’re always up for a good time." nice, we've got a lover of the psychopathic army over here. 
It does not get better later, with more defending of a "two state party" whatever that means in the case of a genocide, or "Israel is the best place on Earth for me", which at this point, makes perfect sense. Though, as we see, it's also the way the author's homeland is built on : " Let me tell you, a couple of people in Hollywood know a couple of people in Israel." No wonder.
 "And … commence death threats. " she also wrote, right after saying some particularly incredibly obnovious thought, and which might still be the most educated part of this very, very american (we all know what I mean) book. 

Finally, as if all of it was not enough, the greatest part is coming.
"A lovely family of five ran our bed-and-breakfast, and the family’s sixteen-year-old daughter seemed interested in starting a little side business that involved procuring one of my thirty- and fortysomething male friends for her own use. Apparently lots of girls in town had these much older international “boyfriends,” who brought their wallets to visit a few times a year."
I'm seeing a whole lot of blaming poor girls having to sell themselves, whole lot of accepting of riches pedophiles free to use and abuse precarious people they, themselves, are creating through capitalism.

Fantastical. As I said, the writing itself is quite nice. The thoughts of the author, unexisting. Which is a confirmed theory, by the way :

"I think that, generally, most of us have a total of about twenty thoughts." also concluded this part, proving my theory that the majority of americans should just NOT be allowed to speak.

I'm giving it a 1, for that writing style. Still feels generous, seeing as the book itself is the most obnoxious, american way of "living" (aka abusing and exploiting) I've ever had the displeasure of seeing.

 

For a book about romance through tension and sarcasm, it's unfortunate that it doesn't pull any of that off at first. Irony and humor are hard things to master—maybe the hardest. This book proves it once again. Romantic tension is also difficult to implement, and I was left hungry for what was promised to me at the beginning.
 
"His second assistant was hot as hell, too." is another example of the issues here. That’s an actual sentence from the book. A whole lot of telling, not much showing.
 
Now, I’m well aware that romance isn’t supposed to be the epitome of literary writing, and that some authors make their revenue from cheap and fast book production. That’s okay! Still, I’ve read others in that category before, and they didn’t leave me suffering from page one. I didn’t initially fall in love with any character—they all seemed to lack substance, like, actual personality. The romance left me as dry as a cornfield in the summer from the moment I opened this book. It’s a flat story with very forgettable characters, presented as a mountainous rollercoaster of vivid personalities.
 
...Or so it felt for the first quarter of the book. After struggling to keep going—because I don’t like abandoning a book—it turns out I really got into it. I ended up binge-reading the rest like a madwoman in one day. By some miracle I cannot explain, the author finally managed to bring out some soft tension between the characters, and I actually ended up wanting to see more of the story.
 

Great book. Highly informative about capitalism and how we're really all controled by a few, sub-humans, psychopathic freaks. Nice writing, although it got a bit complex at times (though it's mostly a personal failure to really get into technology). As always, eat the rich.

Hard to note this book, as it is a short stories collection. Whole lot of different feelings through these readings, cause the stories are all wildly different. From the one page, probable personal throught writing, to the 20 something pages about a depressive, futuristic distopia, there's about everything in here. Principally, turned towards minorities and very against the capitalistic system, which, I mean, power to the author. It's how I came to know about him (through his other book All-Chain Gang-Stars) : very controversial writing, so, very necessary one.
Now, this book pleased me way less. While the first book of the author that I got to read was resolutely feminist, this one presented to me a short story about abortion that seemed to NOT be pro-choice, which, I mean... The opposite of what I expected. I might have understood the story wrong, in which case, my bad, but it left me with a very sour taste in mouth.
Also, a few stories I did not get. One, towards the end, downright bored me ; one, towards at the beginning, as well. That's very personal taste, in no way a global critic. And short stories are always harder on readers, for they don't give you time to acclimate to and learn to love the characters of the story, as there is already another one coming. 
In contrary, the very last short story and a bunch of others got me to fall in love all over again with the author very distinctive writing voice. And with his wild imagination ! For real, that last story was spectacular. Thanks for this one, and for the others which I liked a lot (Friday Black, the retail ones, etc - the anti-conformists ones, all in all !).

I have read this book before, I just reread it and I will read it again in the future. It's that good about putting words to mental health, especially depression and anxiety. I would know ; I'm unfortunately a victim of both.
Highly recommend, whether you suffer from it, or whether you're just curious. It truly is a great read. 
And that's coming from someone who isn't "such a fan", let's put it that way, of self-help books. Believe me : this one's the exception.

Un livre éclairant sur la réalité du capitalisme, ce système qui promeut l'égoïsme et la destruction, notamment à travers le tabac et tous les morts qui l'accompagnent.
Devrait être lu par tous, dès le plus jeune âge.
Je vais arrêter de fumer, je l'espère, pour ne plus être une hypocrite. Merci à l'auteur. C'était une étude sociologique brillante sur une société qui, elle, ne l'est vraiment pas.