I finished reading Diary of an Oxygen Thief less than two hours ago. I've never shared a book review before but I knew I had to write about this one because it was so good. It was written by a Dutch author who chose to remain anonymous. It has been defined as a cult tale to a misogynist's ruin. It follows his life as he travels from London to the Midwest to Manhattan in pursuit of what seems like love, but could have just as easily been life.
This has been one of the most captivating books I've ever read. The writing isn't bad. The story is more than compelling. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put the book down. I literally finished it in a couple of hours. I couldn't stop reading because I identified with the characters far beyond those in other books I have read. The anonymous author was blatantly honest about many things we experience every day: messy relationship, hectic lives, and the pain of realizing at the very second you think you have LOVE figured out, you couldn't be more painfully wrong.
The novel starts off by quoting, "I liked hurting girls." After the first few pages, I decided the book could have only been written by a jerk with no conscience. (Isn't that what we as females make the majority of the male population out to be?) But that didn't stop me from reading. I loved the book. In all candor, that might say more about the kind of guys I like rather than the book. I typically allow men to disappoint me after falling in love with who I want them to be rather than their true character.
I was seriously enthralled by this book. It was all about a man who has hurt one woman too many. The novel was short, but the unfiltered account of real events was utterly captivating. (I recommend choosing to read it that way so that it makes more sense.) A fiction of this nature would have more logic. The wrongs done to the anonymous author would more substantial. I, as the reader, became trapped inside his paranoid mind as this story went on.
"Hurt people hurt people."
This quote is an old adage. This is how pain patterns get passed on, generation after generation.
I would say that this book is appropriate for mature young adults. Some scenes have high sexual content and violence. The main character is a sociopath. Those who don't have a high level of maturity are not encouraged to read this book.
“Romance has killed more people than Cancer. Ok…maybe not killed but dulled more lives. Removed more hope, sold more medication, caused more tears”
“They say you’re not punished for your sins, you’re punished by them.”
“This, it seems to me, is the most devastating weapon of all in a woman’s arsenal. If you can encourage the man to be himself, to give you his character, his ways, then you know how to navigate him, and therefore, he will never be able to hide from you”
