3 comments about The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, Day.

1. Night is a painful, inconsolable story about the madness and the evil that darkened Europe during the Second World War. Elie's story begins in Transylvania in a small Jewish neighborhood where Elie and his family live, unknowingly, on the brink of terror.
   
   Elie, his family, and community are captured, shuttled into railroad cars, and transported to Auschwitz, Nazi Germany's largest concentration camp. So quickly turns the fate of Elie and his family that they disbelieve their circumstances even as they witness people being conducted en masse to gas chambers and crematoriums. The weak are killed. The strong become industrial slaves, entitling them only to hope for another day and a slower death.
   
   Elie scarcely survives Auschwitz and Buchenwald, outliving his his mother and his sister. But Elie still has his father. Sensitive and intuitive, Elie notices that many fathers die after their loved ones die. He understands that if he were to die, his father would soon follow. Elie tells himself that he must live in order to give his father hope for living. But, Elie does eventually live to see his father die in an infirmary, emaciated, exhausted, beaten, spiritless, and vulnerable like a child.
   
   While his father's health is still in decline, Elie daily brings half his ration of bread to him, but it would not save his father from the darkness. A German soldier beats the last bit of life out of his father while he lay prostrate on the edge of death. "Elie," his father exhaled with barely the strength to whisper his son's name as his last word before dying. Elie, motionless, unable to utter the words in his throat, confronts the guilt of being unable to help his father. How could he allow the soldier to beat his dying father? Why was he too afraid to cry out to answer his father's call? So helpless against the growing darkness.
   
   Elie is most vulnerable when contemplating a world without God where darkness prevails. How can we, he asks, witness thousands burned in crematoriums or children being shot, thrown into a pit, and buried without losing our belief in a loving God? How can God himself ignore such evil? Where can we find a place in such a world for the Torah, the Kabala, and belief?
   
   Yet, in a world hostile to belief and hostile to life, Elie witnesses and shows us that hope and faith do still sprout up like grass through cracks in the sidewalk, or, more appropriately, like moonlight through cracks in the curtain. Night is dark, but not pitch-black where yet lives one sensitive soul.



2. This is a must read - for everyone! A real, raw and riviting account of Ellie Wiesel's personal experience during the Holocaust. Starting when no one believed the pending danger of war... to the formation of ghettos and finally life in a concentration camp. His Nobel Peace Price Acceptance Speech at the end of the book is an important bonus! We must NEVER FORGET... Ellie's account will help.



3. Bought this book as a gift for a friend who is a history teacher. She gave me a 3 hour personal tour through the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC and commented that she had not read this book.

5 comments about All over but the Shoutin'.

1. I found myself plodding on and on to get through this book. I thought the very early part of the memoir (about the first 1/4 of it) made for some very interesting reading. I liked the authors style--almost like reading a prose poem---but then the author took us in his early career as a journalist I read too many chapters about that; and that is when I shut the book for good.



2. This is not only a wonderful story, but written beautifully. Great for adults and teens alike.



3. This is one of the best well-written books I've read in a long time. His powerful story of a ragged, poverty-filled childhood with an abusive, neglectful, alcoholic father is very compellingly told.
   
   Bragg's focus is on his strong and yet victimized mother. The only nagging thing that bothered me is Bragg's adulation of his mother to the point that he neglects the fact that she bears some responsibility for continually going back to the loser and exposing the kids to the financial and emotional depravation that occurred.
   
   I will read his other books because the writing is so crisp and clean.



4. In this first volume of his trilogy of family memoir, Rick Bragg (b. 1959) takes us to rural Alabama's deep south, and through his deft story-telling introduces us to his people and their ways. With Shoutin' and his two subsequent bestsellers, Ava's Man (2001) about his maternal grandfather and The Prince of Frogtown (2008) about his father, Bragg has earned an avid readership. It's easy to see why. His family of origin epitomized the poorest of poor white trash. His grandfather could neither read nor write, his grandmother dipped snuff, they picked the banjo, danced a jig, cussed like sailors, drank their homemade moonshine like it was water, and brawled at the slightest insult to defend "honor." Bragg spent one semester in college, then started writing, first high school sports, local stories, anything. In 1993 he won a prestigious Nieman fellowship as a journalist to spend a year at Harvard, and in 1996 he won a Pulitzer for feature writing at the New York Times.
   
   Shoutin' works well at many levels, but it's especially about embracing one's family with all its blessings and curses. Bragg introduces us to his violent alcoholic father who repeatedly abandoned his family until his early death at age forty-one, his two brothers, and most of all to his mother Margaret. In his telling, she's a hero's hero. She was effectively a single mother who raised three boys in destitute circumstances. She picked cotton and did other people's laundry at night, swallowed her pride and accepted welfare, and slept on the sofa in their tiny shack. His chapter on taking her to New York City for his Pulitzer award is worth the book alone. She had never been on a plane before and didn't own a suit case; for her few trips before then she stuffed her clothes in paper bags.
   
   In an interview Bragg once described Shoutin' as a failed effort at revenge. His attitude toward his past is deeply ambivalent. On the one hand, he's deeply proud, as every person should be of their family. With brutal honesty he describes the angry chip he's carried on his shoulder about the endless putdowns and insults about his people. He'd prove the cultural snobs wrong, by God. On the other hand, his journey leaves rural Alabama as only a distant reflection in his rear view mirror as his professional reporting takes him around the world. The revenge he savored would come, he thought, when he finally saved enough money to buy his mother a real house for cash. And he did; it would be "a house of healing." But the day she moved in his two adult brothers brawled in the front yard, and his mother returned to her shack before settling in to the new house. And so, he admits, life and the power of place are far more complicated and rich. Bragg has now come full circle; today he teaches writing at The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.



5. Destined to be a Southern classic, Bragg's "All Over But the Shoutin'" rings true. It is not only a well-written, journalist's memoir, but offers readers who aren't from the South an insightful look at why Southern men often act as they do.
   
   On the one hand the book is a rags-to-riches story about a poor white boy from the cotton fields of northeast Alabama who reads, works and writes his way out of poverty; from being a small-town sportwriter all the way up to to heading the Atlanta office the New York Times and winning the Pulitzer Prize. Like visiting with an old friend and having a glass of ice-tea and an all-afternoon, after-funeral conversation under the shade-tree in the back-yard back home, Bragg recounts his career via the Talladega Daily Home, the Anniston Star, the Birmingham News, the Miami Herald, the LA Times (very briefly), and the New York Times. Running throughout are stories and themes of: the homeless in the mean streets of Miami; the class-structure and deaths, rapes and tortures of Haiti (which he covered two or three times for the Miami paper and the NYT); his year at Harvard as a Nieman Fellow; covering Harlem and the violence experienced by the storeowners from robberies and murders; covering a tornado that hit on a Sunday morning near his hometown in 1994 (and the resulting shock to the faith of those who lost loved ones in a church that day); and, the 1994 Smith murders in Union, South Carolina and the Oklahoma City bombing.
   
   That said, the real theme of the book is his love, concern and focus on his relationship with his mother back near Jacksonville, Alabama, his two brothers -- one older and one younger -- and, how to regard the life and his relationship with an abusive, hard-drinking and usually absent father. Having roots in the Sand Mountain area myself, I can attest to the fact that there must be something in the water (and moonshine) around there as meanness, drinking and sn snake-handling Sunday-morning gospel religion are "par-for-the-course." There's a tightrope facing folks around there trying to rise above their circumstances - it heads upward and, instead of a net, those who slip, fall into a hard life of factory-work, or worse yet, no work at all. Then, clutching for a Bible or the bottle -- and, sometimes both -- men and their families work like hell to survive.
   
   This book will become a must-read for anyone interested in Southern area studies, Southern literature, or just understanding the Southern psyche. While we're all different, I have to admit that the "Southern man" I see throughout this book is similar to those of my own family, and men I've known all my life -- a different breed, with a hard, determined drive to succeed be it through books, muscle or whatever. And, as Bragg points out, though we're every bit as smart in our own way as well-schooled intellectuals, don't mess with the chip on our shoulders -- as that very well may bring out a bit of the rattlesnake that lurks in our dark side.
   
   While not easy to read from cover-to-cover over a few days, it's a great book to place on the bedside table to read a few pages at a time.

5 comments about Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag.

1. Great and funny book. What a wonderful well travelled life, Mr. Tonello
   Lived in his quest for the BIRKIN. A must Read for every FASHONISTA



2. While reading reviews for this book, one thing you rarely see is the mention that it's also a scathing expose of Hermes' business practices. I also don't think their customers, and in particular those that pay ridiculous secondary-market prices, come off all that well. I'm sure that wasn't the primary intent of the author, but it is silly to pursue a status symbol to the point where you're willing to pay many thousands of Dollars over the regular price just to get a handbag.
   
   What do you get for those thousands? The most well-known symbol for women to say "I've arrived" that's at least marketed by a major luxury firm. It has to be universally recognized, right? It reminds me of teens that say how individual they want to be, but they're really dressing like all of their friends. If everyone wants the same bag, and some women have dozens, does it really retain it's "status" or purported rarity? Doesn't the sheer number of bags that some collectors own prove the fact that they're not rare but rather marketed efficiently?
   
   Hermes, of course, isn't alone in marketing this way, but they must be extremely irritated to have their secrets exposed so easily.



3. Been through the first few chapters so far...
   Reads like a breeze...
   
   Very tongue-in-cheek...
   Quite readable....



4. You can almost think the writer is a woman the way he writes passionately about Birkin bags! You come to learn however, there is no emotional connection: purely sales. Michael is a great writer, weaving wonderful stories amongst the Birkin-buying mayhem. The fact that this is a true story was even better. I recommend this book to anyone who loves travel/shopping/laughing. But beware: you'll want to jump on the first plane to Barcelona after you've read it!



5. Wow! Recently I decided to read books that don't fit my personality. A friend of mine gave me this book because it was a "good read." I'm not that into shopping but I was hooked from chapter 1 to the point where I honestly started reading the book one Saturday at 11am and finished it that night by 11pm. I didn't want to put it down because everytime I decided to do something important like, bathe or eat, there was another loop that I had to ride. I felt like I was able to enjoy a world of fashion, food and culture that I'm not often exposed to or can't always afford to experience all from the confines of my home. I felt like traveling to all the places mentioned, sipping from a few of those wine glasses and I actually wanted to be friends with the hero. Most of all it made me want to pursue those little things that I don't think are such a "big deal," or probably "won't turn into anything," this book took me on a mini vacation that I never expected to go on. Even sweeter, there are moments that made me melt. LOVED IT!!

5 comments about My Life on the Run: The Wit, Wisdom, and Insights of a Road Racing Icon.

1. This is an intelligent book with GREAT stories from Mr. Yasso. I loved it. I laughed out loud in some of the situations he faces. You won't find a better read--runner or not!



2. This book is an excellent read for runners, as well as non-runners. There are some people in the world who squeeze the most out of life, and Bart Yasso is one of them. A truly inspiring story.



3. I just finished running the San Francisco Marathon where I also had the great privilege of meeting Bart Yasso. He was kind enough to meet with me one-on-one in our hotel and just chat about life, and then autograph my copy of his book. I admire him most for his ability to talk about those obstacles he has overcome and his tremendous accomplishments without sounding vainglorious or boastful. This book is a great example of Bart's ability to inspire anyone who will read or listen simply by sharing a piece of the Man he is. Buy this as soon as you finish reading this review. Seriously. Do it now! Thanks, Bart!



4. Bart's book is absolutely hilarious and inspiring. His stories are witty and humorous. I was laughing out loud at the Taco Bell story, the cross country bike story, and the bare buns run! Great read, I couldn't put it down. Bart is a legend.



5. This book cracked me up. Bart is inspirational, funny, and crazy. All the making's of a runner:)!

5 comments about 365 Nights: A Memoir of Intimacy.

1. Easy to read- enjoyable to the last page. This book isn't so much about sex as it is about relationships, self confidence and how doing just one thing can snowball into all sorts of other wonderful feelings and experiences. I thought it was well written and perfectly tasteful- for all audiences. If you are looking for smut this is not the book for you. Charla is just one of us- juggling family, self, partner and dreams. Well done!!!! A must read!



2. This book, although it sounded good in theory, was not in practice. While the author has a good idea, she fails to come through. While we should be encouraging couples to work through their problems and be more intimate with one another, Charla Muller gives us women advice on how to "get out" of having sex. She doesn't enjoy the experiment, she is a prude, and frankly, I feel bad for her husband. This book basically throws women back in time. She makes it sound like we don't enjoy sex and it is a chore like any other. In doing something like this, she should have discovered she was wrong, and that sex is great. I recommend "Just Do It" tenfold over this book. It's more realistic. And they don't talk about their children during the sex.



3. Charla Muller's epigraph for 365 Nights: A Memoir of Intimacy is from dramatist Jean Anouilh: "To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows." Out of its context, Anouilh's quotation summarizes Charla Muller's attitude toward marital sex: It's a chore and a bore. That is why, on the occasion of her husband's 40th birthday, she, in the spirit of self-sacrifice, offers him what she calls "The Gift"--sex every day for the next year. After pages of overwrought mutual analysis about the implications, Brad Muller accepts. In one short chapter, the reader is introduced to what seems to be the most passionless marriage on the planet.
   
   The rest of 365 Nights (give or take a few--mustn't have sex during menstruation, for example) rarely delves into sex or even intimacy, physical or emotional. Our most penetrating look into the Mullers' sex life comes when Charla says, "Wow, that was really nice" (or "yummy") and Brad says, "Could you pretend you're enjoying it?" to which Charla replies, "How 'bout you just close your eyes." Between these flashes of profound love, Charla tirelessly fills the reader in on her rather narrow view of relationships, marriage, parenting, being a working mother (she works two days a week), and how giving her husband what he wants ("The Gift") has somehow made them stronger as a couple. It's not the intimacy itself that seems to bring them closer together, but the sense of sacrifice and the willingness to work to overcome the obstacles--not only Charla's dislike of sex (which she seems to believe she shares with every married mother), but logistics such as work, children, activities, and the need for private time.
   
   Perhaps married women with children who see their husbands as "sperm donors" and "providers," as Charla writes of some of her friends, will relate to her and her view of love, marriage, and life. Undoubtedly, many will find that she validates the sexual ennui that can set in during any long-term relationship. From my single, childless perspective, she offers no insights, not even as to the underlying reasons she makes every effort to avoid sex with the man she loves and why getting ready for sex means, "I just continue lying there" (prompting her husband to say, "Could you pretend you're interested in this?").
   
   When the year of "The Gift" is over, Brad seems happy because he will continue to get sex more frequently (although not every day), and Charla is happy because her husband is more content and her marriage is more solid--and, to me, as free of passion as ever. Charla writes about some of the benefits of sex--it provides exercise and offers improved communication for example (she likes to talk to Brad about the mundane during the act, we learn). She mentions greater emotional intimacy, but she doesn't convey it or what it means. She touches on the surface of the issues, but is unable or is afraid to say anything meaningful beyond the obvious. While she lies back and gives "The Gift," she cannot bring herself to mention that she finds any physical pleasure or emotional joy in the act itself (other than that it's "nice"). She and Brad seem to be well suited to each other, but they could be brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables for all the passion shown in their marriage--with or without sex.
   
   Charla's perky style is annoying, and her values, which she assumes we all share, are painfully shallow. She disdains ugly mini-vans (and her beloved children's energy future) in favor of a "cool" SUV. A "polite feminist," she believes that it's a "rule" that women, and now men, must pluck their eyebrows (and any other hair that doesn't meet her concept of perfect grooming and appearance). She is surprised to learn she is pregnant after just a couple of months, calling herself "very fertile" (what does this make Brad?) and making one wonder if she never learned the reasons that contraception became such a hot topic for 19th century women. She abhors the idea of aging naturally and fantasizes about "slight tweaking" through plastic surgery until Brad says, "What will she [daughter] think if she sees her mother conforming to these bizarre societal standards?"--standards to which Charla would have us all make every effort to conform.
   
   Charla presents herself as someone you should want to chat with over coffee about the vicissitudes of married suburban life; indeed, that's how this book came about. I couldn't. It's more than her overuse of words like "nice," "gal," and "girls" (this from a "polite feminist") or the wearisome banality of her endless reflections. She's one of those people--we all know at least one--who prattle nonstop without saying anything, leaving one feeling tired and empty--or energized, if that is your sort of thing.
   
   365 Nights: A Memoir of Intimacy could have been a compelling story, but it would take a more interesting and thoughtful person than Charla Muller to grasp the topic and its nuances and to do it the justice it deserves.



4. I thought it was a great idea what she did, and I was really excited to read this book. But it was so boring! She barely talked about the sex, and rambled on and on about how she likes to cook, about her life, and barely discussed the impact the gift made on their sex life. I read the first half, felt bored to tears, and skipped to the epilogue where I got the gist of the entire book. The only reason she gets 2 stars for this book is because I loved the idea behind the gift and thought it was gutsy that she then wrote a book about it. I just wish the book had had more oomph.



5. This is a good book... exactly what you think it would be. It's not written by a Ph.D. or anything... just a wife telling about her year of sex. I guess it can be inspiring to a woman who wants to help her sex life. Dont let your husband read it or he'll want the gift of sex every day.

5 comments about The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine (Plus).

1. I picked up this title as one it was a woman's spiritual journey and two I like the author for her other two books - secret life of bees and mermaid chair. I am not a christian woman, and my religion does have a feminine version of God. But no woman is really spared the overwhelming experience of patriarchy in one form or the other. Sue's experience seems to come from an authentic place of pain and genuine need to explore, quite unlike Liz Gilbert or other self pitying women. She is obviously well read in theology of her own religion and has put great effort into understanding the 'song' as she calls it, the spiritual calling behind the practice of the religion. She is lucky to have had the resources to explore the pain she experienced and kind and generous to share it with the world. Some reviewers have written that being from an orthodox background she feels discrimination more than they do. Regardless of how you feel it it is very much present and will take centuries to go away. Sue's story is an inspiring call to women to reexamine the roots of their faith and their history in various forms, and simply put to be inspired to do our own dance, as opposed to dancing to others tunes.



2. I have read many of the reviews of this book, and I noticed the variety of opinions Dance of the Dissident Daughter has inspired.
   
   Each of us has an opinion of this story based on our personal experiences, and my spiritual experience is quite similar to Kidd's.
   
   I can relate to the phases she had to go through in order to find peace with her path; I honor and respect her journey.
   
   Read this book with an open heart. I did not believe that she was bashing men or Christianity; she had to set the programming of the church aside and find her own truth. This is what she inspires all women to do for themselves.
   
   We all search for our individual spirituality...our meaning...and I feel that this book gives a beautiful example of one woman's search for her truth.
   
   May you find yours as well.



3. Sue Monk Kidd captures the reader with her openness about how she became a feminist, almost by accident. This is a very personal account describing her experience of moving from accepted Christianity to feminism. I found the story fascinating and finished it in only 3 days. For the most part, the author simply told her story and how she interpreted the events she faced along the way. However, at various places in the book she began to generalize her experiences to all women, which made me agree with the reviewer who said her journey is not my journey.
   
   What I found a bit disconcerting is that the author states that she made a living as a writer for Christian and inspirational magazines and yet on page 83 says that she suddenly realized that the Bible focuses primarily on masculine rather than feminine attributes of God. Actually, the primary message throughout the Bible is that the God who created the universe wants to have a personal relationship with his creatures, both female and male, and how that is achieved. Even the author would classify relationships as a domain which is more in the feminine rather than mascuine realm. Likewise, the majority of the 10 Commandments deal with relationships and in Matthew 22:36-39 Jesus said the 2 most important commands were loving God and loving your neighbor. I don't see how anyone can miss these more feminine qualities of God.
   
   Maybe the fact that America is a much more egalitarian society than when the book was written in 1996, and maybe some of the recent books that I've read, like The Female Brain, which highlights some of the hormonal and internal changes that women undergo explain why I disagree with the author and don't view the elements of patriarchy in society as something that needs to be attacked. Also, Kidd identifies many identity issues as struggles for girls and women, which I believe are universal struggles regardless of one's gender.
   
   However, even with these complaints I believe the book is important to read if one wants to understand and interact knowledgably with a feminist.



4. Sue Monk Kidd's journey resonates for me as I have long struggled with the way we tend to ignore or excuse the masculine priority that surrounds women's lives. Ms. Monk explores and ennunciates the "stacked deck" of everything from language and religion to the ingrained assumptions of women's secondary status in the world. True the balance has shifted somewhat, but as long as there are places where men have a "right" to beat their wives, where it is against the law for women to be educated, where it's a BIG DEAL to have a woman run for president, where we criticize a woman for being today's connotation of the word FEMINIST for speaking simple truths; we have a problem. Not one to be trivialized or ignored. Can you imagine the hue and cry that would erupt were we to refer to all humanity as "whitekind"? Ms. Monk is shining a light on the endemic prejudice women live with every day of their lives by sharing her journey, her questions, her fears, and confusion with us. I am grateful to her. I don't feel so alone.



5. Sue Monk Kidd expertly and openly shares her most intimate experience in finding the Divine in this well written and referenced personal account.

No comments about American Prince: A Memoir.

5 comments about Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me.

1. I really enjoyed this book. I thought her stories were frank and real. And she knows what details are best left private!!!



2. Very good book here. Really good stories of clapton and harrison. The funnything i took away from this was that , even the greatest guys go thru depression and experience the sames things that we all face. Sometimes, in life, what you think you need is not often what is best for you. As patty proves at the end of the book.



3. I was drawn to WONDERFUL TONIGHT--written and read by Pattie
   Boyd--by its subtitle: GEORGE HARRISON, ERIC CLAPTON, AND
   ME . . . I thought to myself that I had heard of those guys; in fact, I
   had grown up listening to much of their music.
   
   Yet I had not followed their personal lives all that closely, nor had
   I known too much about Boyd other than the fact that she had been
   married to both Harrison and Clapton.
   
   It turns out that she was more than just their respective wives . . . she
   was also their muse, having inspired Harrison's classic "Something"
   and "Layla," Clapton's rock anthem.
   
   In addition, she lived a fascinating life . . . WONDERFUL TONIGHT
   explores it in vivid detail, including this recollection of her first real
   encounter with Clapton:
   
   * It was a sweet, turbulent life, but one that would take an
   unexpected turn, starting with a simple note that began
   "dearest l."
   
   I read it quickly and assumed that it was from some weirdo;
   I did get fan mail from time to time. . . . I thought no
   more about it until that evening when the phone rang. It was
   Eric [Clapton]. "Did you get my letter?" . . . And then
   the penny dropped. "Was that from you?" I said. . . . It
   was the most passionate letter anyone had ever written me.
   
   Unfortunately, Boyd had her share of heartaches . . . her
   childhood was interrupted by the divorce of her parents,
   both her famous husbands cheated on her, and she was also
   abused by Clapton . . . to her credit, she managed to turn
   her life around and since has become a well-respected
   photographer.
   
   The author broke a 40-year period of silence with this book . . I'm glad
   she did . . . do read or listen to it if you want to know more about
   the music scene of the 1960s and 70s.



4. I had heard tidbits about how Eric Clapton "stole" George Harrison's beautiful wife, Patti Boyd before, and I was curious about how that happened and...then what? Happily ever after? No, no. Patti gives us the whole story, a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the world of rock and roll musicians. The relationship interplays, the emotions, the disappointment over songs that don't "make it." The stories behind the creation of some unforgettable songs, and the personalities and friendships of the people we see only as public figures. After I read this book, I read "Clapton" and got a perspective from that side of the story. Fascinating and, well, "lovely." Well worth the read.



5. A story well told. Patty Boyd has had quite a life and does a wonderful job sharing her story. I've always wondered what life with the Beatles was like and she gives great details. The rock n'roll lifestyle (life with Eric Clapton) may not be everyone's dream after-all. Her story was well told and left me wanting more. I enjoyed every moment I spent reading her book.

5 comments about Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories.

1. Reading Chuck Palahniuk's collection of oddball 'strange-but-true' stories, articles written for various magazines about twisted people and their twisted little hobbies, is like watching "America's Most Terrifying Videos" or reading "Ripley's Believe It or Not." You feel guilty for enjoying the freak show... but not enough to stop reading. The book isn't that thick, and there are 23 chapters so each one makes a pretty good (and somehow appropriate) bathroom companion. There are chapters guaranteed to offend almost any sensibility, and yet there you sit still reading long after your business is done. They say knowledge is neutral, neither good nor inherently bad. But does that mean that every story has to be told?



2. Interesting true stories told well. One story offering some insight into the man? A departure for Palahniuk but one of my favorites of his.



3. Chuck Palahniuk out-does his own fiction writing, (which can be strange at times) with this collection of "True" stories.
   Any fan of Chuck will appreciate this book. It lives up to it's title, and delivers it's helping of strange and obscure topics.
   One of these topics is masturbation. And, he has much to say about this, including the reactions of the listeners when he read this story at bookstores around the world. And, let's not exclude the "Testicle Festival," the yearly event near Massoula Montana, that includes public nakedness, sex, and debauchery of all sorts. And, of course, the consumption of fried bull testicles. (dipped in ranch dressing)
   So, get on...hold on tight. You may wish you hadn't, but, then again, if you are already familiar with Chuck's work, you probably would expect no less.



4. I was attracted to this book after reading fight club, choke, haunted and lullaby. So, of course, i had high hopes. I picked it up, and it was not any where near as good as I thought it would be. There are like 2 good stories but the rest are just bland. While i was reading, i kept thinking, "And why am i reading this?" try reading other palahniuk books such as choke. This, for me, was a dissapointment.



5. Many other reviewers have noted that some of the stories in this book are slow and dry. The drawn out descriptions of the castle builders immediately comes to mind, as does the personal story of Juliette Lewis. But overall this is a worthwhile look into the mind and life of one of the best authors of our time. I feel like I know Chuck Palahniuk on a more personal level now, and that's what I was hoping for. I find him a fascinating man, someone I would love to sit down for coffee with. With that desire in mind, I am very happy I waded through this book.

5 comments about Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72.

1. I have read a number of Hunter Thompson's books. Some were very good and some were just too "over the top". There are elements of both in "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972". This book focusses on the 1972 Democratic campaign for President beginning with the start of the primary campaign. Thompson has his favorites in the race and it is helpful that one of them, George McGorvern, wins the Democratic nomination. Along the way to the nomination, we are treated to Thompson's vile opinions of others in the race such as Edmund Muskie and, especially, Hubert Humphrey.
   
   Thompson's book is essentially a compilation of articles that were written for "The Rolling Stone" throughout the campaign. The articles meld together well. Thompson appears to have been treated nearly the same as other "main stream" reporters although there are times that he seems to be off on his own. The book concludes with a helpful insight to the reasons behind the catastrophic loss suffered by McGovern.
   
   I enjoyed this book for the insight and the recollections that it provided me. I was 20 year's old in 1972 and, thanks to President Nixon, able to vote in my first election. I was an avid supporter of McGovern back then. I understood his reasons for dropping his running mate, Thomas Eagleton, after disclosures of Eagleton's past mental health treatment became public. In the week that followed that revelation, the only news that the press seemed to write about the McGovern campaign was an on-going analysis of Eagleton's suitability for the office. With nothing coming out about McGovern or his issues, it seemed an unfortunate inevibility to have to cast aside Eagleton to be able to refocus on McGovern. Of course, that only made matters worse and McGovern's campaign never recovered from it. Thompson gives a fair amount of insight to that event that helped me to understand it better. There were other insights as well but that leads me to my objection of Hunter Thompson's book. There were enough scenes of the standard drug-crazed observations that made me realize that I couldn't be sure what was fact or what was a sort of morning after effort to recollect the foggy night before. Some things clearly seemed impossible to be true. Some things seemed clearly a representation of factual inside information. However, there were enough questionable accounts that I had to set aside because of Thompson's wasted pages spent building up his persona. Were these events real or imagined like the mescaline deal taking place outside his motel window? Were these quotaions accurrate or just as imagined as the various mind-altering drugs that Thompson was sure some of the various candidates were taking? The problem with Hunter Thompson is that you never know what to believe. He took on a worthy topic and had a lot to share. A lengthy transcript of one of his interviews betrays a fairly normal, intelligent journalist's questions of a candidate. If he had played it straight, this would have been a much more significant contribution to the Presidential Campaign of 1972. As it is, it's an interesting mixture of fact and fiction that a reader can take or leave.



2. It is revealing that thirty-five years after this book was first published, it is still in print and going strong. Bear in mind that this was originally a series of magazine articles, written under pressure of deadline for Rolling Stone. I could read it (and will read it) again and again. Just think of Theodore White's "Making of a President" series. Just give Teddy a couple of hits of blotter acid and you have "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72" by Hunter S. Thompson.
   
   This could only be described as journalistic poetry. The passion rage and ultimate disillusionment expressed by Thompson throughout these pages are as moving today as they were when first written in 1972. Covering the doomed campaign between a crooked used car salesman like Dick Nixon and a statesman of George's McGovern's stature must have been a soul wrenching experience. Given the benefit of hindsight, especially what the months following its publication would reveal about the depths of the Nixon Gang's corruption, reading this book is all-the-more bittersweet. But it's also funny - screamingly so.
   
   It really shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with his work that Hunter would eventually be consumed by his own rage. It can't be easy for a person with so clear a grasp of the hypocrisies of the so-called American dream to live amongst us as a functioning, mentally healthy human being. How could it have been easy being Hunter Thompson?
   
   Tom Degan
   Goshen, NY



3. This book's setting is eerily similar to the current state of affairs going on in with the 2008 Presidential Election, with the Democrats picking themselves apart while the Republicans sit back and enjoy the show. Richard Nixon is shown as the abomination that he was and HST's writing is as animated and humorous as I have ever seen it. This book surpassed my expectations and was a surprisingly fast read at 496 pages. I was left begging for more political insight and HST wit. A must read for any HST fan or anyone interested in the inner workings ( mostly the dark side) of politics. A great book that shows that HST was and is probably better than his already sizable legend permits.



4. I read this book as an appetizer for the current US presidential election campaign. And what an appetizer it is - akin to a halopenio shrimp cocktail with mescalin! It would have been an even better starter for the 2004 election, with which the 1972 election (featured here) shared many features: An incumbent hated by all the progressives at home and everybody in the rest of the world, an opponent who stands for nothing but not being that incumbent (defeated in the primaries in 72) and a murderous, immoral and expensive war on the other side of the world, which nevertheless didn't cost the US president his job.
   
   When the great HST covers the 1972 campaign, the verb "cover" takes on a whole new meaning. He immerses himself in the broadcast of a pro football game in order to adopt the same mindset as pro football fanatic Richard Nixon. He almost drowns in the Atlantic ocean in Miami in sight of his friends at a democratic primary-night party. At the republican convention, he joins the young republicans and talks to them about acid (they think he is referring to proton donors, like hydrochloric acid). Not despite, but rather because of this famous "gonzo" style of journalism, HST's book is rich in insight about US politics and politics in general. He goes so much further than the horse-race type coverage commonly fed to the public. Thompson provides an intelligent assessment of the moods and trends in the US population and a really smart analysis of why people vote for whom. He has excellent insight into the dynamics of the individual campaigns and how they are molded by the characters and agendas of the candidates, the interactions with their campaign workers and their relations to the party apparatus. HST doesn't think of elections as some kind of stunt happening every couple of years, but he explains them as deeply interwoven with the social and demographic workings of the USA.
   
   Some of my most favorite political quotes are from this book. Thompson really loves his country, he says "it could have been a testament to some of man's best instincts", but he is in despair over the crocks (Nixon and cronies) who have taken it hostage. This emotional state of his and the worry about the direction the US will take in '72 got him to write an intense and fiery book.
   
   Do yourself a favor - stop following the electoral coverage on the corporate media for a week, use your time to read this book, and then go back to the current campaign and you will view it in a new light.



5. Another classic from HST, in fact maybe my favorite work of his. The setting for the book is the presidential campaign of 1972 pitting Gorge McGovern against Richard Millhouse Nixon. It begins with Thompson being sent by Rolling Stone to be the Washington D.C. correspondent for the magazine. From there the rollercoaster ride begins. HST chronicles the campaign from first, covering the Democratic primaries and running to the nomination of McGovern at the Democratic National Convention, and finally the Presidential election itself.
   HST pioneered his own unique style of gonzo journalism and this book, along with the classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, defined him and his craft. Stark in its style and approach, the prospective provided by HST of what it is like to be out there on the campaign trail is unique to my knowledge. A dramatic inside story of the battles of the campaign trail emerges and fills in significant gaps in other press coverage of the time. HST's quest for truth, politics, and the eternal buzz paint a picture that the straight press never could because of restrictions like `objectivity' and the like. The result is perhaps the best account to date on what is really going on behind the scenes of a campaign for the highest office in the land.
   The only drawback about reading HST is that it always gives me an incredible urge to drink and act in a semi-crazed style. It is says something about the infectious nature of his work and one often finds oneself wishing there were more gonzo journalists writing today.
   This book is essential reading for anyone interested in politics and the machinery behind it. Even if politics aren't your cup up tea, HST brings a new dimension to any subject that he writes about, one that can be appreciated for its raw truth as well as its unconventional delivery. Although HST only provides one way of looking at politics out many possible, readers would be doing a disservice to themselves by passing over this book. Other views are widely espoused by many journalists and pundits, but to my knowledge no one else has tread where HST has dared to go.
   This one gets 5 stars for being original, highly entertaining, and remaining relevant to this day.