The Art of Asking

The Art of Asking - Amanda Palmer

I went into this book only knowing that Amanda Palmer is the lead singer of The Dresden Dolls, a band my husband likes and the 2 times I've heard them have given me a headache, and that she's married to Neil Gaiman, an author my husband loves and I've never read but stood in line for a signing with said husband for 8 hours. I only knew that they were married because the lady behind us was reading this book and it started a conversation.

 

That's a very weird way to go into a memoir, but it was fascinating. Amanda Palmer has a way of taking someone who was totally outside of her group and bringing them in. As I listened to this book I felt a connection to this woman and her work. Which is what this book talks a lot about, human connections. While the book talks about the kickstarter, it takes the main question of 'should an artist ask for crowd funding?' back to the basics of her busking, and the way we ask people for things all the time. And more interestingly (to me) about Palmer's life as it relates back to asking. It was fascinating and amazing. 

 

I listened to this book, and it's read by Palmer which added to the connected feeling. I cared about the things she cared about. It's features a lot of her music and I found that I really enjoyed it. I'm curious about her work. I want to listen to her more and support her as an artist. I liked this book so much I finished it in one go, on audiobook, so 11 and a half hours, and I didn't even speed it up, clearly I really liked it.

 

I want to say more but I'm dead tired and literally everything I'm trying to say is coming out as mush.  I only gave it a 4.5 instead of 5 because sometimes the organization/time line of things felt a little messy.  It all came together but (maybe because I listened to the audiobook) it just felt like it needed a clear timeline at points.

 

 

Also as a side note Palmer's "fraud police" talk really resonated with me as I'm currently battling that issue, and any time someone else is acknowledges that they also deal with that issue I feel less crazy.