Elizabeth Horder

Sam Yankelevitch has come up with a marvellous idea in his book An Interview with Failure.

I enjoyed it from start to finish. I myself had already used this saying, “There is no failure, only feedback” and that is what Sam's book is about. It is also about redefining and renaming the word "failure", and Sam makes it sound a lot of fun.

The disclaimer at the start is useful; Sam makes it clear that this is a work of fiction and that people with health problems should consult their physician.

It was easy to read, the bold font in Failure’s answers stood out, and the question/answer was well-balanced between the interviewer and Failure. There were many quotations, and I particularly liked this one: that we are “walking in the shadow of other people’s words”. It makes such a lovely picture. I was also intrigued by the definition of the word “Oz”.

Another “saying of Sam” was, “You can always turn a deaf ear to the inner critic”. What a great idea!

The book is well constructed, and the index has landmarks that I have not seen before. The introduction is brief but contains some words of wisdom.

The only thing I didn’t like was the ending, which I thought was rather abrupt; but then we are treated to a second story in the form of an Afterward, describing why the author wrote this book. At the very end, there is a short account of the author himself.

I will go away with the quote by Oscar Wilde ringing in my ears, “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. The book was fun to read, full of interesting insights and good analogies, and I recommend it to almost anyone. Most of us would like to succeed, perhaps more than we are, and this book will cheer you up, give you some great ideas, and give you confidence for the future.

He says “Perfection” may be interviewed next – and I would love to read that!

I rate this book four out of five. It would have been five out of five had there not been a few typographical errors.