Out East: Memoir of a Montauk Summer by John Glynn

When I got a copy of this, I anticipated a nonfiction version of THE BEACH crossed with CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. Some of the other advanced reviews made me a little cautious, as they were leaning towards the negative side, but they seemed to be written by older individuals; I hoped that, being a millennial like the author, his experience would resonate with me more, and perhaps I would enjoy the book more than the people who didn't.

The problem with OUT EAST is that it is written by someone who seems to think that their life is terribly interesting, when it terribly isn't. This is all about the shared house John Glynn got with a bunch of other young people in Montauk, and his coming of age and then coming out, as he ends up falling in love with one of the other people he's rooming with. It could have been really good, but some people are good story-tellers and some people aren't. Glynn seems to be one of the later. I ended up skimming the last 150 pages pretty hard because it became intolerable.

I'm sorry to give this such a low rating, since I do hate to bash advanced reader copies (contrary to what some might believe), but I didn't find this good at all and really can't honestly rate it anything higher than a 1.5, tops. It's hard to rate memoirs because they feel so much more personal than ordinary books. But once the book is out for public consumption and out of the hands of the author, it becomes a product, and should be reviewed as such.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review! 

1 to 1.5 out of 5 stars