Sean Tilley reviewed The Game by Neil Strauss
Narcissistic Trash
1 star
I'm honestly not sure what this book wants to be - it attempts to combine a tell-all expose with an instruction manual with random musings on women, sex, and psychology. It also clumsily attempts to shoehorn in a Hollywood love story.
This book focuses on the underground world of pickup artists, or more specifically, online communities and workshops started by them. Some parts of the book are legitimately interesting - for example, the background on how these kinds of communities come to be, and why men are so driven to be a part of them, were actually somewhat insightful. Sadly, these more interesting notes get lost in a self-obsessed narrative about a protagonist trying to hone his craft and be so mindbendingly awesome that the perfect woman will find him.
Though there are moments of self-awareness, the book seems to lose those moments of lucidity quickly in the pursuit of …
I'm honestly not sure what this book wants to be - it attempts to combine a tell-all expose with an instruction manual with random musings on women, sex, and psychology. It also clumsily attempts to shoehorn in a Hollywood love story.
This book focuses on the underground world of pickup artists, or more specifically, online communities and workshops started by them. Some parts of the book are legitimately interesting - for example, the background on how these kinds of communities come to be, and why men are so driven to be a part of them, were actually somewhat insightful. Sadly, these more interesting notes get lost in a self-obsessed narrative about a protagonist trying to hone his craft and be so mindbendingly awesome that the perfect woman will find him.
Though there are moments of self-awareness, the book seems to lose those moments of lucidity quickly in the pursuit of pretentious bravado. It's noxious and tends to liken people, specifically women, to basic computers that can be hacked with simple exploits.