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Girl with Glasses: My Optic History
Marissa Walsh's hilarious look at a life behind glass is both a poignant personal journey and a wry, insightful exploration of just what it means to be a glasses-wearing kind of girl.
Being a Girl with Glasses isn't just a style choice; it's a way of life. If you've ever had your specs steam up when walking into a bar, squinted into the sun on the soccer field, or laid eyes on a new haircut only after your locks are strewn across the floor, you know what it's like to be a GWG.
Marissa Walsh has worn glasses since third grade. Now—ten pairs of glasses, one pair of prescription sunglasses, and endless pairs of contacts later—she has fully embraced her four-eyed fate. As she recounts her optic history through the lenses of each pair of glasses—from the Sergio Valentes and the Sally Jessy Raphaels to the pseudo John Lennons and the dreaded health plan specs—at last she found them...the perfect pair.
Peppered with pop culture references and complete with appendixes of resources, classic GWG moments, and helpful tips on finding the right frames for your face, Girl with Glasses will give you reason to commiserate with your short-sighted sisters and celebrate your less-than-perfect vision.
Being a Girl with Glasses isn't just a style choice; it's a way of life. If you've ever had your specs steam up when walking into a bar, squinted into the sun on the soccer field, or laid eyes on a new haircut only after your locks are strewn across the floor, you know what it's like to be a GWG.
Marissa Walsh has worn glasses since third grade. Now—ten pairs of glasses, one pair of prescription sunglasses, and endless pairs of contacts later—she has fully embraced her four-eyed fate. As she recounts her optic history through the lenses of each pair of glasses—from the Sergio Valentes and the Sally Jessy Raphaels to the pseudo John Lennons and the dreaded health plan specs—at last she found them...the perfect pair.
Peppered with pop culture references and complete with appendixes of resources, classic GWG moments, and helpful tips on finding the right frames for your face, Girl with Glasses will give you reason to commiserate with your short-sighted sisters and celebrate your less-than-perfect vision.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
March 9, 2014
OK... Already bailing on this one. I've only listened to about 10 mins of this, but ugghhhhhhhhhh... The reader is TERRIBLE (she sounds like she's reading a commercial for glasses rather than an audiobook) and it was a really dull and random and pointless 10 minutes.
I wear glasses! And contacts! They used to be HARD contacts, but now we have OPTIONS! Where did this "glasses" gene come from? I've only failed one test... my vision test! (ba dum bum!) As a girl with glasses, I was obedient as a child.
Really? I fail to see the connection there... and I don't see the rest of this book really making much more sense than the 10 minutes I just outlined. It's a book about her having glasses.
I have glasses. I can guess. I don't need to spend the next 2 hours hearing her tell me about it.
I wear glasses! And contacts! They used to be HARD contacts, but now we have OPTIONS! Where did this "glasses" gene come from? I've only failed one test... my vision test! (ba dum bum!) As a girl with glasses, I was obedient as a child.
Really? I fail to see the connection there... and I don't see the rest of this book really making much more sense than the 10 minutes I just outlined. It's a book about her having glasses.
I have glasses. I can guess. I don't need to spend the next 2 hours hearing her tell me about it.
September 10, 2008
I love the concept of this book and the moment I found out this book existed I wanted to read it. Unfortunately, it fell short. I was expecting short stories and instead was given briefer versions of what could have been a funny story. Obviously wearing glasses shaped the author’s life and how the style of her glasses reflected her lifestyle and opinions about herself. Unfortunately she failed to string these memories together cohesively. Though she does attempt some order she failed to develop a distinct feel for each section. Also, some of her memories are too specific to appeal to all GWG.
I don’t wish to completely rip this book to shreds. She does hit on some hilarious and universal GWG experiences. Such as a GWG is not naturally a wanderer b/c she needs somewhere to rest her glasses at night, kissing with glasses, and the intimate experience of an eye exam.
Sadly I believe I enjoyed reading this interview more than her book.
I don’t wish to completely rip this book to shreds. She does hit on some hilarious and universal GWG experiences. Such as a GWG is not naturally a wanderer b/c she needs somewhere to rest her glasses at night, kissing with glasses, and the intimate experience of an eye exam.
Sadly I believe I enjoyed reading this interview more than her book.
January 24, 2016
"Girl with Glasses" was not meant to be read aloud all of a piece like this. It's a collection of essays and sketches and vignettes and lists; a few have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but more have just a beginning and a middle and left me saying "wait, what about -?" A few seemed like just beginnings that broke off. The lists were entertaining. But for the narrator – who did a very nice job overall, and to whom I would be happy to listen again – to just read this from start to finish, with little pause between essays or sections or whathaveyou, was awkward. There was one bit where it talks about how the author hired a homeless man to help her shift her luggage, which was immediately followed by a statement along the lines of "I had planned to sleep with him that night", leaving me wondering if the homeless man was an extraordinarily talented luggage shifter. On paper (or pixels) I'm sure there were line breaks that made that make sense, but read aloud I believe there was no more than the usual sort of pause between sentences. Audiobooks have directors, right? I don't think this director did a swell job.
This was an almost coy sort of a memoir, a tease – "I will reveal a bit, and you will expect more, and you'll never get it". In places (probably the places that wouldn't result in lawsuits) there was detail; in other places no detail at all, including names (though why if she was concerned about the Bad Room-mates' or Bus Guy's reactions she couldn't have just done a names-have-been-changed-to-forestall-the-litigious sort of thing, just to maintain a consistency of *using* names, I don't really understand.). The part that irritated me most was the mention of a college relationship that never got beyond flirtatious emails, about which she wonders if glasses might have been part of the reason (along the lines of people of that age group were still learning to kiss, and kissing with glasses poses special challenges), and in the whole brief essay she is annoyingly vague, down to never using pronouns. If the person she was attracted to was a woman, why on earth not just say so? She'd already (in a roundabout way) said her first real kiss was with a woman, so...?
As what she would call a fellow GWG (Girl With Glasses) – since second grade, I don't know how many pair without sitting and researching, and similarly having briefly worn and walked away from contact lenses – it was inevitable that I nodded a lot while listening to this, and found that "oh, you too?" sort of smile on my face quite a bit. It was a little like when I started discovering that I wasn't the only young geek to be completely obsessed with Star Trek; it's oddly unsettling to find that someone else has felt exactly the same thing you have. With something like the universal dilemma of "I have to pick out new frames, but I can't see what I look like in any of these frames because I'm blind without my glasses", or the shocking agony and terror of being sent out into the sunlight with dilated eyes. (How eyecare offices justify sending people out to drive home in that condition is beyond me. How I've made it home some half dozen times without dying in a fiery wreck is also beyond me. I have found there is no good meteorological situation for trying to function with dilated eyes; bright sunlight is obviously bad, but overcast or darkness is equally bad because streetlights become damn near fireworks, and oncoming headlights are twinned points of horror. And then there was that snowy evening I had to drive some ten miles to get home...) But I never really thought about anyone else eschewing contact lenses in part to avoid the sheer nakedness of not wearing this framework on my face. I hated it; I hated being able to feel wind in my eyes (car windows couldn't be down, suddenly, no matter how warm it was); hated the exposure.
One thing where we differed a bit was in the skittish question of someone else taking off one's glasses. She mentions it as a level of intimacy, and controlling how and when is happens (and who by). I've never yet met the person I'd allow the liberty. It's only happened to me once, or nearly (I dodged back in time to avoid it), and I was never so outraged in my life by the invasiveness of it. Like the author, apparently, I am legally blind without my glasses (and wasn't that an odd thing to be told not all that long ago), and so not having glasses means I am extremely vulnerable (and can never time travel anywhere glasses would be anachronistic, alas). For someone I barely knew to reach out to take my glasses off was tantamount to having him start unbuttoning buttons. In other words: don't do that.
The main area where we two GWG's differ, though, and this actually annoyed me, was when she blithely tossed off the information that she had never lost or broken a pair of glasses. I've never lost a current pair (backup, yes, but not current) - for the simple reason that if I am awake they are on my face, almost without exception (and sometimes when I am not awake). By "never", she - and I - mean "never apart from those times when they get knocked off the night table and end up taking an excruciatingly long groping time to find" - the I-need-my-glasses-to-find-my-glasses moments that punctuate my life with panic … she states that that only happened to her once. I'm not sure I buy that. It's a bit like having a Kindle. It's a rather expensive little apparatus (depending on the type), which becomes such a vade mecum that one becomes more careless of it than one ought. My glasses are literally always with me, and it's easy to forget that they cost the earth (over $500, last pair). I broke my frames a few months ago - and I loved those frames; they were the first ones I ever cared about - and because I haven't had an insurance in years that covered glasses (have I ever?) I had to wear old ones while the current lenses got put into the closest frame I could find, which have a ridiculous loud print on the earpieces... Ah well. Hopefully I'll get a new pair this summer. But that wasn't the first time I've broken a pair. It's happened a few times - once dropped onto concrete-underlaid flooring at work; this last time carelessly left beside me in bed while mostly asleep only to be squashed in the morning. There is nothing quite like the sick feeling of holding in two hands two separate pieces of what used to be one's glasses, and trying desperately figure out a way to jury-rig them back together (preferably without looking like an idiot), wishing desperately for Hermione to come along and say "Oculo reparo", trying desperately to remember where the old pair are, so that one can drive to - hopefully - get them fixed, or, more likely and more expensively, replaced. (When the frame snaps at the nosepiece, the reaction to "can they be fixed?" is basically "ha ha ha no".) She's apparently never had to keep wearing the same glasses for years because of financial reasons; go her.
TL;DR = cute idea; not great execution.
This was an almost coy sort of a memoir, a tease – "I will reveal a bit, and you will expect more, and you'll never get it". In places (probably the places that wouldn't result in lawsuits) there was detail; in other places no detail at all, including names (though why if she was concerned about the Bad Room-mates' or Bus Guy's reactions she couldn't have just done a names-have-been-changed-to-forestall-the-litigious sort of thing, just to maintain a consistency of *using* names, I don't really understand.). The part that irritated me most was the mention of a college relationship that never got beyond flirtatious emails, about which she wonders if glasses might have been part of the reason (along the lines of people of that age group were still learning to kiss, and kissing with glasses poses special challenges), and in the whole brief essay she is annoyingly vague, down to never using pronouns. If the person she was attracted to was a woman, why on earth not just say so? She'd already (in a roundabout way) said her first real kiss was with a woman, so...?
As what she would call a fellow GWG (Girl With Glasses) – since second grade, I don't know how many pair without sitting and researching, and similarly having briefly worn and walked away from contact lenses – it was inevitable that I nodded a lot while listening to this, and found that "oh, you too?" sort of smile on my face quite a bit. It was a little like when I started discovering that I wasn't the only young geek to be completely obsessed with Star Trek; it's oddly unsettling to find that someone else has felt exactly the same thing you have. With something like the universal dilemma of "I have to pick out new frames, but I can't see what I look like in any of these frames because I'm blind without my glasses", or the shocking agony and terror of being sent out into the sunlight with dilated eyes. (How eyecare offices justify sending people out to drive home in that condition is beyond me. How I've made it home some half dozen times without dying in a fiery wreck is also beyond me. I have found there is no good meteorological situation for trying to function with dilated eyes; bright sunlight is obviously bad, but overcast or darkness is equally bad because streetlights become damn near fireworks, and oncoming headlights are twinned points of horror. And then there was that snowy evening I had to drive some ten miles to get home...) But I never really thought about anyone else eschewing contact lenses in part to avoid the sheer nakedness of not wearing this framework on my face. I hated it; I hated being able to feel wind in my eyes (car windows couldn't be down, suddenly, no matter how warm it was); hated the exposure.
One thing where we differed a bit was in the skittish question of someone else taking off one's glasses. She mentions it as a level of intimacy, and controlling how and when is happens (and who by). I've never yet met the person I'd allow the liberty. It's only happened to me once, or nearly (I dodged back in time to avoid it), and I was never so outraged in my life by the invasiveness of it. Like the author, apparently, I am legally blind without my glasses (and wasn't that an odd thing to be told not all that long ago), and so not having glasses means I am extremely vulnerable (and can never time travel anywhere glasses would be anachronistic, alas). For someone I barely knew to reach out to take my glasses off was tantamount to having him start unbuttoning buttons. In other words: don't do that.
The main area where we two GWG's differ, though, and this actually annoyed me, was when she blithely tossed off the information that she had never lost or broken a pair of glasses. I've never lost a current pair (backup, yes, but not current) - for the simple reason that if I am awake they are on my face, almost without exception (and sometimes when I am not awake). By "never", she - and I - mean "never apart from those times when they get knocked off the night table and end up taking an excruciatingly long groping time to find" - the I-need-my-glasses-to-find-my-glasses moments that punctuate my life with panic … she states that that only happened to her once. I'm not sure I buy that. It's a bit like having a Kindle. It's a rather expensive little apparatus (depending on the type), which becomes such a vade mecum that one becomes more careless of it than one ought. My glasses are literally always with me, and it's easy to forget that they cost the earth (over $500, last pair). I broke my frames a few months ago - and I loved those frames; they were the first ones I ever cared about - and because I haven't had an insurance in years that covered glasses (have I ever?) I had to wear old ones while the current lenses got put into the closest frame I could find, which have a ridiculous loud print on the earpieces... Ah well. Hopefully I'll get a new pair this summer. But that wasn't the first time I've broken a pair. It's happened a few times - once dropped onto concrete-underlaid flooring at work; this last time carelessly left beside me in bed while mostly asleep only to be squashed in the morning. There is nothing quite like the sick feeling of holding in two hands two separate pieces of what used to be one's glasses, and trying desperately figure out a way to jury-rig them back together (preferably without looking like an idiot), wishing desperately for Hermione to come along and say "Oculo reparo", trying desperately to remember where the old pair are, so that one can drive to - hopefully - get them fixed, or, more likely and more expensively, replaced. (When the frame snaps at the nosepiece, the reaction to "can they be fixed?" is basically "ha ha ha no".) She's apparently never had to keep wearing the same glasses for years because of financial reasons; go her.
TL;DR = cute idea; not great execution.
February 16, 2014
Ugg. As a "GWG", I could not relate to this at all (thank goodness!).
April 13, 2014
from kalireads.com:
Girl with Glasses: My Optic History by Marissa Walsh is the cheeky, charming, light-hearted type of read that only a certain type of young woman can appreciate. Having serious visual impairment myself, with ever-thickening frames and glasses from a young age, I can totally relate to the rites and rituals recounted here. Walsh tells her coming-of-age story through the lenses of each pair of glasses she wore, from her first, to her dalliance with those maddening contact lenses, into the pair she now wears with pride.
When I talk with the non-glasses-wearing crowd, I'm constantly baffled at how the other half lives. Some of my friends have never (!) visited an eye doctor, and are confused by my yearly appointments for vision checks and blurriness-inducing dilation. I still remember, even though I'm not sure how young I was, how much my view of the world changed after I got my first pair of glasses. My mom says I was in kindergarten, but I think surely it has to be more around 3rd grade. Wearing those glasses for the first time on the way home, I gained access to a world far outside what I thought was meant to be viewed by one little person. It seemed like I had these crisp new laser-like eyes, beaming directly to store signs bordering the street as I peered out the car window, causing me to exclaim about every sign I could see. All these new layers of the world I had previously dismissed as a blur of haze and fuzz, now transformed into something speaking just to me.
This is the fun of Girl with Glasses, the ridiculous memories of being coached by an ophthalmologist's assistant to put in contacts, the frustration of glasses in the rain, the impossibility of trying on a new pair of glasses when you can't see what they look like on your face because you need your real glasses to see, and other common commiserations only GWG's can really understand. I could see this being especially appreciated by middle school and teenage girls who are waffling between glasses and contacts, trying to pick between the two.
Those looking for a deep, contemplative memoir should look elsewhere. This isn't that kind of book. Girl with Glasses is a fast and silly read, full of witty one-liners that aren't afraid to border on cheesy. A few reviewers complain about the generalizations--as GWG's, they don't fit the stereotypes here. I don't think the author fits all the stereotypes of a GWG either, and I don't think she's making a case here for stereotypes being accurate. I think she's trying to have fun with the stereotypes, and use them to describe herself when she's able. I see this as a statement about the stereotypes around glasses, rather than a statement about the accuracy of those stereotypes. That being said, I don't think there's too much deep stuff here. This is meant to be fun and funny. I suspect Walsh just wanted to talk about this unique aspect of her childhood, which she knew many others out there must be going through as well. And what better way to discuss all the absurdities of life with glasses, then through humor.
If you pick up Girl with Glasses, make sure you grab a printed version. The audiobook narrator is alarmingly overemphatic to the point she sounds like she's trying to amp up a kindergarten class up for playtime. Great for a quick commercial selling something, but horrible for hours of narration where the cheese becomes tiring.
Girl with Glasses: My Optic History by Marissa Walsh is the cheeky, charming, light-hearted type of read that only a certain type of young woman can appreciate. Having serious visual impairment myself, with ever-thickening frames and glasses from a young age, I can totally relate to the rites and rituals recounted here. Walsh tells her coming-of-age story through the lenses of each pair of glasses she wore, from her first, to her dalliance with those maddening contact lenses, into the pair she now wears with pride.
When I talk with the non-glasses-wearing crowd, I'm constantly baffled at how the other half lives. Some of my friends have never (!) visited an eye doctor, and are confused by my yearly appointments for vision checks and blurriness-inducing dilation. I still remember, even though I'm not sure how young I was, how much my view of the world changed after I got my first pair of glasses. My mom says I was in kindergarten, but I think surely it has to be more around 3rd grade. Wearing those glasses for the first time on the way home, I gained access to a world far outside what I thought was meant to be viewed by one little person. It seemed like I had these crisp new laser-like eyes, beaming directly to store signs bordering the street as I peered out the car window, causing me to exclaim about every sign I could see. All these new layers of the world I had previously dismissed as a blur of haze and fuzz, now transformed into something speaking just to me.
This is the fun of Girl with Glasses, the ridiculous memories of being coached by an ophthalmologist's assistant to put in contacts, the frustration of glasses in the rain, the impossibility of trying on a new pair of glasses when you can't see what they look like on your face because you need your real glasses to see, and other common commiserations only GWG's can really understand. I could see this being especially appreciated by middle school and teenage girls who are waffling between glasses and contacts, trying to pick between the two.
Those looking for a deep, contemplative memoir should look elsewhere. This isn't that kind of book. Girl with Glasses is a fast and silly read, full of witty one-liners that aren't afraid to border on cheesy. A few reviewers complain about the generalizations--as GWG's, they don't fit the stereotypes here. I don't think the author fits all the stereotypes of a GWG either, and I don't think she's making a case here for stereotypes being accurate. I think she's trying to have fun with the stereotypes, and use them to describe herself when she's able. I see this as a statement about the stereotypes around glasses, rather than a statement about the accuracy of those stereotypes. That being said, I don't think there's too much deep stuff here. This is meant to be fun and funny. I suspect Walsh just wanted to talk about this unique aspect of her childhood, which she knew many others out there must be going through as well. And what better way to discuss all the absurdities of life with glasses, then through humor.
If you pick up Girl with Glasses, make sure you grab a printed version. The audiobook narrator is alarmingly overemphatic to the point she sounds like she's trying to amp up a kindergarten class up for playtime. Great for a quick commercial selling something, but horrible for hours of narration where the cheese becomes tiring.
February 27, 2014
I read this on a lark because I got it for free on Audible.
The book is, in the faint praise of Douglas Adams, mostly harmless.
The stories are nice, if a little cliche'd, and humorous if not outright laughable. It is a polite book without much to press at the boundaries, and I have to say I'd have liked a little more pressing at the boundaries. It is in tone a lot like Tina Fey's Bossypants, but without the fame and not as funny. I could have done without the cheesy title headings (all related to sight and not all related to the titles they are heading) and was left wishing for more to really chew on. Several times it was obvious there was more to the story she was telling, a deeper story with more real emotion, but she glossed over it maybe for fear of upsetting the subjects of the story? Who knows, but I'd like to have dug in deep with her.
It is almost like I read the abridged version of the book, but I'm sure it was unabridged. I wish I could see the really unabridged version as I think it would be more fun.
I didn't hate this book, but it really didn't give me much to sink my teeth into.
The book is, in the faint praise of Douglas Adams, mostly harmless.
The stories are nice, if a little cliche'd, and humorous if not outright laughable. It is a polite book without much to press at the boundaries, and I have to say I'd have liked a little more pressing at the boundaries. It is in tone a lot like Tina Fey's Bossypants, but without the fame and not as funny. I could have done without the cheesy title headings (all related to sight and not all related to the titles they are heading) and was left wishing for more to really chew on. Several times it was obvious there was more to the story she was telling, a deeper story with more real emotion, but she glossed over it maybe for fear of upsetting the subjects of the story? Who knows, but I'd like to have dug in deep with her.
It is almost like I read the abridged version of the book, but I'm sure it was unabridged. I wish I could see the really unabridged version as I think it would be more fun.
I didn't hate this book, but it really didn't give me much to sink my teeth into.
February 10, 2015
This book is pure garbage. It's a self-absorbed stream of drug-induced unconsciousness. Here is a sample: 'Frequenting the beach where sand grains may be as large as a pebble. The pebble has a corner, so it's an ARP, Almost Round Pebble. It's too small for my pocket, too large for my shoe. The ARP falls from my hand, but I can't find it. Only Jimmy Hoffa knows where it is.'
The author claims to be involved in publishing, but if someone brought this nonsense to a publisher, it would be CF'd (circular filed) before it hit the desk.
The author claims to be involved in publishing, but if someone brought this nonsense to a publisher, it would be CF'd (circular filed) before it hit the desk.
January 12, 2011
A quick, fun read. Would have been better if it had photos of her with the different glasses.
June 19, 2014
As a girl with glasses, I really thought I'd be able to relate, but I had to force myself to finish. An eye exam is a sexual experience? Really?!
February 4, 2017
It's not really a book about glasses so much as it is "the memoir of a person who wore different glasses during different periods of her life." There were a few vignettes about living with glasses that were amusing, but overall, it wasn't quite the "optic history" that I was expecting. Nevertheless, the writing style was light and readable, and as a fellow lifelong glasses-wearer (albeit a boy), there were moments I could relate to, including the transition to contact lenses at a young age.
November 13, 2020
If you need something to help you kill time, this will suffice. As an optometrist, the title peaked my interest but the content did not. Basically, this convinced me that anyone can write a book. There was nothing extraordinary about her glasses-related tales. I guess the title really did reflect the content in that this story could belong to any girl who has ever worn glasses.
November 19, 2017
not exactly sure what the point of this book even was....
February 8, 2023
funny, relatable, but fell flat midway through
September 10, 2022
Meh. I like the idea of a book about how a person with glasses might see the world differently, but this one didn't hold my attention at all. Not even for the scant 3 hours it lasted. It was very disjointed, and while it may have worked better in print than as an audiobook since I wasn't a fan of this narrator either, I doubt it would have gotten more than three stars from me.
That said, the very first chapter/section was awesome. My personal optic history mirrored her initial description so well I thought I was hearing things at first. Glasses since 3rd grade. Several pairs of glasses (I've never done a count of how many pairs I've gone through). One pair of prescription sunglasses. In and out of contacts. Yeah, that's me.
Read#2 So, I accidentally listened to this again because I'd completely forgotten about it the first time and I'm trying to clean up the "not started" page in my audible library (which this was on for some reason). My initial review stands. It is still disjointed; I still didn't like the narrator. The sections were so short and ended abruptly. The whole thing felt very weird. I hope I remember that I read it this time so I don't put myself through this again.
That said, the very first chapter/section was awesome. My personal optic history mirrored her initial description so well I thought I was hearing things at first. Glasses since 3rd grade. Several pairs of glasses (I've never done a count of how many pairs I've gone through). One pair of prescription sunglasses. In and out of contacts. Yeah, that's me.
Read#2 So, I accidentally listened to this again because I'd completely forgotten about it the first time and I'm trying to clean up the "not started" page in my audible library (which this was on for some reason). My initial review stands. It is still disjointed; I still didn't like the narrator. The sections were so short and ended abruptly. The whole thing felt very weird. I hope I remember that I read it this time so I don't put myself through this again.
January 10, 2015
This is a review of the audio version of this book, which I got as a freebie from Audible.
All in all, the book was quick and fun. I like the way the author used the glasses to tell us about her life. The anecdotes were very, very short (and sometimes weren't anecdotes at all, but lists); not sure what this looks like on the page, but each vignette (Can I even call it that?) seemed really too short as I was listening. Definitely think she could have expanded on these stories and given us more details about her life. I liked the introductions to every chapter, where she quoted Daria and Lane from Gilmore Girls and a few other cool girls with glasses. The narrator’s voice (in the audio version) was rather annoying at times; there was an awkward cadence and rhythm to the way she read some words and sentences. I’d also like to see pictures of the glasses... wonder if that’s available in the actual book. Overall, I would probably have enjoyed this more if I had read the book instead of listening to it. Although I think it could have been much more, it was well worth my money…’cause I got it for free ;)
All in all, the book was quick and fun. I like the way the author used the glasses to tell us about her life. The anecdotes were very, very short (and sometimes weren't anecdotes at all, but lists); not sure what this looks like on the page, but each vignette (Can I even call it that?) seemed really too short as I was listening. Definitely think she could have expanded on these stories and given us more details about her life. I liked the introductions to every chapter, where she quoted Daria and Lane from Gilmore Girls and a few other cool girls with glasses. The narrator’s voice (in the audio version) was rather annoying at times; there was an awkward cadence and rhythm to the way she read some words and sentences. I’d also like to see pictures of the glasses... wonder if that’s available in the actual book. Overall, I would probably have enjoyed this more if I had read the book instead of listening to it. Although I think it could have been much more, it was well worth my money…’cause I got it for free ;)
March 19, 2014
Got this free from Audible and listened to it after I ran out of other books and podcasts. It wasn't terrible, I didn't turn it off almost immediately like one of the other freebies I got, but it wasn't great. I also got glasses in third grade, but I don't feel like my glasses (or now contacts) define me the way she seems to feel about herself.
Also, a lot of the things she states as qualities of a "GWG" are really qualities of a introvert and have nothing to do with whether or not a person need glasses. I'm sure this is obvious, and the fact that people often envision an introvert as someone who wears glasses ties these two traits together in our culture, but it got annoying when she kept saying, "A GWG is someone who..." only to describe a quality of introversion. Truth be told, I did just listen to Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking again recently, so my introversion awareness is heightened.
Also, a lot of the things she states as qualities of a "GWG" are really qualities of a introvert and have nothing to do with whether or not a person need glasses. I'm sure this is obvious, and the fact that people often envision an introvert as someone who wears glasses ties these two traits together in our culture, but it got annoying when she kept saying, "A GWG is someone who..." only to describe a quality of introversion. Truth be told, I did just listen to Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking again recently, so my introversion awareness is heightened.
November 2, 2014
My opinion of this book is undeniably-skewed, being a dude, but I'm a little saddened that the part I found most interesting (and relatable) was the beginning, when the narrator describes how glasses have more or less shaped, even defined, her self-image and outward identity since childhood. I had some chuckles about how I and other kids saw people who wore glasses - specifically, the kind I also wore as a child - and how we wondered about what it would be like not to need them again someday. Then, contacts and the prospect of surgery. Et cetera.
It's cute how the author takes a glimpse at her own slices of life through the "lens" (heh) of a "girl with glasses," but it seems to make a lot of assumptions about others' perceptions. There are some fun quips about it here and there, but at times, it seems a little self-deprecating (NOTE: as a "guy with glasses," I realize that self-deprecation is something that some bespectacled people struggle with, anyway, so maybe that's the point).
Nevertheless, Girl with Glasses was a quick, fun read with an interesting viewpoint.
It's cute how the author takes a glimpse at her own slices of life through the "lens" (heh) of a "girl with glasses," but it seems to make a lot of assumptions about others' perceptions. There are some fun quips about it here and there, but at times, it seems a little self-deprecating (NOTE: as a "guy with glasses," I realize that self-deprecation is something that some bespectacled people struggle with, anyway, so maybe that's the point).
Nevertheless, Girl with Glasses was a quick, fun read with an interesting viewpoint.
May 26, 2014
This was probably the most un-interesting book I've ever read. Well, I listened to it on audiobook by an overly perky narrator, but it's still equally as uninteresting.
It's a recounting of the narrator's life from 1984 to 2006... through her different pairs of glasses. How each pair defined her life as a "GWG" or "girl with glasses." She makes herself the GWG, meaning every girl with glasses, and therefore casts blanket assumptions on every girl who wears glasses. Every girl. And this is not just 'constant need for a nightstand for a safe place' or 'my new glasses made me feel like I was new, too' kind of stuff, but actual personality analyses simply based on the fact that she wear glasses. Excuse my language, but... what a load of bull. Ok, so I wear contacts and didn't stick to the always-glasses thing, but I could technically be considered a GWG, and I didn't remotely identify with the hundreds of characteristics she doled out.
What a waste of two hours of my life.
It's a recounting of the narrator's life from 1984 to 2006... through her different pairs of glasses. How each pair defined her life as a "GWG" or "girl with glasses." She makes herself the GWG, meaning every girl with glasses, and therefore casts blanket assumptions on every girl who wears glasses. Every girl. And this is not just 'constant need for a nightstand for a safe place' or 'my new glasses made me feel like I was new, too' kind of stuff, but actual personality analyses simply based on the fact that she wear glasses. Excuse my language, but... what a load of bull. Ok, so I wear contacts and didn't stick to the always-glasses thing, but I could technically be considered a GWG, and I didn't remotely identify with the hundreds of characteristics she doled out.
What a waste of two hours of my life.
March 8, 2014
I got this as an Audible Valentine's Day freebie. I decided to read it after wanting something short and funny after an involuntary return to being a girl with glasses (GWG). I scratched my cornea at the beginning of this week, and my doctor told me no contacts for a week and limited screen time for a couple of days. Wah!! It turns out that while one can read one-eyed, it's pretty tiring. Anyway, I have to admit that I wasn't expecting much out of this, and I was still disappointed. Half of the book could be more generally applied to all GWGs, but the other half is a very shallow memoir for Ms. Walsh. I would be hard-pressed to come up with that purpose this book served. Why did the author write it? If it was all about GWGs then why the personal content? If it was meant to be a memoir, where's the meat?
April 9, 2016
I would give narrator Margie Lenhart four stars and will watch for other audiobooks where I can enjoy her cheerful, crisp, and eloquent delivery. As for the book itself, Marissa Walsh is a former children’s book editor living in Long Island City, New York. This "comic memoir" isn't hilarious, but it is self-affirming I think for "GWGs" (Girls With Glasses). I think this is YA nonfiction especially for young women wondering if they can stand out, succeed, and participate with their pair, as Walsh successfully has.
February 4, 2009
When I heard about this book, I was interested to read about...myself. When I got the book from the library, the back cover read "Girls With Glasses are observers: our interaction with the world is often from a distance, behind the protection that our glasses afford us..." I was like "I was so going to write an essay that revolved around that idea!" The concept was so spot-on.
Indeed, Walsh's experiences often mirrored mine and it was reassuring to have them reiterated by another person. Glasses are a part of my identity, too.
Overall, the book disappointed a little--the Girl With Glasses concept perhaps better suited for a long essay--but it was such a quick read.
Indeed, Walsh's experiences often mirrored mine and it was reassuring to have them reiterated by another person. Glasses are a part of my identity, too.
Overall, the book disappointed a little--the Girl With Glasses concept perhaps better suited for a long essay--but it was such a quick read.
March 1, 2014
This was another of the Audible Valentine's freebies, this one marketed as "Share with your favorite four-eyed friend." It's a memoir written by a Girl with Glasses (GWG) about her coming to terms with being a GWG. The stories lacked some cohesiveness, and other aspects were probably a lot better in a print version. For example, there were quotes scattered throughout from well-known books about characters with glasses, describing the glasses or the glasses-wearing experience. In the audiobook there was no great way to set these apart, whereas in print they could be a different font or italicized or indented... or something that didn't interrupt the flow quite so much.
February 19, 2014
This book was tedious and trite. It didn't help that I heard it in audio and the reader read each line as though she were at a cocktail party telling jokes that she was sure were funny. As a girl with glasses, I found this book full of tired stereotypes and irrelevant stories. I have no idea how renting an apartment has anything to do with wearing glasses. It gets a second star only because it wasn't so bad it made me angry but it was getting close.
March 7, 2015
This book may have been better read than listened to... I thought the premise was interesting but I thought the vignettes had no cohesion or logical sequence - although the author is getting older throughout the book, sometimes the timeline seemed disjointed. I didn't like the random way that quotes were just thrown in. That may have been because I listened to the audio recording. Maybe with changes in type fonts, indentations, etc., the quotes wouldn't have seemed so oddly placed.
March 11, 2014
GWG stands for Girl With Glasses in this book. It might as well stand for Girl With Generalizations or Girl Writes Garbage or Girl Writes Generically. Take your classic overdone sitcom and add glasses and pop culture references and you have this horribly unentertaining book. As someone who occasionally wears glasses, I found a lot of the generalizations to be offensive. This woman needs a therapist, not a publisher.
January 15, 2016
Maybe as a girl without glasses, I am missing something. This book came across as a little elitist. I guess I never thought of all girls with glasses as having similar personality traits. The author speaks as though there is a huge segregation between lives of those with glasses & those without. Maybe I'm too much of an idealist believing people can get along with each other despite physical differences to appreciate this book.
June 19, 2014
Quirky tale of a girl who wears glasses. It's cute and short but there were some times in the listening I was thinking, "Is there a point to all this?"
This is a memoir of her love life for the most part and it is charming and being a gal who's worn glasses since 3rd Grade, I could emphasize with most of her thoughts.
It was a fun read, nothing special but a good way to kill some time.
The narrator did a fine job.
This is a memoir of her love life for the most part and it is charming and being a gal who's worn glasses since 3rd Grade, I could emphasize with most of her thoughts.
It was a fun read, nothing special but a good way to kill some time.
The narrator did a fine job.
February 16, 2008
As a GWG, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Each chapter is a little vignette from the authors life demonstrating what life is like with glasses. We are about the same age. We first got glasses about the same time. We both have chosen to wear glasses primarily as opposed to the contact option. All this adds up to the fact that I found her relatable.
March 15, 2014
Loved the concept because I've worn glasses since I was 10. I remember the life changing power of the perfect frames (I absolutely had to get cool wire rims for the REM concert at the Greek theater in 1985 or so). She did well but she veered off the frames too much and then a sort of abruptly stopped. It was enjoyable but two stars.
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