Feck Perfuction | Book Review & Flipthrough
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Author: James Victore
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Year Published: 2019
Dimensions: 6in x 8in
Pages: 160
Filled with his no bullshit and can-do-anything demeanor, Victore’s new book, Feck Perfuction, is going to leave readers feeling one of two ways about it: they’re either going to love it, or absolutely hate it. Better yet, Victore wouldn’t want it any either way.
It’s no secret that I wanted this book: it’s the first book featured on my Most Anticipated Design Books of 2019. But when it was actually released in early March, I reconsidered if I actually wanted it, because after I held the book in my hands, it didn’t spark that much joy (wink wink, nudge nudge). After flipping through it I was underwhelmed by the amount of content. So I put it back on the shelf, and went home ready to read the rest of the books on my TBR shelf. But every time I would pick something else up, I could not stop thinking about Feck Perfuction. So after a few days, I went back out, bought a copy, and read it before the sun set. I had it completely finished, from cover to cover within three hours.
Although it may appear that I devoured this book due to how enthralled I was with it, that would be a fallacy. I finished it so fast because there wasn’t much substance to the content. A lot of the advice wasn’t new to me, it wasn’t enlightening, and any type of context to this advice just wasn’t there for the most part. After reading books like Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite, It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be by Paul Arden, Failed It by Erik Kessels, and several of the books from the Do// series, the wisdom that Victore had to offer already inhabited my mind. This isn’t necessarily a negative aspect to the book because most advice books are general in order to appeal to a mass audience. But with the amount and rigor that Victore advertised this book, I thought it was going be something new. I thought it was going to blow all other comparable book right out of the water. It didn’t. His advice revolves around similar themes like, having one’s own opinion, let go of one’s ego, it’s not about the finished piece it’s about the process and what comes afterward, and be oneself. Most of the advice that Victore had to offer is very reminiscent of all of the advice I heard by time I graduated college.
This being said, this in itself is not a negative aspect. It makes sense to offer vague advice. There is no way one’s advice specific to their own life could appeal to a wide range of people, especially the wide range Victore is trying to appeal to. By trying to appeal to anyone in any industry and medium, he has to make the advice extremely universal so it appeals to everyone. By doing so, I think he lost the bold voice, and advice is no longer, “dangerous.” I think the only way he could have offered vague advice that was still badass was if he applied more of that advice to aspects of his life where it was most vital. By offering more of these personal and intimate moments, Victore could really hit the readers with some powerfully bold messages.
Victore rarely touches on these moments, and it’s a shame. He does offer a few, small moments of intimacy where he lets readers into his life. For example, he mentions that he was kicked out of art school, feeling lost after achieving his life plan at, and acknowledging his son’s facial deformity. Every time he incorporated these little nuggets of his life into his articles of wisdom, I began to empathize with him. I began to understand the importance of his wisdom. But as soon as he would begin pulling back the curtain to his life, he would immediately change scenes, and I was left trying to comprehend the next new, vague piece of advice on the next page. For readers looking for books that execute this theme incredibly, I would heavily recommend Aaron Draplin’s Pretty Much Everything, and Sarah Vermunt’s, Careergasm.
It’s disappointing that this book was promoted as being edgy, and brutally honest, because it really wasn’t. It was uncomfortable at times but I don’t think it was for the reasons that Victore strived for. There is an overall aura that readers’ are supposed to give up what they’re currently doing in order to pursue their dreams, even if it doesn’t pay the bills. And if they don’t then they’re not living a life they should be living, and they may as well just accept the loss. There is also a lot of build up for certain pieces of advice that may be integral to an aspiring creative, but then Victore packs a lackluster punch when he delivers the advice. That’s because the answers are obvious.
Regardless of the content, the physical book is a work of art. The typography is dynamic in that the hierarchy is heavily experimented with. The size of body copy changes with the variations in density of the content. For longer articles, the type size is set smaller, and for shorter articles, the type size is much larger. For advice that is only a few words long, Victore utilizes his classic style of lettering. Almost every spread includes a fun illustration crafted by Victore, and those in themselves are something to marvel at. Overall, I think this book would be a perfect visual inspiration to any designer who picks it up. The physical copy vibrates with Victore’s energy.
Although I had plenty of problems with the content of this book, I didn’t actually hate reading it. It was nice rereading advice I had already heard, but I was disappointed because I didn’t expect to do that. Despite my criticisms, this book is pretty decent: I just wanted more substance. For the average audience, the amount of advice would probably serve them well. If not, at least they will have an incredible book to pull some visual inspiration from. At the end of the day, everyone needs to have an opinion, and mine is this book is definitely worth the money, and it is definitely worth the read.