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Other People's Rejection Letters: Relationship Enders, Career Killers, and 150 Other Letters You'll Be Glad You Didn't Receive
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| Part No: | 0307459640 |
| Manufacturer: | Clarkson Potter |
| MFG Part: | |
| Customer Rating: | 3.5 / 5.0 |
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- ISBN13: 9780307459640
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Welcome to the rejection-letter hall of fame, where the hopes and dreams of celebrities (Jimi Hendrix, Andy Warhol, among others) are crushed alongside the aspirations of the rest of us. You’ll find handwritten notes from former lovers, nasty e-mails from would-be bosses, heated texts, crayon scrawlings, and surprising dismissals from Playboy, Disney, even the pope. To unearth this collection, Bill Shapiro searched America’s desk drawers, hard drives, and government files. But what at first seems to be a voyeuristic jaunt through other people’s flops is ultimately a testimony to everyone who has at least tried. And while rejection’s sting is painful, it is not lethal; here, you’ll see that one of the great universals is not only people’s desire for acceptance but also their ability to persevere.
BILL SHAPIRO is the editor in chief of LIFE.com and the former editor of LIFE magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
| The targets of these bad tidings have retained good humor about these episodes | 2010-09-03 | 3 / 5 |
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It's tough to work up a case of schadenfreude at the misfortune of others depicted in this book. That's because most of the missives reveal more about the sender than they do the receivers. The targets of these bad tidings have retained good humor about these episodes. They're in on the joke...which is why they got submitted to this book.
The ones that work the best are the famous rejections - Jimi Hendrix getting booted from the military, a young Andy Warhol getting the brush-off, The Black Sox participants getting blackballed from the game, and Jackie Robinson's stirring, courageous rebuke of President Eisenhower. The more personal notes - usually professional rejection or the termination of a relationship - are worthy of a short chuckle but quickly forgotten. Too bad those comprise about 80% of the book. |
| Huge disappointment - not at all funny | 2010-08-26 | 1 / 5 |
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| I ordered this book expecting that the rejection letters would be funny and entertaining. They're not. Many of them are simply standard, simple rejection letters and I had to wonder, from an editorial standpoint, why many of them were even included. Some of them are mildly entertaining once you know the back story, but the background information is included in the very last section rather than with the letter itself. This is a very disappointing, and not at all amusing, book. |
| Missing one rejection letter | 2010-08-12 | 1 / 5 |
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| This book is missing one rejection letter...the one that should have been from the publishers of this book. Exceedlingly boring, the follow up letters should be WITH the rejection letters, not stuffed in the back. Some letters are very hard to read. The good news is, it look less than 2 hours to read, but certainly NOT worth the cover price. DULL DULL DULL |
| Interesting, but some were hard to see | 2010-07-08 | 3 / 5 |
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| While it's interesting to see some of the more famous rejection letters of the past, some of the prints were difficult to see and others I really wasn't sure who they were or why they were included. And some seemed so bland I wasn't sure if there was something I was missing completely. The majority of the book was enough to make it worth while, but it wasn't the humorous books I had heard it made out to be. |
| Wish There Were More Rejections of High Profile People | 2010-07-05 | 4 / 5 |
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I saw a CNN article that mentioned rejection letters involving Jimi Hendrix, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Andy Warhol, and so I immediately decided I had to have it.
It's a fun book - but you should know that most of the letters are to and from "ordinary" people. Because of that, I agree with another reviewer that you probably need to see it only once. I personally don't feel the need to read someone's personal rejection over and over again. Reading it once confirms that, "Oh yes, we've all been through this." Reading it more than once feels like a waste of time and a tad bit weird. If you buy it - it's one of those things you might take out every few years.
If a larger number of the letters were to or from famous artists and public figures who I admire, it would be a five star. Then, it would be like reading a biography of a bunch of people who you want to learn about.
One more note - this isn't everyone's coffee table book. At least three of the letters I read were uncouth - so it's not something I'd necessarily have on the table with young kids around.
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