On My Night Table

I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL BY TUCKER MAX

“I am a bad person. At 21, I was possibly the worst person in existence.  I had no regard for the feelings of others.  I was narcissistic and self-absorbed to the point of psychotic delusion, and I saw other people only as a means to my happiness and not as humans worthy or respect and consideration.  I have no excuse for what I did; it was wrong and I regret it.  Even though I normally revel in my outlandish behavior, sometimes even I cross the line, and this is one of those situations...but of course I’m still going to write about it.”

Tucker Max

This book is a bunch of fairly repetitive stories about a guy getting wasted, getting laid and being an asshole. I was interested in reading this because I don’t know anyone like this but it seems like there are a lot of them in the world. Almost all of the stories involve him having sex with women he’s said really horrible things to either before or after the act.  Also: expect lots of body fluids.

Most of these stories didn’t ring true for me and the author says they’re true but they’re the kinds of stories that can’t really be fact checked. That being said, I never lost interest and kept turning the pages. I even snickered a couple times.

I think what interested me was the idea that this guy was never anything other than exactly what he was. He didn’t modify his personality for anyone and there is something to be admired about that. There is nothing really to be admired in anything he does. There’s an element of “Well if he can be who he is and get through life, why do so many of us try so hard to change things about ourselves and/or beat ourselves up for the ‘negative’ aspects of our personalities?”

I’m not going to start being a mean drunk or anything but there is an undeniable thread of something almost inspirational running through this book. Although, I think that depends how easily offended one is. Looking at it from a different angle, this book is also the egotistical ranting of an angry, messed-up, lady-hating douchebag. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but if you’re in the mood for Dude-oriented tales of drunken debauchery complete with body fluids and Farrelly-esque gross outs, or you’re just curious what goes on in the mind of a Maxim magazine reader, then check out this book.