LOSER GOES FIRST by Dan Kennedy

December 16: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is featured in The MSNBC News Winter Book Guide. They write, ""No loser...Loser Goes First reads like the 223-page transcript of an uproariously funny Roadrunner cartoon, starring author Dan Kennedy as Wile E. Coyote. The resemblance seems especially remarkable when halfway through his memoir Kennedy narrowly misses being crushed by a blazing tree."

October 27: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is featured in USA Today. They write, "A memior by former twentysomething Dan Kennedy, Loser Goes First will make any young person feel better, no matter how broke, unmotivated, unaccomplished or disorganized... Unlike career advice books, Kennedy doesn't provide many take-away lessons. I doubt he would counsel anyone to follow his meandering path. Firefighting didn't work out for him. Neither did professional bass fishing, working for a record company, grunge music, writing for television, the Seattle coffee business or his dot-com start-up. In addition to providing much-needed comic relief, though, his story illustrates the promise of continuing to search for what you do well and what you enjoy, even if it takes longer than you expect. Readers know from the start that kennedy is a good writer- his self-deprication is laugh-out-loud funny- and a pretty cool guy. For the entire article, go to: www.usatoday.com

October 8: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is reviewed in People Magazine. They write, "The stories would be a hoot as is (e.g., he tries to revive a dead fish), yet his twisted wit raises the bar of hilarity. Though Kennedy sometimes hops among topics as if he were jacked up on Red Bull, by the time his epiphany strikes (duh, write a book), he is already on track to becoming the winningest loser of them all."

October 5: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is reviewed in The Portland Oregonian. They write that, "[Kennedy] humorously recounts his efforts and comically portrays his life as a series of small failures, silly choices and hilarious misunderstandings."

October 2: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is reviewed in the Seattle Weekly. They write, "Kennedy's great gift for description, natural dialogue, and taking the piss out of himself makes his stint on the morning shift at a health club or his fall from a bedroom window howlingly funny... Eventually you realize that this guy isn't a loser at all; he's just blessed with such prodigious talent (and charisma) that he can feel free to act like one."

September 18: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is reviewed in the Philadelphia Weekly. They write, "The narrative is so hilarious and humane that it doesn't need a shtick at all. Incidentally, with McSweeney's and the Moth readings under his belt, Kennedy has hipster cred, too. He's like David Sedaris for the underemployed."

September 18: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is reviewed in the Las Vegas Weekly. "Finally, from the 'if I'd only thought of it' file: Dan Kennedy's Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation. Billed as 'part mock chicken soup for the slacker' by Publisher's Weekly, Loser may be this year's last chance to feel good about yourself."

September 17: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is reviewed in Salon. They write, "Kennedy isn't simply indulging in the self-flogging voice that's hip at the moment. In fact, he shelves his ego completely, dredging up absolute catastrophes without flinching or hedging or couching it all in self-consciousness or padding it with 'I already know that you know that I know' footnotes like fellow McSweeneyan Dave Eggers... An undeniably entertaining writer, Kennedy offers a backstage tour of every pose and clumsy maneuver in his history and combines a flair for creative adjectives, a litany of pop-culture references and amusing digressions to make the frustrations and absurd twists of his experience feel utterly palpable."

September 14: Dan Kennedy, is interviewed in Entertainment Weekly Magazine. They call Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown) "A hilarious self-flagellating new memoir."

July 3: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is reviewed in Publisher's Weekly. They write, "Part mock Chicken Soup for the Slacker and part Sedaris-style essay collection, this episodic book presents Kennedy from his normal-but-awkward childhood to his normal-but-still-awkward adulthood... The main achievement here is that each potential success remains just that close in the minds of this book's protagonist; while Kennedy-the-character was constructed by and resembles Kennedy-the-author, the latter maintains a particular warmly bemused (or faux naive) distance from him, the signature move of the McSweeney's generation."

July 1: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is reviewed in Booklist. They Write, “The subtitle of this book may strike fear in the hearts of readers treading water in the sea of Gen-X memoirs. But rather than being the drop of water that drowns them, this self-deprecating series of essays is a life preserver... We cringe delightedly as Kennedy records his inability to make small talk, smart decisions, or much of himself. And when he does finally deliver his insights, it's not with a self-aggrandizing shout but a welcome, modest shrug.”

July 1: Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (Crown), by Dan Kennedy, is reviewed in Kirkus. They write, "It's good to know who you are, and kennedy does, he'll have you laughing, simply glad you aren't him. A little gem."

March 09: Dan Kennedy is featured in The New York Post in an article called "Writers To Watch". They write, "His work is dark without being cruel and clever without wandering into preciousness.