Review: This Book Is The Longest Sentence Ever Written And Then Published by Dave Cowen

Author Dave Cowen releases an epic text upon the world in This Book Is The Longest Sentence Ever Written And Then Published. An ambitious, self-reflective, and impressive achievement, this book is a stream-of-consciousness sprawl that is both addictive and admirable, exploring the writer’s insecurities, goals, personal history, and philosophy, without ever dropping a full stop.

Setting out on a seemingly mad and quixotic quest to write the longest sentence ever written, the author is determined to dethrone the endless sentences of James Joyce, Jose Saramago, and Jonathan Rotter – though Lucy Ellmann may have outdone him with the thousand-page Ducks, Newburyport. However, this book stands apart for its immediacy; the goal is being explained even as the journey is being undertaken, dropping readers into the midst of his mad plan from the very first comma and never letting go.

There have rarely been memoirs that immerse a reader so intimately in an author’s thoughts, even when those thoughts careen wildly from one idea to the next, but this unique challenge allows Cowen to be undeniably himself. He confesses early on that he is not a masterful storyteller or trained writer, and apologizes to the reader for this deficiency: “I am kind of a bad writer technically, maybe you can tell that by now, even if I am a great writer conceptually and creatively and comedically and every other way imaginable…”

This is the sort of circuitous, self-deprecating, and self-aware writing that defines this strange screed, which is overstuffed with asides and tangents, some stretching for pages at a time, making it occasionally hard to follow the general arc of his intention. And perhaps that is the ultimate point, writing that truly reflects the endless stream of thoughts and emotions that we experience every single day of our lives. The author has given voice to the mumbling voices in our heads, even the internal dialogue that most people learn to hush or compartmentalize at a young age.

As the sentence continues, more about the author’s personal history and relationships become clear, as do some of the mental health issues with which he struggles. Most notably, readers are welcomed into the rich inner monologue of a whip-smart and intensely focused mind. From grammatical analyses and long musings on linguistics, to recollections of detailed memories and explorations of hero worship, religion, Kanye West, and Kabbala, the range of subjects are impressively dissected with sincerity and wit.

In terms of the technical aspects, as the author admits, there are plenty of weak points, including a number of spots where a period would be more than warranted, yet the rambling style never feels overly forced or kitschy. The blend of information with opinion allows for the run-on sentence to flow, and readers eventually grow accustomed to the never-ending prose. Despite the inherent grammatical flaws, the book is well-edited, with few genuinely awkward strings of language, and the pace is tireless, even with the barrage of language.

While the entire piece has a tongue-in-cheek aura, the content is authentic and fascinating, peppered with historical figures and pop culture references, assessments of cultural norms and insightful psychoanalyses of family members. Cowen clearly doesn’t need a period to write an impactful book, and diving face-first into this ocean of his mind is a daunting, but ultimately rewarding endeavor.