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Oh The Glory Of It All
by Sean Wilsey

8.8 based on 17 reviews read critic reviews how did we calculate this? based on 10 votes read user comments rate this book

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• Official Publisher Site

The McSweeney's editor offers a look back upon his childhood among the San Francisco elite.

Penguin, 496 pages
05/19/2005
$25.95

ISBN: 1594200513

Nonfiction
Biographies & Memoirs

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Kirkus Reviews

Honest to a fault, richly veined with indelible images: a monumental piece of work. [1 Apr 2005, p.410]

Publishers Weekly A.J. Jacobs

And yet, when you begin to think of the book as just the tale of a poor-little-richboy, there's one thing that saves it: the writing, which is vivid, detailed, deep and filled with fresh metaphors. [2 May 2005, p.184]

Houston Chronicle John Freeman

Like Dave Eggers' memoir, which it resembles without being derivative, Oh the Glory of It All is a triumph of tone over tribulation. Other young men have perhaps suffered more, but what this book does -- and does brilliantly -- is give us the illusion of being inside Wilsey's head as he experiences this family turmoil.

The New York Times Michiko Kakutani

It's a sprawling kitchen sink of a memoir, stuffed to the gills with seemingly everything the author can remember about his youth and in dire need of some industrial-strength editing, but at the same time, an epic performance: by turns heartfelt, absurd, self-indulgent, self-abasing, silly and genuinely moving.

The New York Times Book Review Francine Prose

To write about the sufferings of the well-to-do imposes a certain set of demands on a writer, and Wilsey rises to the challenge with agility and grace.

Village Voice Chris Tamarri

If the book slips at all, it's in Wilsey's willingness to cast [Dede] in the one-dimensional role of wicked stepmother.

The Observer Geraldine Bedell

Wilsey's writing is so moreish and so accomplished, and the story he has to tell is so urgent and powerfully felt, that you would be very odd not to get lost in it.

Daily Telegraph Christopher Tayler

An affectionately vengeful account of life among the rich and narcissistic, enlivened by emotional honesty and lightly-done 1980s pop-culture nostalgia.

San Francisco Chronicle Oscar Villalon

What Wilsey has written is an engrossing soap opera, not unlike "Dynasty" and "Falcon Crest," which he mentions in comparison to his life. It's a lot more nuanced and thoughtful than those shows, but the story is essentially the same: How does one maneuver among wealthy jackals, and when does the leader of the pack get his?

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Lisa Gabriele

Ridiculously compelling.... There are a few too many details and some frustrating repetition; sometimes Wilsey's memoir is more stew than sauce, but the whole damn thing goes down easy nonetheless. [4 Jun 2005]

Entertainment Weekly Jennifer Reese

Though it's about twice as long as it needs to be... the book soars with Wilsey's cool and damning depiction of [his stepmother].

London Review Of Books Curtis Sittenfeld

The decision to use sources other than his own memory bolsters the book’s credibility; there is a good blend of the urgently personal, the brimming stew of facts and impressions, and the more clinically reported. But Wilsey has sometimes failed to make choices about what not to include – if in doubt, toss it in – and parts of this book come across as self-indulgent.

Daily Telegraph Tom Payne

Admittedly, his memoir has some pleasures.

Boston Globe Maud Newton

Compulsively readable... [but] it amounts to the literary equivalent of reality TV.

Los Angeles Times Thomas Meaney

A story that squanders the author's abundant talent and the reader's patience. [21 May 2005, p.E8]

The Guardian Patrick Gale

Pointlessly long and woefully under-edited.

The Nation Lee Siegel

An account that is more like a spontaneous, unedited private unburdening than a real book meant to be read by other people.

The average user rating for this book is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John R gave it a10:
If edited as some critics contend then there would not be the brilliance that I saw in the book. I could not stop reading. I had never heard of Sean Wilsey before i read the book so I don't know if that helped in really loving the work.

Julie R gave it a9:
Addictive! Takes the notion of the evil stepmother to new heights. Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.

Valerie G gave it an8:
Very well written, though a little tedious at times. Some of the outside sources seemed uneeded and pointless to the storyline. His depiction of his stepmother dede is quite entertaining. The way the story is told makes you feel what the author felt, in other words, a roller coaster of emotions.

Toni E gave it a10:
A talented, wry writer who is convincing in his ability to recall the thoughts of a 5-year-old or a 12-year-old. What might have been a bitter account is tempered by his new-found maturity and self-deprecating wit. What an odyssey! Highly recommended!

Rebecca F gave it a9:
I devoured the book, found it funny, sad, and thought provoking. The only drawback was that Sean Wilsey is at the end of the book not quite old enough (smart enough?) to see life through the eyes of the other main people in the book and also to see how lucky he was in so many ways( opportunities to see the world that others never have), a father who, despite many shortcomings did tell him over and over that he loved him and was proud of him, a mother who obviously loved him despite her wackiness. An older wiser Wilsey might have spent some energy rejoicing all the things he did have instead of what he did not. After all, most of us (maybe even all of us) grow up with flawed parents- people just aren't perfect. Still, I liked Sean Wilsey and I think he is a talented writer- some of the scenes had me roaring with laughter while others brought me to tears. I'd read a sequel.

linda r gave it a7:
I liked the gradual development of the main character into the role of the family scapegoat, then into a real personality problem. However, I miss mature self-reflection, and the intergration of the author with the world around him. While his parents are villians, the world is full of villians. The author seems to miss this fact, and to lack a philosophy for dealing with that.

Steven H gave it a6:
Sean Wilsey definitely knows how to spin a tale, but he's too interested in specifics to see that most of them are unimportant. Wilsey uses the memoir to cast out his personal grievances, but his descriptions become a bit whiny, and you begin to feel sorry for him, whether he wanted your sympathy or not. And it's not a good type of sympathy, either; it's the pitying kind. This book comes across as a way for Wilsey to capture his deceased father's approval, but no one could approve of him after finishing this memoir, not even his father.

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