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Fans of Augusten Burroughs's darkly funny memoir Running with Scissors were left wondering at the end of that book what would become of young Augusten after his squalid and fascinating childhood ended. In Dry, we find that although adult Augusten is doing well professionally, earning a handsome living as an ad writer for a top New York agency, Burroughs's personal life is a disaster. His apartment is a sea of empty Dewar's bottles, he stays out all night boozing, and he dabs cologne on his tongue in an unsuccessful attempt to mask the stench of alcohol on his breath at work. When his employer insists he seek help, Burroughs ships out to Minnesota for detoxification, counseling, and amusingly told anecdotes about the use of stuffed animals in group therapy. But after a month of such treatment, he's back in Manhattan and tenuously sober. And while its one thing to lay off the sauce in rehab, Burroughs learns that it's quite another to resume your former life while avoiding the alcohol that your former life was based around. This quest to remain sober is made dramatically more difficult, and the tale more harrowing, when Burroughs begins an ill-advised romance with a crack addict. Certainly the "recovered alcoholic fighting to stay sober" tale is not new territory for a memoirist. But Burroughs's account transcends clichés: it doesn't adhere to the traditional "temptation narrowly resisted" storyline and it features, in Burroughs himself, a central character that is sympathetic even when he's neither likable nor admirable. But what ultimately makes this memoir such a terrific read is a brilliant and candid sense of humor that manages to stay dry even when recalling events where the author was anything but. --John Moe
Book Description
With unconventional wit and a wonderfully weird way of looking at things, Augusten Burroughs chronicles his life on the edge after leaving his deeply eccentric foster family. Dry opens in Manhattan, where Augusten has established a life for himself as a high-paid advertising hotshot. But his past haunts him still as he tries to create a grown-up life. Dry is at times howlingly funny, devastatingly moving and, in the end, uplifting. It further establishes Burroughs as one of the most original authors writing today.
Customer Reviews:
DRY.. I LOVE IT!.......2007-10-18
This book marks my first introduction to this writer. It was unbelievably candid, intoxicatingly haunting, and extraordinarily written. Augusten is a great story teller. He has a way of writing that makes you see it, and feel exactly what it must have been like. I am so glad I ordered this book and will definitely start a small collection of his books for my home library. this was a great read. kept me wanting more..
I walked a mile or two in his shoes.......2007-10-18
I ordered my copy of Dry: A Memoirthe day after I finished Running with Scissors: A Memoir. I'm hooked on Burroughs' writings as I have walked a few miles parallel to his. I applauded his success despite his denial, and in the book laughed and cried as he put to words some of my very own feelings when dealing with coworkers, clients, figures of authority, and even friends. But despite my stellar 5 star rating one simply cannot appreciate what I am saying without the experience of reading it yourself. Well done, quick and easy read, and it leaves me yearning for more of a peek in the window of his life. It appears he's overcome some serious obstacles and is doing just fine! As soon as I finish all his works, I'll be reading his Brother's book Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's and to plug one more work that I've added to my list of "yet to read and will" is Rockstarlet
Non-stop Craziness and Humor--Incredible!.......2007-09-20
Wow. How to write a review of this book...Augusten Burroughs' sense of humor and ability to take his life experiences and weave them into stories that are engaging, entertaining and at times a bit disturbing is absolutely incredible.
His style of writing and revealing of clips of his life endear the reader to him. I could not put down the book and I was truly sad when I read the very last word on the very last page. I wanted more of Augusten, I was hooked. I went out the next day and bought another one of his engaging pseudo-biographical book and devoured that in a day or two as well.
Augusten Burroughs has a gift and I am so very glad he chose the medium in which he did to share it with the world.
Augusten, if you are out there, I just want to say thank you for finding the motivation and determination to publish your stories. You are truly and inspiration and your words have touched me. Thank you.
Hilarious, horrifying, can't-put-it-down reading.......2007-09-16
This is a fantastic book, marvelously written, at once funny, bittersweet, terrifying and can't-put-it-down suspenseful. A memoir with the drama and emotional clutch of a novel. And written in a clean, clear, highly readable style that simply pulls you through the pages.
If you've read his earlier acclaimed memoir RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, then you know you have to find out what happened to that brilliant, warped boy after he survived his hellish loony-bin childhood and stumbled into adulthood. If you haven't read RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, feel free to start with this one -- it stands on its own. If you read DRY first, you'll run to grab RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. I greatly prefer DRY to SCISSORS, myself, and I thought that was a fine book.
DRY is that rare book that will save lives and bring great joy and insight into the lives of many people who read it. I came away loving Burroughs, and looking into my own life and wondering what I'm failing to do right and who I'm failing to love and appreciate. And being grateful to be alive.
But, hey, don't let that stop you. This is no tract. Trust me, it's huge fun and a great read.
Dry review.......2007-08-31
After having read Running with Scissors, which was recommended to me by a close friend, I became fairly obsessed with the work of Augusten Burroughs. The moment I had finished, I ran to the nearest bookstore to scour over all the other memoirs, novels, and collections of short stories that he had written. After reviewing a somewhat extensive selection of his books, I ended up selecting Dry, the sequel to Running with Scissors, to be my next endeavor. I felt a powerful need to pick up where his previous book had left off.
This book was morbidly humorous to the point where I had to stop reading it in public because I could not contain my spontaneous bursts of laughter. Augusten Burroughs' life has been so astounding that it almost makes the reader question his validity. He begins living on his own at the age of nineteen, having had no education past the seventh grade. However with the somewhat unnatural charm he possesses, he is able to walk into an advertising agency from off the street and talk his way into being hired on the spot. He soon becomes one of the agency's most valued advertising representatives with the worst substance abuse problem.
Augusten uses alcohol, cocaine, and crack to numb himself from the pain of his past and present. After falling into a state of squalor, which involved drinking two bottles of scotch a night and urinating repetitively in his bed, his friends decide to step in. Augusten is sent to a gay-friendly rehabilitation center where he is forced to deal with the unconventional upbringing that left him so unstable as well as the fight of a loved one against aids. After rehab Augusten must struggle to redefine his life in terms of sobriety and adapt to this drastic change. He gives a great effort to find a balance between work and leisure which excludes the stresses that caused him to turn to substances, while still dealing with certain issues that he cannot escape.
This book is utterly incredible. My only disappointment was that it had to end. Augusten Burroughs wrote this memoir to expose to his readers how bad life can get. He also intended to send the hopeful message that no matter how difficult things become, life can always get better. Dry shows the reader that no matter what their current situation may be, if they have the intrinsic motivation, they can always improve upon it. This memoir leaves the reader both motivated and comfortably optimistic. It is a tragic yet satisfying tale of a young mans life.
Burroughs has a natural gift for captivating the reader entirely by completely exposing himself. He is ashamed of nothing and embraces his flaws. He spares no details of when he hit rock bottom for it shows how far he had to come and how much of an accomplishment it was. Anyone who reads this is sure to fall instantaneously in love with the author for his wit, determination, and imperfections.
Average customer rating:
- a gem of a tour through Manhattan...
- Romancing the Island
- Start Spreading the News...
- A Lyrical and Lucid Glance at New York
- Pete Hamill's Downtown
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Downtown: My Manhattan
Pete Hamill
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
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![Forever: A Novel [Bargain Price] [Hardcover] by Hamill, Pete](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00064HO8Q.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
Forever: A Novel [Bargain Price] [Hardcover] by Hamill, Pete
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Snow in August
ASIN: 0316734519 |
Book Description
A rich historical and personal portrait of Manhattan from the bestselling writer who is for many the living embodiment of the city.
Manhattan, the keystone of New York City, is a place of ghosts and buried memory. One can still see remnants of the British colony, the mansions of the robber barons, and the speakeasies of the 1920s. These are the places that have captivated the imaginations of writers for centuries. Now Pete Hamill brings his unique knowledge and deep love of the city to a New York chronicle like no other.
During his 40 years as a newspaperman, Pete Hamill has been getting to know Manhattans neighborhoods and inhabitants intimately, bearing witness to their greatest triumphs and tragedies. From the winding, bohemian streets of Greenwich Village to the seedy alleyways of the meatpacking district and to the weathered cobblestones of South Street Seaport, Hamill peels back the layers of history to reveal the citys past, present, and future.
More than just history or reporting, this is an elegy by a native son who has lived through some of New Yorks most historic moments, and who continues to call this magnificent, haunted city his home.
Customer Reviews:
a gem of a tour through Manhattan..........2007-04-20
being an ex-NYer and having been changed forever by the years I lived there this book was a whirlwind tour through my favorite city. Pete Hamill knows his history and takes you through the history of buildings, people and the vibrant city that it's always been. Parsing bits of his own life with the life of the city it's like being on personal guided tour by one of NY's finest writers. My only problem was it was too short, I wanted to read more.
Romancing the Island.......2006-09-20
Mr. Hamill takes on every bit of New York and discusses why he loves even the worst parts of it. He crafts a walk downtown thru the 1800's past buildings and men who shaped this city and produces a novel that inspires.
Start Spreading the News..........2006-08-28
This book was much more than I had expected. Thinking that it would be more autobiographical, I was pleasantly suprised to find that it was really the story of New York City, specifically the downtown area of Manhattan. Being a native New Yorker, Hamill gives great insight not only into the historical facts surrounding the city's origin, but also its lore, its people, its music, its drama, and its tradition. This book is so heaped with history, yet it reads so easily like a great love story. Like most New Yorkers, the names and faces of those who came before are soon forgotten, but Hamill brings them back to life again in a very real way. He leaves us with this feeling of connectedness to our past and a sense of longing nostalgia for old New York. However, he reminds us that New Yorkers do not live in the past and that self-pity is a mortal sin. The story of New York is very much one of constant difficult change, earned renewal, progressiveness, tolerance and optimism. These traits have been a part of the city since its origins and more important than ever as we see these traits come alive once again after 9/11. This book is a treasure to anyone who loves New York and wants to understand its history and its people without having to sift through textbooks that only gives facts. Put your vagabond reading glasses on and be a part of it.
A Lyrical and Lucid Glance at New York.......2006-02-24
Pete Hamill's "Downtown: My Manhattan" is part of the latest spate of books that combine personal New York City experience and New York City history, as do Colson Whitehead's "The Colossus of New York" (in a way) and Phillip Lopate's "Waterfront". However, Hamill's is as different from those two other books as those two books are different from each other. I don't know what is causing these authors to write such material--maybe the nostalgia brought about by the horrors of 9/11--but I'm glad they did.
Nostalgia is the key word for Hamill's "Downtown". And it is not just the strong, personal nostalgia that Hamill luxuriates in: it's also the nostalgia that every true New Yorker feels for his City. Whether it was the Dutch or British who longed for their roots in the "Old World", as did the Irish, Eastern Europeans, Italians, Asians, Latinos, etc., or the people born here who cherish the memories of people and places now locked forever in the past, New York's ever-changing "scene" quickly compels our present into history. Hamill's sensitivity to this is brilliantly conveyed on every page.
However, "Downtown" is by no means a treacly, misty-eyed glimpse backward. It is a studied and educational examination of several of New York's neighborhoods--some well-known, some not. The pieces about the Bowling Green area and Times Square were the most fascinating.
What, to me, is special about this history is how it intertwines with other histories: with America's history, with Hamill's history, with my history, and, if you are a New Yorker, your history. I could not put down "Downtown"; in fact, I read it cover to cover in two sittings (I had to go to sleep) and then read it again. It's that amazing a book.
Pete Hamill's Downtown.......2006-02-22
Ex-newspaper editor of the New York Post and New York Daily News, Pete Hamill, was born in Brooklyn, moved around a bit, and returned to Manhattan where he lives and works. Having intimate knowledge of a city so revered, respected, and loved, but also scary and intimidating such as New York City, is surely grist for many a writer. Each time there are different aspects a writer will concentrate on, and many times one will not see what the other does, hence the many books on or about this awe-inspiring place. Mr. Hamill has a fluidity about his account which makes for easy, interesting, and page-turning reading about "his" downtown in Manhattan. It's a compelling read as Hamill tells the history of New York - easy to follow and it all fits into place - unlike other confusing "historical" accounts I've come across. From the late 1700s and through the 1800s and 1900s, so much exquisite change flourished in the then, and now, ever-growing city of New York. He not only covers the buildings and streets and avenues, but also the many peoples (the Dutch, the English, the Germans, Russians, Italians, Irish, and so many more) who so long ago had a huge hand in shaping the city.
Book Description
She has presided over some of America's most complex and violent cases ranging from narcotics to sex crimes to headline-making murder and mob trials. Her toughness in court is legendary and she is known for frequently imposing maximum sentences (120 years each for five young drug lords). As a result, she must have round-the-clock security as her life has been marked with repeated threats from criminals she put behind bars. Now, Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder has written a riveting account of her years on the bench taking readers behind the scenes and into a courtroom whose trials and rulings have placed a permanent stamp on our legal system. Her true story will inspire and influence many more.
Customer Reviews:
An Inspirational Woman!.......2003-09-10
This book is more than meets the eye. I found it so intriguing that I read it non-stop over the weekend. Snyder chronicles the steps she took to get to where she is today. Her position of priviledge and honour weren't handed to her on a silver plate. She earned it, with a combination of grace, dignity, intelligence, and tenacity. Given her relatively low salary, especially in comparison to the defense attorneys in private practice, it is a wonder that she continues to work in such a demanding, yet thankless job, especially so when she and her family find their lives constantly threatened by the thugs that she protects society from. It is a gripping tale of how criminals run rampant and destroy the lives of innocent bystanders, and how Snyder does more than her part in ending their tyranny. You might expect a book about law to be dry. Think again! 25 TO LIFE is a gripping outline of Snyder's exciting career. I would compare this woman to Rudolph Guiliani in her leadership abilities. She is a role model to all, especially young women. (It's too bad she practices in NY. We could definately use somebody of her calibre here in Canada, to clean up the urban crime). Great book from a fabulous member of society.
A Bell-Ringer.......2003-01-17
This is such an incredible story, I could not put the book down... how could any one person take on the mob, the druggies, and some of the most vicious murderers ever seen in New York City? And while, much of the time, under death threat to her self and family by these creeps who had been getting away with their murders for years... To label her just a Conservative is ridiculous -- she is also liberal, feminist, family, but above all, AMERICAN. New York City and State, and America, owe her a tremendous debt. However, as I neared the end of her incredible odyssey, I wondered why she did not give a solution for the overall "War on Drugs," obviously a losing proposition. But she does! There are hidden powers in high places that should be doing everything possible to save America from this Drug Hell that has engulfed the nation. Time to wake up, folks...
not exactly enlightening.......2002-12-29
The best biographies (and autobiographies) are those that do more than catalog their subjects' achievements -- they chronicle some inner struggle that makes the story interesting on a human level. Reading this book, you wonder why it was written. There seems to be no personal revelation, nothing below the surface. The author sees everything in black and white, and there doesn't seem to be anything more going on than a chronicling of local legal issues that have little relevance to anyone but a few insiders. Snyder's "interior" struggle seems to be her understanding that other people are bad. I guess she has always been perfect. This may be true, and if so I congratulate her, but it just doesn't make for interesting reading.
This is a "must read".......2002-11-09
It's too bad that the title "In the Belly of the Beast" was already taken because that would have been an appropriate tag for this page turner. Having spent 25 years as a narcotics agent in New York City, I am humbled by the personal danger encountered by Judge Snyder.Courage and intellect such as hers are very rare commodities in this city.The insight that this book provides into the NYC criminal justice system has been previously kept as a dark secret. She is one of the reasons that one can feel safe walking the streets of Manhattan at midnight and we all owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude. Unfortunately, many New Yorkers forget the grafitti ridden days of the 70's and 80's when the judiciary was rife with "Cut em loose Bruces". Watch a re-run of New Jack City to refresh your recollection!
An Impressive Woman and An Impressive Book.......2002-11-07
A well written book which goes into the life of a woman who should be the role model for us all. Facing down vicious drug dealers, writing date rape laws, the first woman to prosecute homocide cases in New York, just on her credentials alone, this book is worth a read.
But Snyder goes further and gives us a very personal and interesting glimpse into her life. At times humorous, at times feisty, but always without varnish, we get a real glimpse into the backroom happenings of a major part of our criminal justice system and into someone who seems to be a major player.
Having read the reviews and heard the term "real-life law and order" invoked several times, I can only agree. I would be honored to serve on Judge Snyder's jury and, in my opinion, we need more people like her.
If this helps Snyder to launch a political career, BRAVO, I, for one, would love to have her helping to put more bad guys away!
Well Done Judge Snyder. You are a Class Act.
Book Description
The New York Times said that Mary Cantwell, in telling the story of her life, "Makes you discover yourself." Now, gathered in a single volume, are her three beautifully etched, unflinchingly honest memoirs. Cantwell's first book, American Girl, evoked the delights of her youth in a small New England town; her second, Manhattan, When I Was Young, told of her blossoming career in New York, her marriage and her children, and that marriage's decline. Speaking with Strangers finds Cantwell alone, a single mother struggling in the big city, bereft of her husband but bolstered by friends, thriving in her career yet personally troubled. With a sensibility as distinct as the city she calls home, Cantwell's autobiographical trilogy brilliantly captures her struggle to forge a life with one foot in her past and the other, warily, in her present.
"Cantwell writes with breathless intensity." --People
"As in the best of memoirs, the place is a character in the play, and Cantwell's courage as a wife and working mother also has a life and inspiration of its own."--Los Angeles Times
Customer Reviews:
A Classic Memoir.......2005-04-27
Mary Cantwell's Manhattan Memoir is three books in one but you will never tell the difference. The stories flow together as Cantwell's memoir's cover her life. Cantwell takes you through a stroll in Manhattan. The good times, the struggles. The best memoir I have read. This is that book you will tell all of your friends about. Cantwell is a fantastic story teller.
Wonderful prose and a fascinating story.......2002-02-25
The other reviews told what the book was about. I just wanted to add to their comments by saying that I couldn't put the book down and was sad when it ended. Her words flowed so beautifully.
Delightful, Engaging and Unflinchingly Honest.......2002-02-06
Mary Cantwell bares her triumphs and joys as well as her shortcomings and insecurities in this collection of three memoirs that span her childhood, early adulthood, and middle- to late-adulthood respectively. Cantwell lead a wonderful, if unremarkable, childhood in an enviably Rockwell-esque seaside town - her depiction of her life through high-school is a real joy to read. Upon graduation from college, Cantwell hits the "Big City" appears to have forgotten some of the lessons learned in her idyllic childhood, however, she still manages to snag a plumb job with Mademoiselle Magazine and occasionally interacts with literary legends with her ambitious young husband. In her later life she is given interesting writing assignments and carves out a life for herself in Lower Manhattan, however, I found it discouraging that she wallows in the collapse of her marriage (which never appeared to be very strong), often to the detriment of her two daughters. I kept wondering how a woman with such a strong background could have allowed herself to sink to the depths Cantwell periodically allowed herself to hit. Regardless, she is not ashamed to remember less-than-glamorous moments in her life (which also include being jeered by fellow classmates as an elementary school student and suffering from paralyzing fits of self-doubt as a young career woman) - these are the events that have made her what she is.
It must have been incredibly therapeutic for Cantwell to write these memoirs. All three books can be seen as a view of the author's life from within her own head. Her message is simple: accept me for what I am. "Manhattan Memoir," in addition to being the story of Mary Cantwell's life, it also about trying to be true to oneself when one isn't always sure what that means. By writing her story, Cantwell examines her life and tries to learn from her experiences - and it can make the reader start to think about his/her own life as well.
While Cantwell's life is not particularly fascinating or different in itself, her writing style and manner of portraying her experiences are magical and riveting. She describes the joyous and painful events of her life in an easy, engaging manner - it is as if she is talking about the past with old friends. She manages to make the mundane fascinating. She also has a real gift for engaging the reader. I wasn't sure if I liked her writing style at first - Cantwell writes almost as one speaks - but within pages of beginning the book I became used to her rambling style and truly enjoyed it.
This book provides an added plus for those from or familiar with Rhode Island and/or New York City. It was fun for me to recognize the addresses of Cantwell's Manhattan apartments and know that the places she frequented, I often go to today.
A delightful walk through time.......2000-07-23
The late Mary Cantwell charmingly recounts, in this 3 books in one volume paperback, her years growing up in a small New England seaport town and her youthful foray into the 'glamourous' magazine world of New York City in the 'fities. Sane, sensible and warm nostalgia--without being saccharine. Beautifully written. A must for the literate and for New York lovers-- especially those who remember the days!
A delightful walk through time.......2000-07-23
The late Mary Cantwell charmingly recounts, in this 3 books in one volume paperback, her years growing up in a small New England seaport town and her youthful foray into the 'glamourous' magazine world of New York City in the 'fities. Sane, sensible and warm nostalgia--without being saccharine. Beautifully written. A must for the literate and for New York lovers-- especially those who remember the days!
Book Description
Hecate is the Greek goddess of sorcery, and Edmund Wilson's Hecate County is the bewitched center of the American Dream, a sleepy bedroom community where drinks flow endlessly and sexual fantasies fill the air. Memoirs of Hecate County, Wilson's favorite among his many books, is a set of interlinked stories combining the supernatural and the satirical, astute social observation and unusual personal detail. But the heart of the book, "The Princess with the Golden Hair," is a starkly realistic novella about New York City, its dance halls and speakeasies and slums. So sexually frank that for years Wilson's book was suppressed, this story is one of the great lost works of twentieth-century American literature: an astringent, comic, ultimately devastating exploration of lust and love, how they do and do not overlap.
Customer Reviews:
Forgettable Memoirs.......2007-03-12
First I encountered Vladimir Nabokov's gentle, sad and funny novel PNIN, then DEAR BUNNY, DEAR VOLODYA: THE NABOKOV-WILSON LETTERS. Because I had found Nabokov so very enjoyable to read and because he thought highly of Edmund Wilson, I was determined to read some of the latter's works. I shall still get around to some of Wilson's non-fiction works, but MEMOIRS OF HECATE COUNTY has convinced me that Wilson is not among the great fiction writers of American literature.
MEMOIRS consists of six quite independent and rather different stories, linked only by the presence of the same narrator and his references to life in Hecate County. The first two, "The Man Who Shot Snapping Turtles" and "Ellen Terhune," are perfectly fine short stories with identifiable themes. I especially like the first one with its message of the pervasive dominance of evil over beauty in the world of human values and its linking of evil with the idea of capitalistic profit-making. The fifth story, "The Milhollands and Their Damned Soul," while slower-moving than the first two, is also amusing for the nearly non-stop editorial comments on the book publishing and marketing trade; the reader clearly senses the conflicts between authors and publishers and feels that Wilson is speaking quite loudly through the lips of his fictional narrator.
The last short story, "Mr. And Mrs. Blackburn at Home," struck me as confused and unedifying. It contains a definite supernatural element, as do the first two stories, but the contribution of that element to any theme quite eluded me. This story is also frustrating in that Wilson has one of the characters deliver a multi-page monologue entirely in French. My own command of French is usually adequate for a few isolated sentences or phrases here and there, nor do I object to having recourse to a translating dictionary for an unusual French term now and then. However, encountering eleven straight pages of French text exceeded my patience, and most of the speech went untranslated and, therefore, unread. Is it fair to criticize an author for the reader's lack of linguistic skill? Perhaps not, but be aware that a fair proportion of this story is not written in English.
The longest story, more of a novelette, is "The Princess with the Golden Hair." It is this story that caused Wilson's book to be banned as indecent by New York courts in the mid-1940s, but it is not Wilson's detailed descriptions of female anatomy that alienated me but rather the fact that I can find no point to the story. It is, admittedly, a fine example of realistic, some will say naturalistic, writing, and the reader comes to visualize the characters quite clearly. Whether or not the reader will like any of those characters is, of course, another matter entirely. By and large, their lives seem based on self delusion as well as on their self-absorbed relationships with others. One feels the need to bathe after consorting with these characters, even vicariously.
"The Princess" does contain one rather interesting revelation. Throughout all of the stories, the narrator is portrayed as, shall we say, a theoretical Marxist, ever ready to condemn the economic inequities of capitalism and to extol the benefits of socialism. However, his relationship with Anna, the quintessential example of the exploited proletariat, leads him to admit that reality and theory have parted company, and that his assumptions and beliefs may not be as accurate and inviolable as he thought. Nothing much comes of this, and the narrator experiences no epiphany or political conversion by any means, yet his conviction in the righteousness of his opinion has developed a crack. This may be the only example of character development in the entire story.
As to Wilson's writing style, let me quote Kate Blackburn from the final story. Speaking to the narrator, she says, "...[I]f you only wouldn't try sometimes to put quite so much into one sentence-and would talk about things a little more concretely,..." That pretty well sums up my feelings toward the syntax of a typical Wilson sentence.
In brief, then, I found some of the short stories in MEMOIRS OF HECATE COUNTY to be both entertaining and creative; others I found pointless. The longest one struck me as having gone nowhere. The last one simply reminded me that I am far from fluent in French. While I am honestly looking forward to reading Wilson's TO THE FINLAND STATION, I must confess that I have no desire to tackle another fictional work by him, and I am left wondering if Nabokov's generous remarks about MEMOIRS stemmed more from his personal friendship with Wilson than from his honest evaluation as a professional writer.
Pedagogy, erudition and the focus on the canvas?????.......2004-09-05
I know too little to critique this book - a book is like a painting as we turn the pages the picture gets brighter and brighter. Most of the time the picture is incomplete and then it is our job to imagine the completion. In this canvas there are the back ground colors (in musical terms these are noises) and there are the primary characters over that background. It is important that the artiste do not mix up too much of the back ground with the primary focuses. In this book the back ground overpowers the focused characters.
We use examples to reinforce our ideas and thought and not to divert the actual discussion - in all the five stories the examples fudge the primary discussions. I never question the fact that Edmund Wilson is extremely knowledgeable but that does not mean I have to get a dose of that in every page. Hemingway's book "the old man and the sea" is not thick and there are no examples but it still captures our imagination while these five stories do not. May be this book was not for me - my recommendation is try one story and then plan for the rest of the book.
The Critic as Writer.......2004-01-22
"I took to walking in the evenings on Fourteenth Street, which had a certain animation and variety. I got to like the big-hipped cat-faced women of the photographs shown as lures out in front of the burlesque show; the announcements of moving picture palaces bejeweled with paste-bright lights; the little music shops that had radios blasted into the street." That of course is Wilson describing a slice of Manhattan during the Depression Era from his magnificent novel, Princess With the Golden Hair, which is two-hundred pages of brilliance. Vivid and stylized descriptions of 30s New York are sprinkled throughout what Wilson himself has remarked is his personal favorite of all his books. Memoirs of Hecate County consists of six completely separate stories, five of which are moderately good at best, it's Princess With the Golden Hair that carries the day.
The dialogue between him and Imogen (the upperclass woman he's having an affair with) and him and Anna (the poor woman he's simultaneously scheduling assignations) is fantastically written. At one point he remarks to Imogen that she's a beauty yet doesn't act like it. Beauties, he explains, expect to be admired and courted. She, the suburban philistine, at one point has enough honesty to remark that if he got to know her he wouldn't like her. Meanwhile, in another passage Anna concludes that poor people can't love their mothers the way other girls do because their mothers aren't able to look after them, and physically abuse them. It's this constant juxtaposition running the length of the book which makes for fascinating reading. He jumps back and forth from Imogen to Anna -- two starkly different worlds for which he somewhat uncomfortably has a foot ensconced in each. On another occasion he reflects to himself how Imogen's peers would react to the going-ons in Anna's life, the thought of their incredulous responses is almost comical.
With a deft hand Wilson incorporates into his novel such topics as class stratification and the unwritten and unseen barriers separating the well-to-do from the poor. Towards the end he finally ventures to Anna's Brooklyn 'hood and is slapped in the face with what it truly means to be poor. He later becomes convinced America's rich do indeed constitute a bourgeoisie, and that Anna's proletariat world is the base on which everything rests, including Imogen's superficial reality. He concludes on a somber note lamenting how he will never have Anna again.
Included in Memoirs is an afterword by Updike who makes two extremely pertinent points: 1.) It was Wilson's conscious intent to bring Euro sexual realism into American fiction for the first time, and 2.) Memoirs, specifically Princess With the Golden Hair, was at the time an intelligent attempt by an American male to dramatize sexual behavior as a function of personality. Also included in the afterword is a quite interesting Q&A with intellectual heavyweight, Lionel Trilling, which took place during Memoirs' obscenity hearing.
Princess With the Golden Hair works on a number of levels. The cornerstone being that it contrasts two completely different worlds in the eyes of an intelligent critic. Judging by Memoirs, Wilson's foray into literature is an easy success, and an insightful look into 1930's mores.
Ascerbic and Incisive.......2004-01-04
I had recently read and loved _To the Finland Station_, Wilson's great non-fiction work treating the history of revolutionary thought in Europe. I had wanted to read something else of his and decided to read MoHC largely because of its infamous reputation.
(For those who don't know, MoHC was the subject of one of the pivotal battles over obscenity in literature. Although tame by today's standards, it was too frank about sexuality to get past the censors of the time. The Supreme Court upheld Doubleday's conviction for publishing the book.)
I really really liked Memoirs. It should be viewed as more of a collection of six loosely linked short stories than truly as a novel. ("The Man Who Shot Snapping Turtles", "Ellen Terhune", "Glimpses of Wilbur Flick", "The Princess with the Golden Hair", "The Milhollands and Their Damned Soul", and "Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn at Home"). The narrator, a kind of educated everyman, uses his participation in the stories to paint portraits of the other characters he encounters.
True to the name of the book, a kind of magic realism swirls through the stories. Ellen Terhune may or may not be a ghost, and publishers may make a pact with the devil. But this is not an uplifting or gentle magic realism. The magic in this book is more of a feeling that people can step off the edge of the map more easily than they realize.
The book reminds me, in a way, of Fitzgerald. Some of the concerns and situations are largely the same. What strikes me the most, however, are how acerbic Wilson makes some of these portraits. I found myself actually wincing at times at how accurately he targeted common human weaknesses and behaviours. There is something rigorous and unforgiving about the narrator's look at life. It is very well-written. I particularly liked the view on relationships exposed in "The Princess With Golden Hair".
As noted, the digression into pages and pages written in French (although it only happens once) is really annoying. For me particularly it was frustrating because my French simply is not up to more than just getting the basic ideas. Still, it is worth putting up with the annoyance to read the book.
Unpleasant.......2002-09-09
The five yarns in this book, loosely linked, are very engaging and captivating - even seductive. But in the end I hated them. It's just that the first person character is a male who takes liberties in his relationships and then bristles at suggested whiffs of engagement of his partner or partners with other people - even if the implied infidelity is far from established. I find it very hard not to identify the character with Edmund Wilson himself, and then it's so hard to avoid a real repugnance for the man and the hypocrisy displayed by his character.
I have met this feeling before with Paul Theroux, even in his travel stories which are openly autobiographical. I'm sure I could never expose my thinking in the way Mr Theroux does. But, on the other hand there are extenuating circumstances with Mr Theroux and he does recognise the unfairness of his attitude, even regrets it. This doesn't happen with Edmund Wilson's character who seems not to think that his self-centred behaviour should be questioned - he's a man and he can do whatever he wants - not so those who associate with him. His entreaties to the women he seduces seem so [weak] to me - and yet they are successful in the novel - 'You know you're the only woman I've ever wanted to marry!'
And inexcuseable (for me anyway), towards the end of the novel there are pages and pages in French. I understand that multilingual people do sometimes switch between languages but I think this is appalling behaviour by the writer and the publisher when many, if not most, readers will not be able to read these passages. What are we expected to do - go out and hire a translator to translate the text for us?
The stories are engaging, even amusing, perhaps enlightening. But in the end I just didn't like them for the arrogance of the character, the vulnerability of the women he associates with (none of them stand up against him), and the self-indulgence of the author.
Customer Reviews:
Lenny Michaels: A Lost Master.......2007-06-26
Like another reviewer, I learned about Leonard Michaels just a few weeks ago from the NY Times review of his collected stories. The review piqued my interest; I read the editor's note in the bookstore, which said Michaels would incessantly edit his work for lyrical quality. That's when I knew this was my guy. Constantly searching the plethora of writing available for writers I can learn from, who care about the rhythm of the sounds of their words on the page, I was pleasantly surprised to find the full oeuvre of Leonard Michaels republished and ready for consumption. SYLVIA seemed like a good place to start. It was short; it was venerated. I finished the book in a few days.
SYLVIA is about the relationship between the narrator and Sylvia, a young college girl the narrator meets in NYC, a few months after he drops out of a literature graduate program. The writing is a fictional memoir, and the narrator's background excuses him for the magic in his prose. For example, a simple look out of his Manhattan apartment window produces writing like this: "Trucks, cars, and trains flashed through the grid of cables, crossing the East River to and from Brooklyn. Freighters progressed slowly, as if in a dream, to and from the ocean. In the sky, squadrons of pigeons made grand loops, and soaring gulls made line drawings...All day and night, from every direction, came the hum of the tremendum."
The narrator turns out to have certain mild psychiatric issues; his new lover has major issues never diagnosed. The combined problems, mixed with the cultural mores of the 60's and the familial and Jewish guilt of the era, converge to create problems for the narrator. The end is unexpected but not unlikely.
SYLVIA, which reads sort of like an autobiographical novella, (this opinion is based on the obituaries I've read of Michaels -- obits that I dug up after perusing his stories and needing to know more about this lost talent), one can understand that this book could have been written as a closure to his first marriage.
I'm looking forward to reading his collected stories. I will most certainly read THE MEN'S CLUB. Leonard Michaels is what today they would call a "writer's writer."
Here is an quote from an essay Michaels wrote for The Partisan Review. If this quote doesn't make you want to go out and read Michaels, then nothing will: "Basic elements of writing -- diction, grammar, tone, imagery, the patterns of sound made by your sentences -- will say a good deal about you (whether you are conscious of it or not) so that it is possible for you to be writing about yourself before you even know you are writing about yourself. Regardless of your subject, these basic elements, as well as countless and immeasurable qualities of mind, are at play in your writing and will make your presence felt to a reader as palpably as your handwriting. You virtually write your name, as it were, before you literally sign your name, every time you write."
These ideas of Michaels' resonate all over SYLVIA. If you're a writer, read this book and then study it. Then go out and read the rest of Michaels' work. It's not a lot of volume, but it's a lot of quality.
Brilliant and disturbing.......2007-06-18
An intense and tragic story based on reality. It is about a man who married a woman whose demons were trying to consume her. He saw no other way.
A twit in New York.......2007-06-07
I read "The Men's Club" many years ago and liked it. It was about a group of clueless men who got together and talked about women while they trashed a house with knives. The problem with "Sylvia" a novel/memoir (not sure which) is that Michaels himself talks and writes like the arrogant fools that were characters in "The Men's Club."
The narrator, Michaels, writes how he hated Sylvia, screamed at her, cheated on her, never should've married her, and then she suicides. She might have lived but the ambulance took her to a hospital full of non-white doctors who barely knew what they were doing.
This tale is coupled with little, timely anecdotes about NYC in the 1960s: they go to the Village Vanguard, they see Lenny Bruce, Michaels meets Allen Ginsburg for the third time and Ginsburg doesn't remember him (or maybe pretends not to recognize him). Michaels mentions current events from the time period and then mentions how he never got Sylvia to take any interest in the news paper. Sylvia is presented as kind of dumb and emotional as are the narrator's parents.
I don't know how much of this book is really true but if this is actually a portrait of the writer's ex-wife, orphaned, suicided and leaving no children, it's a miserable way to present her, even if he hated her.
The short book is well-written but the tight style can't save such an arrogant self portrait.
This book deserves some kind of notice.......2007-06-07
I came across it in the New York Times Book Review (6.10.07) and mean to read it. I don't know how to rate it, but the review suggests a high rating. All I've read by Michaels is "The Men's Club," which disappointed me, but apparently it's far from his best work. Meanwhile, here is what the reviewer, Mona Simpson, wrote about "Sylvia":
"Michaels's later work, much of it published by the small, independent Mercury House, contains his greatest writing. At 129 pages, the reissue of "Sylvia," though billed as a novel, has the power and the rawness of memoir. It's clear that Sylvia Bloch's suicide haunted Michaels throughout his writing life. "Manikin," the first story in his first collection, is about a Jewish undergraduate's suicide. Told in Michael's nervy, fast, taunting sentences, the story links her death to her rape by a Turkish student and to her fiancé's chilling response. At the end, the only expression of sorrow is the Turk's cursing and wailing.
"Despite the years that passed between Bloch's death and Michaels's working and reworking of the material, "Sylvia" feels unresolved. The narrator doesn't seem to grasp his own role in his very troubled young wife's despair, and seems unable to understand how things he did or didn't do might have affected her. He can only watch her descent and grieve. "Sylvia" is told plainly -- there are no pyrotechnics, few literary allusions, no dead elder relatives. With this suicide, Michaels had a tragedy as intractable as his grandparents', as flabbergasting, and all his own. He'd been given his obsession early, in the form of love, and like Ahab he chased it all his life.
"Though finally not as realized as Peter Handke's great memoir, "A Sorrow Beyond Dreams," about his mother's suicide, "Sylvia" nonetheless resonates with the grim misery -- childlike, plaintive and endlessly circular -- of incomprehensible loss. Had Michaels lived longer, one feels, "Sylvia" would have endured another revision. Michaels will be remembered for his stories --"Manikin," "Murderers," "City Boy," "Going Places" -- along with "A Girl With a Monkey," "Honeymoon," "Tell Me Everything" -- and the seven astonishing Nachman stories, which transpire without sex as they chronicle the life of a gifted Santa Monica mathematician who keeps house alone. These stories consider moral problems freshly. All the ornament seems burned off, purified; the narratives distilled and gorgeously plain, as only a great stylist's can become. Less crackling than the earlier work, they're smoother in the mouth, stark in form. Michaels was writing more Nachman stories when he died. If finished and published together, they might have made a novel. As it is, they're seven irregular beauties, to be read again and again."
The kind of girl who makes me nostalgic for Heaven.......2004-09-25
From SYLVIA: "Then, from behind long black bangs, her eyes moved, looked at me. The question of what to do with my life was resolved for the next four years. Sylvia was slender and suntanned. Her hair fell below the middle of her back. Long bangs obscured her eyes, making her look shy or modestly hiding, and also shorter than average. She was five-six. Her eyes, black as her hair, were quick and brilliant. She had a high fine neck, wide shoulders, narrow hips, delicately shaped wrists and ankles. Her figure and the smooth length of her face, with its wide sensuous mouth, reminded me of Egyptian statuary."
She reminds me of a girl I knew named Covi Lopez. (Except for the bit about the wide sensuous mouth. Covi is something of a lipless wonder.) When you see these kind of girls, your immediate reaction is: Thomas Aquinas, go take a hike. You're absolutely useless. Because there's only 2 legitimate proofs for the existence of God. The Argument from the Design of Covi Lopez. The Argument from the Design of Sylvia Bloch.
From SYLVIA: "There were moments when we'd happen to look up at each other while sitting a few yards apart in a crowded subway train, or across a room at a party, or in the slow flow of drugged conversation with four others in our living room, the gray dawn beginning to light the windows, and we'd smile with our eyes, as if we were embarrassed by our luck, having each other."
Average customer rating:
- I read this book five times.
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All My Men on Wall Street: A Maine girl's story of Manhattan's Glitz and Grind
Kris Fenton
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1418407801 |
Book Description
ALL MY MEN ON WALL STREET: A Maine Girl's Story of Manhattan's Glitz and Grind is a true story depicting the heyday era of late-nineties Wall Street and the glory that went with it. Fenton's men - her lovers, confidants, clients, bosses, subordinates, tyrants and victims - comprise this colorful, thought-provoking and always entertaining tale. Fenton's account of working hard, playing hard and falling hard is a tale of limousines, yachts, fat bonus checks, glitz and glamour, tuxedos and ball gowns, corporate jets, joy rides through Rio, spilt champagne, innocence lost, deadlines, yelling, all-nighters, and ulcers. Dazzled by Manhattan's parties, the prestige of her new Wall Street career, and visions of streets paved with gold, Fenton is blind to the more dubious aspects of her job. In the splendor of her success, Fenton grows savvy and confident - a little too confident. She becomes smug and self-absorbed, traits she previously despised. Fenton soon attempts to escape her 'perfect' world through alcohol and trysts with nameless gents. Vomiting alone in her fancy Wall Street office, she reluctantly comes to realize that her have-it-all life is fundamentally lacking. She is given one last chance to make things right.
Customer Reviews:
I read this book five times........2004-06-29
Yes, I am the author's husband. ;) However, I can honestly say that I enjoyed each proofreading run through. I encouraged my wife to be as open and honest as possible in this book because that is what makes such a mini-autobiography compelling. I learned some salacious things about her past. I winced several times as she lays out some embarassing events. When it comes down to it, though, the writing is clear, concise and compelling. If you are (or know) a working woman in Manhattan, the stories within All My Men on Wall Street will ring true.
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- Essential Cases on Human Rights for the Police: Reviews and Summaries of International Cases (The Raoul Wallenberg Institute Professional Guides to Human Rights)
- Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God
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- Great Book of Dragon Patterns: The Ultimate Design Sourcebook for Artists and Craftspeople
- Gregor and the Code of Claw (Underland Chronicles, Book 5)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- Yeshua: A Guide to the Real Jesus and the Original Church
- Sweet Land: New and Selected Stories
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- Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family in Canada
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- Energy Balances of Non-Oecd Countries 2000-2001, 2003
Running with Scissors: A Memoir
Magical Thinking : True Stories
Sellevision: A Novel
Possible Side Effects
Naked
