BOOK REVIEW: Speak Not Ill Of The Dead, But...

(Originally Published 2001, Paperback Edition 226 pages)

 

I knew little about Mr. Rakoff (1964-2012) except a brief obituary aired on NPR. This was his first collection of essays which was published in 2001. I had few expectations beyond hearing he was a funny, insightful writer. Well, two pages into Mr. Rakoff's book and my impression was the guy sounded like the stereotype of a catty gay man. I had no idea if he was gay or not until page 13 and, as Jerry Seinfeld once said, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." But, mercy, the guy certainly laid on thick the whiny, vituperative observations. Much like Wade Rouse's book "At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream," Mr. Rakoff makes many, many, MANY cultural references that few heterosexual men would know. I kept having to google oodles of obscure trivia. Some of his writing is very funny, but a lot of it is just nasty which I found to be off putting.

 

The essays are a hodgepodge of personal experiences. The author goes mountain climbing in New Hampshire; recalls his early years of being a teenage, Jewish socialist; working as a gopher in New York City publishing; working in a Toronto ice cream parlor; attending a self-help retreat; visiting a soap opera set; taking undeserved potshots at Robin Williams; being a Christmas Freud display during the holidays; pursuing the Loch Ness Monster; joining a survival training workshop and revisiting Tokyo. Each work has its funny, insightful moments, but the snarky, condescending attitude permeates the entire book. I'm not sure if this was Mr. Rakoff's actual personality or just some shtick, but he comes across sometimes as a pretentious jerk and at other times as a insecure jerk.

 

I'd be surprised if readers don't fall into either hating or liking Mr. Rakoff's stuff. There were times I wanted to just give up on the darned thing. Thankfully, it is a short work. What kept me interested is the author does have some very funny wordplay throughout it. His last piece in the book about having Hodgkin's disease was very good. No question, Mr. Rakoff was a talented writer, but reading a pile of his stuff at one time became more an endurance test for me in not to throwing "Fraud" across the room and giving up on it.
 

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #356)

BOOK REVIEW: Duplicity Deluxe

(Originally Published 1989, Mass Market Paperback 284 pages)

 

The reader will be hard pressed to find a protagonist in the late Mr. Higgins's little gem. No character is a model of moral rectitude. The story takes place in 1967-68 with the Vietnam War in full swing. It revolves around Earl Beale, a former college basketball star who went to prison for shaving points during games. Now out of prison, Earl is a used-car salesman at a rinky-dink dealership in Boston and has his eyes on blackmailing a rich executive.

 

What Mr. Higgins did so well was write characters and situations of people's less appealing natures. It's a believable world of dishonest car dealers, duplicitous politicians, sports gamblers, morally-questionable businessmen and prostitutes. The author was likely the best American 20th-Century writer at penning natural dialogue. The story is devoid of murders or action sequences. Think of it as similar to David Mamet's movie 'Glengarry Glen Ross' in tone. Like life, the people who inhabit Mr. Higgins's world are  sometimes charming, occasional liars and too big for their own britches.

 

I have never been disappointed with one of his books. The dialogue is so good and believable that the people practically leap off the page. Also, if you enjoy Mr. Higgins's 'Trust,' you may be interested in reading his next written work 'Victories.' It includes some of the less well-defined characters from 'Trust' such as the political boss Ed Cobb and ex-baseball player Henry Briggs. It is also a very good read.

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #355)



A Biography of My Sexual Escapades

BOOK REVIEW: Ayuh, Wicked Funny

(Published 1960, Hardcover Edition 214 pages)



Before there was Garrison Keillor, there was William M. Clark (1913-1988.) It's a bloody shame the "Tales of Cedar River" is out of print. It was suggested to me by an acquaintance and I just may put the guy in my will for it. Published in 1960, "Tales of Cedar River" follows the trials and tribulations of the fictional town's citizens. The humorous, deadpan stories are narrated by the author. Mr. Clark regales the reader about his Uncles, Aunts and less savory characters of Cedar River during mostly the 1920s through 1940s. Unlike Lake Wobegon "... where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average," Cedar River is a rural Maine, bedrock Republican, rinky-dink town that has no heroes. It's way behind the times and darned proud of it.

Mr. Clark's material is funny, unpredictable and a delight throughout the book. His wordplay is exceptional. The closest he comes to using profanity is the word 'damn'... once. Cedar River is a rural, low-income world of deer poaching, moonshine and get-rich-quick schemes that you know aren't going to pan out. You can tell Mr. Clark loved our State, but also had a critical eye of Maine's rural ironies. I fortunately was able to get my hands on his other three Cedar River books by searching used-book outlets. However, his collection of columns written between 1957 and 1967 still remain elusive. I'd give my left nut for a copy. He's that good.  

 

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #354)

BOOK REVIEW: The Windfalls & Pitfalls Of Institutional Memory

(Originally Published 2012, Paperback Edition 527 pages)

 

 Ms. Gibbs's and Mr. Duffy's book portrays the all-too-human relationships between former and sitting U.S. Presidents from Herbert Hoover through the first few years of Barack Obama's tenure. What many Americans take for granted is the repeated, amazing, near-seamless transition of one person handing over power to another even if they are political polar opposites. Consider the statistical tie in the highly contentious Bush/Gore race. We eventually transferred power to the opposite party without there being civil war or blood in the streets. That in itself says something about our country. Anyone who has been President of the United States understands maintaining the dignity of the Executive Office trumps an individual's personal desires. The authors show how even presidents of opposite political philosophies have put aside their differences to help our country and usually this was done without the public being aware it was occurring.

The book covers many key events in which ex-presidents helped sitting presidents. Feeding the war-torn victims after World War II, the Marshall Plan, the Bay of Pigs debacle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Clinton Impeachment proceedings, 9/11, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake are but a few of the topics reviewed. One thing that did stand out to me was Presidents Nixon and Carter seemed to be especially highlighted by the authors for less than admirable character flaws.

The ability of the living ex-presidents to aid any sitting Chief Executive when called to action is a wonderful testament to the caliber of men who have attain the Office. Not only does the book show our leaders as men with strengths and flaws, but it also reveals that politics and paranoia as well as hateful factions in both parties have always been part of our country's character. The authors admire certain actions done by the leaders, but no president is placed on a pedestal. All of them, rightly, receive a few critical raspberries. People who believe either FDR or Ronald Reagan could do no wrong will be upset by how the book portrays some of their nastier qualities. The passage of time and top-notch research, such as Ms. Gibbs's/Mr. Duffy's work, allows us to get a better measure of the people and events. It is history that is not only entertaining, gossipy, and great reporting but also helped me feel proud of our country.

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #353)

BOOK REVIEW: Moral Pluralities Bind And Blind

(Originally published 2012, Paperback Edition 380 pages)

It's pretty simple. The book floored me. Over the past few decades, I've read a plethora of evolutionary psychology books that were interesting but somewhat lacking. Mr. Haidt's work, however, is a different matter. I found the book to be well documented, supported by solid scientific evidence, and illuminating. The author's assertion that reason is the servant of intuition is sound. He builds a convincing step-by-step collection of scientific evidence to support his claim. It helps that the work is written in an interesting, informative, and lighthearted manner.

Some of the Amazon one-star reviews seem to take great umbrage that the author is an atheist. If you're going to be THAT closed-minded then don't even bother opening up to the first page. The author's intent is not to pillory people who are religious and he does a commendable job. Heck, Mr. Haidt takes to task atheist luminaries Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett and Richard Hawkins in their assertions as to why people won't ditch God. However, the man is a moral psychologist and, understandably, takes the theory of evolution as a given. Any scientist worth his salt or person with half a brain understands that evolution isn't debatable. Interestingly, Mr. Haidt does clearly explain why we all refuse to believe reality or facts when they are in conflict with our tribal mentalities. None of us are excluded from thinking we are more morally superior than people who disagree with us.

As the author states, "People bind themselves into political teams that share moral narratives... We do moral reasoning not to reconstruct the actual reasons why we ourselves came to a judgment; we reason to find the best possible reasons why somebody else ought to join us in our judgment." It is not a book stating that all moralities are relative. It's an attempt to help people of all moral persuasions in understanding that there is not only one way of looking at the world. I found Mr. Haidt's work humbling and, so far, my favorite book this year. 

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #352)