Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails: A Memoir

I was very impressed that Anthony Swofford held nothing back, including his own negativity. It would have been easy for him to write about what everyone else has done wrong while ignoring his own faults. Instead, he tells of his own misdeeds, along with those of others around him, with no attempt to gloss over or rationalize them. I rarely hear (or read) such honesty. There were many times throughout the book where I thought the author might be the most miserable bastard I've ever read a book from. He literally seemed completely miserable and completely detached from caring about others. Most people would try to hide these types of things, or maybe they'd be blind to them, but he was not blind nor did he try to hide anything.

The author has a couple of epiphanies that change the course of his life. He didn't dwell on them very much but it's clear that these decisions were turning points.

I also listened to Jarhead. I would say this compares similarly, and for the same reasons.

No, I would never listen to an 8 hour book in one sitting. Besides, I listen while driving to/from work and I don't have an 8 hour commute.

If you liked Jarhead there's a good chance you'll like this book as well, but keep in mind it's not focused on Swofford's military experience at all. So if that's what you liked about his first book, you may not find what you're looking for here.
Also, another reviewer mentioned they didn't like Swofford's reading, I couldn't disagree more. Not to say he is a great reader and should go into reading audio books as a career, but he's reading his own memoir. Who better to convey whatever emotion he had about an event, than he himself? The emotion I got from most of the book was misery, and maybe that's exactly the emotion Swofford felt through most of these events. Or maybe that's just how he speaks. In either case, I'd still much rather hear his story from him than from a professional reader. If it was a novel then I might have felt differently, but this was not a novel.

If this friend was in a similar situation, I would recommend it.

Becoming famous does not hold the key to happiness.

I had to get used to the flat staccato of his voice, but then realized that not many other people could have been the voice of this book. The author himself HAD to narrate.

The author reads the book- a mistake. Writing and reading are different talents and being good at one doesn't indicate you'll be good at the other. He writes about events which range far and wide in emotion, and yet the entire read is monotone.

Write something worth reading. He writes on nothing new to the human condition. People are reading/listening to this book because the author is famous.

Different reader. Write something with insight. Give us a reason for dedicating 8 hours of our life to listening to him.

Disappointment. Nothing new in the human condition - no insight, no take away, just shitty (as he said numerous times) writing (all short sentences but not pithy or interesting) dull.

Writes about the human condition - everyone has a story like this and if that is what we wanted to read with no valuable conclusion- than we all are writers of this book, we just didn't spend the time telling the world or particular story in the gray sad monotone view he did.