RaveThe Star TribuneReading the book is similar to spending all night talking with a friend, as a conversation of such intimacy may mean you learn more than you want ... Some may criticize Ball\'s response to Levé, as it isn\'t wholly original and lacks some of Levé\'s transgressive power, but perhaps it\'s best to think of this as one side of a conversation, rather than a monologue. And I, for one, wish more memoir were so honest about its influences ... an antidote to a genre that has become overly codified ... Released from the contract of high-stakes tragedy, Ball provides an authentic look at what life is really like and offers the reader a way to encounter life outside the parameters that society, and narrative convention, would impose on it. If everything is equally important, then we must live life moment to moment, as if each portion of our day has the same opportunity for value as any other.
