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Attempting Normal
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Attempting Normal
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Attempting Normal
Audiobook5 hours

Attempting Normal

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

People make a mess.

Marc Maron was a parent-scarred, angst-filled, drug-dabbling, love-starved comedian who dreamed of a simple life: a wife, a home, a sitcom to call his own. But instead he woke up one day to find himself fired from his radio job, surrounded by feral cats, and emotionally and financially annihilated by a divorce from a woman he thought he loved. He tried to heal his broken heart through whatever means he could find-minor-league hoarding, Viagra addiction, accidental racial profiling, cat fancying, flying airplanes with his mind-but nothing seemed to work. It was only when he was stripped down to nothing that he found his way back.

Attempting Normal is Marc Maron's journey through the wilderness of his own mind, a collection of explosively, painfully, addictively funny stories that add up to a moving tale of hope and hopelessness, of failing, flailing, and finding a way. From standup to television to his outrageously popular podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, Marc has always been a genuine original, a disarmingly honest, intensely smart, brutally open comic who finds wisdom in the strangest places. This is his story of the winding, potholed road from madness and obsession and failure to something like normal, the thrillingly comic journey of a sympathetic f***up who's trying really hard to do better without making a bigger mess. Most of us will relate.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 30, 2013
ISBN9780385363594
Unavailable
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Reviews for Attempting Normal

Rating: 3.950450720720721 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It's both a little comforting and a little frightening that a comic like Marc Maron, whose main interest is neurotically picking himself apart, can connect with so many others. I know I often identify with him, but do many others? Really? It can't be good news for society in general. America needs unthinking, straight-ahead-staring worker bees to keep running efficiently, and such a contingent of self-obsessed worry-warts can't be good for the culture.On the other hand, getting an insight into Maron's mind makes me feel slightly better about my own situation. I'm not that fucked up, right? It seems like I'm doing decent on a mental health level, at least compared to Marc. Maybe I'm on the right track after all.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Comedy is self-deprecating, laughs are the preemptive move of tears. Maybe we are that miserable, but, once again, a good laugh keeps the dullness away.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm a long time listener of Maron's podcast so I was looking forward to the book.As a fan of comedy history, I was hoping he would talk a bit more about his time in comedy. Having listened to him talk at length about his personal life on the podcast, I should have known better.Don't get me wrong, there were moments that were laugh out loud funny, but it just wasn't the book I was hoping for.If you like Marc's personal insights, then I'd say this is definitely the book for you. On the other hand if you want to learn more about his comedy life, I'd say just stick with the podcast.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very funny; great easy read. Fans of his show will really enjoy this.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In order to be good at their craft, comedians need to be observant and introspective - with this book, Marc Maron demonstrates his abilities at both. Courageous, blunt and direct, his essays are filled with a passion and honesty not often found in biographical writing. An interesting read that lets us take a peek inside the mind of a comedian who has been around long enough to witness the many ups and downs of the business.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Comedian Marc Maron's book is broken down into two sections, Attempting and Normal. In "Attempting," Maron writes a compelling autobiographical work discussing his struggles with substance abuse, family life and marriage. But in normal "Normal," he loses steam. Maron either ran out of stories or courage in this second section. These chapters read more like one-off observations and filler rather than a more cohesive whole.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Nice book. Honest, smart and funny. I'm glad
    you're sober. Bless the rest of your journey comedy brother. Peter
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Funny as usual. If you like the podcast, you’ll like this.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Never heard of this guy before picking up the book. Some of the chapters are funny, but some were boring. The author talks about not being fabulously famous, well the reason for this is he is not fabulously funny.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved it, I recognized myself in certain parts, which made me feel both seen and heard. I relished the honesty. Reading it made me proud that I promote his show Maron via thedollop.net. It also made me a little horny. There's your stream-of-consciousness, alphabet soup, heartfelt, five-star review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you like Marc Maron you should love this book, since it's like having a private audience with the comedian. Maron somehow reminds me of a modern day Woody Allen who gets comedy out of his own anguish of both large and small pains in his life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read an advance copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. I had never heard of Attempting Normal's Marc Maron. I was looking forward to "meeting him" through the book but it wasn't what I expected. Silly me thought that a book by a comic would be funny and it's not.What it is is honest, brave, touching, a bit shocking and very insightful. I like that in a book. Like so many comics, Maron has a lot of self doubt, insecurities and poor people skills. He was able to rise above all that and struggle on until his career caught fire and I'm glad it did because this guy does have a gift for seeing what most of us miss or can't express well. Although brash and hard in parts, it is a good read. If I hadn't gone into it believing it would be funny, I would have liked it better.If you haven't heard Maron's delivery, you might react as I did; there may be much I missed because I couldn't add his pacing and general presentation style. But, if that's you too and you want to read an interesting, up front, behind the scenes telling of the life of a comedian on his slow way up, you will like this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    With no frame of reference or previous exposure to Marc Maron, I read an advanced copy of his book and laughed myself silly. I want everyone I know to read this book because it is the funniest laugh out loud memoir I've read in years and I want to spread the endorphins around. Marc Maron is brutally and neurotically honest in examining his life and he has a gift for turning sad and sordid events into funny ones. I bookmarked over a dozen passages to reread because they made me laugh so hard.For the record, I'm female, so parts of the book made me cringe, deeply, but the author gets my respect for having no shame in exposing his most embarrassing moments, which are among some of the funniest in the book. In addition to the laughter, the book is a good read as a memoir, an attempt to understand a crazy life, a cautionary tale of substance abuse, an inspiration for recovery and as encouragement for aspiring artists.I could relate to many chapters in the book, which cover a crazy wide range of topics in a stream of consciousness vein, and marveled that someone finally calls out adorable hummingbirds for the vicious territorial murderers they truly are. Relationships, parents, sex, feral cats, air travel, shrink to fit jeans, clown dunking and near death experiences are just a few of the topics explored, and it would be hard to choose a favorite chapter.Marc Maron is everywhere right now, on the internet, cable and network tv and I wish him well. He has paid his dues and he has a comedic gift. I'll be checking out his podcasts and tv show to offset the endorphin withdrawal, because laughter is the best drug of them all. Thanks to LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program for the book and Mr. Maron for the laughs. I tried really hard to think of a funnier book I've read, and would rate the laughs per page of Attempting Normal alongside Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and J. Maarten Troost's Getting Stoned with the Savages and The Sex Lives of Cannibals.Either that means I have really good taste in humor books or I am as warped as the author, but either way works for me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Marc Maron is a broken man, but he will be the first to share that with you. This book is honest. He knows his flaws, but can't always help himself. There are some laugh out loud moments, but there are far more uncomfortable moments. He is completely neurotic and self absorbed but also totally introspective. I realize that doesn't make much sense, but we humans are complicated people. A good read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I find comedians odd - their comedy is like a barrier that keeps them insulated from their own insecurities, even when the comedy is exactly about their own insecurities. And the barrier is like flypaper, drawing people to them while keeping them at a distance. All of that said, I really enjoyed most of this book. Before I received it, I had watched the first episode of Maron's TV show, and hated it, despite his cat. So I was prepared to hate the book, and to despise Maron, especially after the first way too narcissistic introduction, where he described everything in his garage, as if we cared. We don't even know him yet! But then, "The Situation in My Head," "The First Marriage, "Cats" - I suddenly really got him. He was letting us in, exposing himself, being honest, and writing beautifully.The book felt a little padded by the end, and the chapters were less enjoyable, less well-written, less revealing. Marc Maron would be very hard to live with, or even be around, but he's an entertaining writer. I was glad to have received this book after all.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've followed Maron's career on and off since he was the host of Short Attention Span Theater on Comedy Central in the early 90's. I found him annoying, grating, manic, smart and funny as hell, and someone with whom I would not want to spend any time in person. This book serves to only further cement his status as one of my favorite living comedians, but happy that he's usually on the other side of the country from me. Maron's description of "The Situation in [His] Head" while on an airplane is hilarious and I TOTALLY could see this happening to me. The chapter totally eviscerating John Mackey of Whole Foods is terrific, well, really it's all good. I don't normally recommend comedians' books, but this is one I gladly recommend to anyone with a sense of humor and half a brain.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'd never heard of Marc Maron until last month, when I heard his name four times in one day. First in an ad for his IFC show (which was appealing enough for me to actually DVR it) an appearance on Stern, an ad for an appearance on one of the Late Night talk shows, and a message from LibraryThing that I'd won a copy of his book. So, by the end of that day it felt like we were old buds, high- fiving..This book is good, deep, raw, funny. It's cool being in an interesting person's head, watching how the gears work. I think the book should be called 'Attempting NOT TO BE Normal'- only in that it's clear that a so-called 'normal' life would be the bane of Maron's existence. He's obviously familiar with the Comedian Handbook - he's dark, disturbed, has the dysfunctional family thing going on in spades, the 'shambly' life on the road (a band of drunken pirates), drugs, a coupla hookers, the fear of failure-ALWAYS the fear of failure! and the pretty, tragic girl-women (of all things comedians do not want to EVER be negatively evaluated on, their girlfriend's looks are tied for number one, along with their brand of comedy.Of course, no surprise it isn't going to work out when she's 23 and you're 35! I predict the first comic to date a non-model in his own age group will be revered as 'brave!' and 'fearless!!' possibly even 'a sky diver without a chute! It's the single worst way to be pitied by their drunken-pirate peers, to be with a girl the other comedians wouldn't want to hook up with! lol!) But I also don't think most comics want to be 'happy' in the first place, lest it take the edge off their comedy. They're comfortable being uncomfortable, (emotional 'night owls? Or is that way too corny?) and we love them for the observations they make from that vantage point. A comedian is really a rock star without the band, who just needs that one song.....and probably some Wellbutrin.There are a lot of great observations in the book. Like this:'I know you've probably heard that in show business it can take twenty years to create overnight success but what you don't hear is that that is the exact amount of time it takes to create a bitter failure. You just don't know what it's going to be until the night before.'Or: 'It amazes me that we are all on Twitter and Facebook. By "we" I mean adults. We're adults, right? But emotionally we're a culture of seven-year-olds. Have you ever had that moment when you realize every status update is just a variation on a single request? "Would someone please acknowledge me?" You post it and just wait it out. That first thumbs up appears. Like! Yes. All comments are then read as "We see you, Marc. We love you, Marc. We care that you are there, Marc." Twitter and Facebook are my techno-parents, sating the child in me. But they are not above abusing him.Yesssssssss.I also love the cat thing. Ever since George Costanza and Jerry voiced the opinion 'Guys with cats....... I dunno' I've been patienrtly waiting for a male cat-lover to step forth. Thank you Marc. It's like you jumped without a chute! And Fuwanda? My next cat's name......Read this book if you've got that back-of-the-class, rebel-outlaw thing going on, if you color outside the lines, if you swear on a regular basis, if you march to your own drummer- and even if you don't.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm an established Marc Maron fan for about a year, a regular listener to his podcast for its content as well as for his personality - which is more than a little abrasive, but also so consistently honest and vulnerable that I cared enough to pick up a copy of his new book this month. There are two parts of the book: ATTEMPTING, with essays that reflect on his past work as a comic and failed relationships, and NORMAL, reflections on his current life as a touring comic, TV show star and last-ditch efforts to be a real adult. While I thoroughly enjoyed ATTEMPTING and would give that collection of essays four stars on its own, the meandering NORMAL section felt a lot like a college kid trying to think of strong essay to write the night before its due date. There just wasn't enough of a point for the second half of the book to exist (except for the excellent "Babies" essay), hence the three star rating. But I really do recommend the first half for any Maron fans, and anyone with a passing interesting in comedy and the traumatic emotional anecdotes of others.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received Attempting Normal by Marc Maron through the LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. Previously, I knew very little about Maron, but liked what I saw and thought I'd like to know more about him. This book definitely gives insight into his personality and comedy style and I enjoyed it very much.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I had only a fleeting knowledge of Marc Maron as a comedian. I had seen him a couple of times on late night talk shows, maybe some other stand-up special or comedy show that I only vaguely remember. Thanks to Early Reviewers I got to meet Marc Maron, the author, and because I won the book, I decided to watch a few episodes of his new cable show on IFC eponymously titled "Maron" to see what I was in for. Thus, my limited introduction to Monsieur Maron. The show is funny, in a neuroticly dark way and the memoir is equally insightful, funny and not scared of any topic. The blurb on the cover says that Maron is "a genuine original, a disarmingly honest, intensely smart, brutally open comic who finds wisdom in the strangest places". I flinched in some places but Maron did not and I respect him for that. This is one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was not the sort of book I expected. Generally when I pick up something by a comedian, I expect a lot of observational humor or personal anecdotes told in humorous ways. Attempting Normal has just a bit of both, but more than anything it is Maron reflecting on how he got to where he is and being brutally honest about his life.No topic is off-limits for Maron. He covers his struggles with substance abuse, the dissolution of his two marriages, his troubled childhood, and his love of cats. Most of the stories he relates have an element of humor to them, because I don't think Maron knows how to be anything but funny, but there's an edge to it. It cuts deep. When he's discussing his experiences with prostitutes, you'll laugh, but it'll be an uncomfortable laugh because in the back of your mind you'll be thinking "There but for the grace of God..."I am vaguely familiar with Maron's standup work; I can't say I've followed his career, but when snippets of his acts come up on SiriusXM, I listen and laugh. I'm not at all familiar with his podcast, but I plan to change that. Anyone that can step out of themselves and write an autobiography this scathing is someone that may be worth listening to.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you're a Marc Maron fan, or a WTF fan, you probably don't need this review; just go out and buy the book if you haven't already. If you come to it expecting a collection of breezily amusing essays along the line of recent books like Seriously, I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres or Bossypants by Tina Fey, well, it is and it isn't. There are lots of short chapters, and they are usually comic and observational, but this is sometimes harsher stuff (not to mention that the "F" in WTF figures prominently, as you might expect). Some of the pieces will sound familiar to longtime WTF listeners and fans of Maron's stand-up, anecdotes cast here as essays, but most of it is new and some of it will be enlightening even to those fans. (Full origin stories for his cats, Monkey and LaFonda and Boomer, are given, and there's some new and amusingly queasy stuff about his dad.) People who come to the book without much (or any) previous Maron context, as a comedian or podcaster, will find the same painful issues of many stand-up acts--divorce, parents, airplanes--turned one notch past Observational Humor, then an additional notch to Painful Self-Reflection, sometimes turning it all the way up to Seriously Wise Life Lesson, all without ever pausing at Navel Gazing or Self Pity. He closes the book with the text of his keynote address to the 2011 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, which would seem in a way to cap his long rise to the "normal" promised in the title. However, as other reviewers have noted, he doesn't spend a lot of time on that arc, the critical success and loyal fan base spawned by the podcast, and now the self-titled television series that always eluded him in the past. Perhaps the old Marc Maron would have made that rise (and shoving that rise into his peers' faces) a centerpiece of the book. The Marc Maron his WTF fans now love seems to realize how tenuous his current success is, and how easy it would be to jinx it with anything other than mild acknowledgement and genuine appreciation.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received this book through Goodreads' First Reads program. Be aware before you continue to read this that I quote the book in a few places. I don't think they qualify as spoilers, per se, but they do reflect some of the more philosophical moments in the book.

    The strength of Marc Maron's comedy lies (and has always lain) in the honesty of his stories. He strips back the layers so many comedians use to shield themselves, throwing himself out there for anyone to laugh with or laugh at.

    Maron's latest book, Attempting Normal, transfers his angry, self-deprecating (and occasionally self-abusive) sense of humor to prose. I will admit that while I did not often laugh at the situations presented within (Maron's sense of humor doesn't entirely mesh with mine), there is a certain appealing frankness about the whole thing. Maron splices comedy and pathos, but as absurd as some of the situations may seem, his simple, down-to-earth narration lends an air of credence to them.

    Take, for example, this quote: "I felt like I needed closure. I needed to be punched in the heart with the reality of the situation. That is what emotional connection is to me sometimes. Pain makes me know I am alive. Joy and comfort are awkward and make me want to die. I needed to see in her eyes that she didn't care about me and I had no power over her. Of course, I was hedging my bets. Some part of me hoped we would once again lock into that shared emotional frequency that undeniably connected us. I thought that connection was indelible, no matter what happened between us, even if it was like a tattoo that seemed like the right thing to do at the time but is now just a fading green mistake."

    This resonated with me, likely because I have gone through the same situation. In fact, this is the power inherent in Maron's stories--the fact that we've been there too.

    As someone who is highly invested in the fine arts (theatre, writing, and music in particular), this quote stuck out at me:

    "The point is, maybe I need to re-immerse myself in fine arts. They're magic. It doesn't always work but the good stuff, or at least the stuff that resonates, should engage your heart in a way that can reflect, sate, define, amplify, provoke, or relieve what seems like chaos or confusion in your life. The art allows you to experience it and better understand your own undefined or renegade emotions. Sometimes the art gives you new things to worry about. That's some good art there."

    This, I think, is the core of the fine arts. It allows us to either conceal or confront the issues in our lives in a way that is, for the most part, socially acceptable, and provides a benefit to society.

    These are just a few examples of some rather philosophical moments sprinkled throughout the book; while they may be "deep thoughts", they are always presented in an impressively accessible way.

    Overall, I was impressed with Maron's latest work. While the laughs may be aimed at a different audience, the situations are things we can all relate to, tied together by Maron's expert storytelling ability.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Attempting Normal was a mostly enjoyable read, tarnished occasionally by a crassness of oversharing even beyond Marc’s usual shtick. The post-modern, ego-driven, introspectoholic Marc Maron is on full display across the chapters of his first book. The scared little boy lashing out at the world that many of his fans, of both his stand up and his podcast, have come to love over the years animate the stories from Marc’s past and pull you through the pages of his book, often while you are cringing and shouting “TMI!...Tell me more!”Through all its manic energy and ridiculous “there’s no way that story is true” moments, Marc tries to temper Attempting Normal’s crazy anger with doses of introspection and detached reflection. But these moments come across feeling forced, as if he feels obliged to put them in the book to avoid seeming too much like a selfish asshole. The pattern of Marc’s behavior as he relates it gets repetitive and stale after a while (and this is a short book, imagine if you were married to him). If you’re a regular listener to his podcast but not a big fan of his stand up then you’ve probably heard most of these stories already and they will just come across as tired and whiny. In some of the stories he provides more detail than you will have gleaned from his podcasts, but I wouldn’t say that the extra detail makes them much funnier than they were when he related them on the show. In several cases, all as it relates to his sexual experiences, Marc overshares with a crass frankness that, in my opinion (and I’m no prude), goes past funny and into the realm of gross for grossness’ sake, undermining a story that might have had a funnier conclusion if he had looked for the humor in the situation rather than going for what he thought was a cheap laugh, and missing that mark. I would recommend this book to three groups—die-hard Marc Maron fans (who don’t need my recommendation anyway), casual Marc Maron fans who haven’t heard too much of Marc yet but are intrigued, and general comedy fans who like the damaged-comedian-trying-to-make-sense-of-his-chaotic-life style of comedy. For others, I would say give the book a pass—the whining and oversharing for shock effect undermine what could have been a quality comedy memoir.