Reading Response 10/20

After completing the Tao Lin book Shoplifting from American Apparel, I was actually a bit confused. It seemed almost like a written version of a reality show. I'm used to reading books with a theme but I don't seem to have sensed that in the book. It follows Sam in different places such as New York, Florida, gmail chat , constantly meeting new people, and us reading the interactions. The dialogue of the conversations that didn't really seem like any reading I have done. Perhaps that was it though.

Like we discussed in class about Andy Warhol, and Mohammed, I believe this book might, as we put it in class, put a mirror on society using modern symbols we use such as messaging online, the cover of the book itself of America Apparel which wasn't as prominent on the book as I had thought upon seeing it. I guess perhaps that the theme of the book was just that. A sort of mirror, showcasing that modern life, were you to follow a person isn't all that exciting. Isn't action packed. We can all relate to all things he used, communicated on, company he stole from (as in we all probably know American, Apparel), the idea of having nothing to do, having no real goals for the most part, just focused on the today and now.

Warhol and Mohammed also dwelled on the present. The modern. Taking picture of racial tensions, celebrities. That was what was happening at the moment. In that sense, I can perhaps see the similarities with Tao Lin's book in that it focuses on the today. On the connected world, the meaningless dialogue we sometimes make, the uneventful experiences if you will. Still it focuses and mentions present society in a way that is just plain and normal. Just as we look at the Warhol pictures and get a glimpse of what modern society was like or the focus of at the time, perhaps people might read Tao Lin's book and get a glimpse of a non exaggerated, non action packed, regular modern life.