by Taylor Branch ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 13, 1981
First-novelist Branch (a Washington columnist/editor) is hip as can be, loaded with talent (chiefly satiric), and bursting with ideas for a half-dozen novels. Unfortunately, he has heaved all those ideas into one boggy, epically uneven book, linking up two very different worlds through a rather bland and passive main character—David Howell, a youngish writer for Washington magazine. By far the more distinctive of those two worlds is the near-plotless sexual, political, and hugely verbal comedy of Howell's D.C. circle: an eccentric sampling of 35-ish reporters, activists, feminists, and government types—poker pals, chums, and lovers who complete circuits "in the great Washington penis-vagina network." Principal figures in this whip-smart group: just-divorced, disillusioned Senate aide Henry Woodruff, who chaotically moves into Howell's apartment— where he announces flaky theories of sex and politics, maniacally constructs obscene, symbolic Rube Goldberg contraptions, and broods over his ex-wife while pursuing unlikely women; Haven Pinder, Howell's loving neighbor, who's into bologna-and-potato-chip sandwiches and masterminds the rescue of another neighbor (ancient Miss Lily Snow) from a nursing home; rival reporters from the Times and the D.C. Post; and the violently incompatible but oddly complementary editors of Howell's magazine. Branch has a firm, satiric fix on these aging Sixties-bred juveniles, on their dialogue, mannerisms, mating habits, jealousies; and, despite the casual sex and terminal coolness, his ironic, exaggerated, yet whimsically compassionate view of a mini-society is reminiscent, believe it or not, of the late Barbara Pym. Too bad, then, that these characters are so spottily developed and so disjointedly presented—with uncoordinated clumps of plot or talk, with lapses into cuteness or sentimentality or routine, crude farce (Woodruff's near self-castration with his pants zipper). And a far more serious problem is the fact that Branch devotes about half the book to a whole other, much more clichéd world: the CIA, the FBI, anti-Castro Cubans, drug dealers, and narcs in Miami—a slapstick-violent tangle which Howell is investigating for his magazine. True, the Miami plot—which centers on a clever, totally cynical Cuban spy/cocaine-king who uses politics and murder to manipulate all—finally leads to the murder of Howell's pal Woodruff (whose latest cause is recognition of Castro's regime). But this, like Branch's other efforts to link his two stories, is annoyingly contrived, devoid of reality on any level. And the novel's overall theme—idealism vs. cynicism—remains too fuzzy to bring the chaos of digressions together. So: only readers with a special interest in the Washington-journalism scene are likely to wade through this overlong mess for the sake of its shrewd, fanciful insights. But Branch is spirited, imaginative, and brightly wicked with words—and we can only hope that he hasn't thrown all his best material into this under-edited, over-ambitious, fatally unfocused debut.
Pub Date: April 13, 1981
ISBN: 0671230964
Page Count: 408
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1981
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by Elijah Wald ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2015
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
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by Elijah Wald
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BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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by William Strunk & E.B. White ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1972
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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