Book 32 Diary of an Oxygen Thief

 

Diary of an Oxygen Thief by Anonymous fulfills the category “Book that Was Published Anonymously” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge. Not only was it published without a named author, the reader for the audiobook was also Anonymous.

Summation of my thoughts on this title: Ugh.

So, do I wish I had finished working through The Bride Stripped Bare for this prompt? No. Or grabbed the standard, Go Ask Alice? Probably. But this challenge is about getting out of my rut and/or comfort zone. I read it. Here are my thoughts.

This novel was a diary of a man who’s lived a troubled life. Real love has eluded him, and he tells us so from the start. He’s also a reformed alcoholic. He also asks us to withhold judgment until he’s finished. The novel begins by telling the reader how he used to be a jerk to women. The man purposely got women to fall for him, then dumped them. He has a whole system for doing it and leaves a trail of broken hearts and then revels in it. He’s an ass. He’s writing the tale to tell how he got his comeuppance from someone who got him back. As the diary progresses, we witness a young woman who not only takes him down but humiliates him and trashes his heart and mind. He needs to publish his story before her book, with the humiliating photos of him, comes out.

Here’s the perfect example of toxic masculinity. There is nothing redeemable about the author. He’s an unapologetic alcoholic and uses people. Faking his way through everyday life, he gets people to like him, only to screw everyone. He uses women purposely to humiliate and hurt them. What kind of person does that? A white privileged male, that’s who. He is hurt, so he hurts others. Boohoo. Poor baby.

This book reminded me of American Psycho. You follow along, not believing that this story “actually happened.” In American Psycho, we are still not sure in the end. Diary of an Oxygen Thief, where doubt is irrelevant, left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

The woman who screws him over has no redeemable qualities, either. She uses her contacts, money, and photography skills to abuse others. She’s no better than him. The whole thing is a pile of trash the author has sorted out into nice, little story chunks. At least we can attribute his early behavior to his drinking. When he sobers, he’s more tolerable as a human. And the woman is just as narcissistic and toxic. They would have been perfect for each other.

The title speaks to his low self-esteem. Honestly, it’s accurate. I hated him, hated the woman, but I didn’t hate the book. I could not stop reading. I listened, shaking my head, wondering if the world is full of people like this. (Again, it took me back to American Psycho, another gnarly novel I had to finish.)

I give Diary of An Oxygen Thief by Anonymous Four Brutal Winters in an Old Victorian.