Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
World's Largest Man: A Memoir
World's Largest Man: A Memoir | Harrison Scott Key
Finalist for the 2016 Thurber PrizeThe riotous, tender story of a bookish Mississippi boy and his flawed, Bunyanesque father, told with the comic verve of David Sedaris and the deft satire of Mark Twain or Roy Blount, Jr.Harrison Scott Key was born in Memphis, but he grew up in Mississippi, among pious, Bible-reading women and men who either shot things or got women pregnant. At the center of his world was his larger-than-life father a hunter, a fighter, a football coach, a man better suited to living in a remote frontier wilderness of the nineteenth century than contemporary America, with all its progressive ideas, and paved roads, and lack of armed duels. He was a great man, and he taught me many things: How to fight, how to work, how to cheat, how to pray to Jesus about it, how to kill things with guns and knives and, if necessary, with hammers. Harrison, with his love of books and excessive interest in hugging, couldn t have been less like Pop, and when it became clear that he was not able to kill anything very well or otherwise make his father happy, he resolved to become everything his father was not: an actor, a Presbyterian, and a doctor of philosophy. But when it was time to settle down and start a family of his own, Harrison started to view his father in a new light, and realized for better and for worse how much of his old man he d absorbed.Sly, heartfelt, and tirelessly hilarious, The World s Largest Man is an unforgettable memoir the story of a boy s struggle to reconcile himself with an impossibly outsized role model, a grown man s reckoning with the father it took him a lifetime to understand."
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
CRR
World's Largest Man: A Memoir | Harrison Scott Key
post image
Pickpick

My first by Key. Heard him in a podcast and was interested is reading his first book. I bought the two others too and plan to read them somewhat soon. Not sure I can go right into them though. I really liked this one. He is funny and self deprecating and different in a good way. He mainly focuses on his dad in this one as he shares about his childhood and adult years with a larger than life dad.

review
Sace
post image
Pickpick

Really enjoyed these essays. I laughed and sometimes got a little teary eyed.

blurb
Sace
post image

Dracula will have to be put on hiatus while I listen to this #inspiredbylitsy library hold that just came in 😊

ljuliel Really good book ! 5y
Sace @ljuliel Omigosh I'm sitting in my car waiting for the grocery store to open and laughing my ass off. 😂😂😂 5y
ljuliel Yes, he‘s really funny. He wrote a part 2 to this one which I haven‘t listened to yet. It‘s called 5y
60 likes3 comments
blurb
Maria514626
post image

This book has three things I adore:
1: explanations of the weird without preambles (“This would never happen in the suburbs!”). His humor sneaks up on you.
”In our family the only books men read were the Bible and you weren't supposed to do it for fun. You did it because Jesus would hurt you if you didn't.”
2: brilliant metaphors -- not forced and not too many
3: flat-out funny and loving story

Sace I'm convinced! Just put the audiobook on hold at the library 😊 5y
Maria514626 👍 I hope you like it! I have to pay attention or I miss things. He's quietly funny. He describes his Dad‘s boss‘ voice as sounding like ”gravel and gasoline.” 😂 5y
20 likes2 comments
quote
RidgewayGirl
World's Largest Man: A Memoir | Harrison Scott Key
post image

I was hooked by the time I‘d read the dedication:

For my wife and also my lover, who have the pleasure of being the exact same person, and who hates it when I call her “my lover,” so I do it a lot, because I have a disease that makes me say it.

Tarzan is settled in on my lap and refuses to move, even when I stack books on him. #CatsofLitsy

ReadingSusan Ha ha! 7y
charl08 Love the cat pic! (And also the dedication. Fascinating things) 7y
23 likes2 comments
review
Heatheringheights
World's Largest Man: A Memoir | Harrison Scott Key
post image
Mehso-so

Giving this one a so-so because there are a few funny lines (like above) despite many of the jokes being the same joke reworded in every chapter. Also because I am somewhat biased since I don't generally like the memoir genre and was compelled to read this for a now disbanded book club. #memoir #bookclub

blurb
bermudaonion
post image

Isn't this why we all read?

14 likes1 comment
blurb
bermudaonion
post image

If this book is half as funny as Key was at #SIBA16, it will be hilarious.

HarperPerennial I mean, it's a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor (ceremony tonight!). 8y
bermudaonion @HarperPerennial I can't wait to read it!! 8y
14 likes2 comments
review
mboots
World's Largest Man: A Memoir | Harrison Scott Key
post image
Pickpick

Funny and sad. And because who doesn't end up like their parents (even if you tried your hardest not to)

blurb
autumnprivett
post image

Harrison Scott Key is just as endearing in person as he is on the page. He opened by reading Amazon reviews of his book. Too funny. 😂

58 likes5 stack adds
blurb
kdwinchester
post image

This is what happens at book signings with Harrison Scott Key. After his author talk, I feel prepared to laugh for the next 330 pages. 😹🌲🐿

Sasha728 This is so cool! He sounds like a fun guy! 9y
thatkruegergirl Haha! This is so awesome 😀 9y
MaryAnn1 I'll read this due to the hilarious inscription. What a hoot! 9y
KDecker I'm also Kendra! 😉 9y
104 likes4 stack adds4 comments
review
SGBooks
Pickpick

Hilarious. Love Harrison Scott Key. Love this book. Great man gift.

review
HarperPerennial
post image
Pickpick

Harrison Scott Key's memoir about growing up in the South with Pop is literally this emoji: 😂😂😂😂😂. THE WORLD'S LARGEST MAN will make you laugh and break your heart so get ready for a reading e x p e r i e n c e

hwheaties Ok that's hilarious. 9y
autumnprivett This was one of my favorites from last year!!!! 😍 9y
coffeenebula 😂😂😂 9y
See All 18 Comments
overlyattachedreader That made me laugh out loud! 😂😂😂 9y
GirlNamedJesse That's a great reason to change some names! lol 9y
nicolekukral LOL!! The best disclaimer I've ever seen! 9y
anwade88 😂😂 9y
Tjprender That disclaimer is reason enough for me to read the book. 9y
Sue What @Tjprender said :) 9y
bermudaonion A memoir set in the south? Sounds perfect for me! 9y
Bookish2 I love that!! 9y
Jess_Read_This Ha! I'm adding this one to my TBR pile.. 9y
Bookdodger Just ordered this in for the store based on all your comments. Should be a good Father's Day selection! 9y
books_cats_art I usually breeze past the dedications to get to the story. I'll have to start paying attention! 9y
Abohemian1 😂😂😂 9y
HarperPerennial @Bookdodger Thanks Vicki! 9y
Tamalyn I love seeing a great dedication! 8y
219 likes88 stack adds18 comments
review
autumnprivett
post image
Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love every word he pens on paper. If you don't read the book, you must read his essays in the Oxford American. I laughed until I cried. He perfectly captures the complexity of being born and raised in the South, and he does it with an unsurpassed intelligence and humor.

21 likes9 stack adds