Thursday, November 15, 2007

Party of One: The Loner's Manifesto - Anneli Rufus

http://www.annelirufus.com/ - This non-fiction book is Rufus's ode to loners - people who choose willingly to live life apart from others. Each chapter is an essay on a different part of our culture and the loners that exist (or are misunderstood to exist) in that realm - including art, literature, crime, and technology. Rufus's collection is in defense of the loner - and often comes across as a little overly superior/defensive in her need to justify her loner existence to the world. As someone who definitely loves being alone - and often prefers it to "shared" experiences - I was drawn to this book. But, my assumption is that Rufus is basically preaching to the choir - and her only readers are other loners! Any non-loner who reads this book will still think loners are weird. And anyone labeled a loner who doesn't really want to be one will not find any solutions in this book about how to become more socially acceptable. The basic message here is if you like being alone, be alone and embrace it - and recognize that a lot of other brilliant and famous individuals are just like you. But, in the end I think most loners don't really care, we just want people to stop bothering us.

2 comments:

Sara Lynn said...

Ever since I saw this book listed on your goodreads page I have been longing to read it and justify my loner desires. I'm hoping it makes me feel justified in wanting to run away from weekly lunches and BBQs. And then i want my mom and boyfriend to read it so they understand me. Will it do all that?

Sara

annehawk said...

It would hopefully make them see that there are many more out there like you - but they'll still think you're a freak. Lucky for me, both my mom and my husband are also in the loner category :)