Oscar winner Quinn is back with another exercise in self- revelation, covering some of the same ground as The Original Sin (1972) and bringing his story up to date. Quinn seems obsessed by the aging process, if this book is any indication (although that is not unusual for actors). The framing device for this more or less chronological narrative is his demanding daily bike ride through the hills and villages surrounding his Italian home. He uses the outing as an opportunity to ruminate on the painful reality that he is losing friends, roles, and abilities to the passage of time. It also gives him entirely too many opportunities to wax philosophical, spewing pseudo-profound observations (``To be loved is the triumph of living. . . . I have been loved a thousand times, and still I am wanting. Does this leave me a triumphant success or a colossal failure?'') But when Quinn embarks on telling the story of his past, the book has flashes of genuine insight. The actor grew up dirt-poor with his mother in El Paso, waiting for his father, who was fighting with Pancho Villa. On his return, Quinn's father went through a multitude of hard, low-paying jobs before drifting, almost inadvertently, into the film business. Quinn himself has held a fair number of unusual jobs, as well. He was a boxer and a preacher working for Aimee Semple McPherson. The range of his associations is broad enough to include John Barrymore, Laurence Olivier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Feodor Chaliapin, and John Steinbeck; and there are several hilarious anecdotes. But too much of the book is taken up with self-flagellating retellings of Quinn's tempestuous love life, his roaring at the world, and his inner thoughts. The voice is unmistakably Quinn's, in spite of (or perhaps because of) celebrity coauthor Paisner (Citizen Koch, 1992, etc.), but that's not necessarily the best thing for the book.
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-018354-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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