5 comments about Running with Scissors: A Memoir.

1. This book was absolutely disgusting and I don't believe even half of it actually happened.



2. This is a memoir (and a painfully sad one at that) of an boy ill-raised and neglected by a wildly irresponsible mother and psychologist-friend. Such brutal neglect is when a 33 year old pedophile molests him (a 13 year old boy then) on a regular basis and masks the relationship as "doing what lovers do". The mother and psychologist-friend see nothing wrong with the "relationship" and turn a blind eye. Another is when the psychologist-friend instructs his daughter to scoop out his feces from the toilet to let sunbake in the backyard. Although Burroughs presents this as a dysfunctional family at it's wierdness, there is obviously something more sinister going down, which Burroughs fails to see or present. On the upside, the author's wit and humor transcends his personal horror stories. There are moments in the first part of the book that are so shocking and funny, it's like nothing you've ever read before. Half way through the book the reader may find themselves tortured by a long yarn of people actiing dysfunctional. Rarely, if ever, does the book bother to go to any level deeper than freak story after freak story. Surely there are readers out there who would find the morbid humour in this book a masterpiece of the white trash literature. I certainly did, and after about 1/2 way through the book I decided I had enough fun.



3. That anyone can read this book and think it is even in the least bit humorous, is beyond me.
   
   I purchased this book because as an avid reader of classics, I enjoy dipping my toes back into what the populace at large is reading. And just as I found with 'The Kite Runner,' and 'Water for the Elephants,' my eyes were once again opened to a public that knows nothing of the written word, its use, its subtleties and its nuances. The reading public at large, if one can base an opinion of such on best sellers such as Running with Scissors, etc, have no idea what good literature is and will read anything that is placed before them.
   
   That said, there are some redeeming qualities about the work in general. When an author can make me actually feel something, regardless of overall story, I consider their job halfway complete. Reading through some of the scenes a knot formed in the pit of my stomach, and at once I felt a terrible sorrow for the boy, and the situation that he was placed in. For example, in the scene describing his first "meeting" with Bookman I felt as though I needed to shower when it was over because I felt as dirty as the author. That's good writing! And throughout the work, there are several scenes in which the emotion was not only being read, but felt.
   
   Overall, I wouldn't say that I enjoyed the book - it was far too disturbing for that. But I will say that the book was entertaining and insightful in that it further strengthened my belief that behind every closed door and white painted picket fence, there are things going on that would sicken us if we were allowed a peek.
   
   Running with Scissors is neither a work of genius nor a classic. It is a mildly entertaining peek into the lives of some very, very disturbed and troubled (and troubling) people.
   
   Three Stars.



4. I was looking for something "like David Sedaris writing The Hotel New Hampshire" (which was a review included on the back cover on my book). This book isn't it. Both David Sedaris and John Irving can spin a tell a tale that is both disturbing and terribly funny. And now I've spent some time thinking about why Running with Scissors falls far far short of the claim on the back cover. Sedaris and Irving offer characters that have redeeming qualities, no matter how horrible they might be, there is something in them that is quite human. Augusten Burroughs, instead, populates this memoir with paper cut-outs that you don't get to know, understand, relate to, or care about at all. They are not even charicatures. They are nothing but obscene. So there is nothing about the stories to make them funny because there is no humanity in them. The stories and people in them are flat, terrible attempts to perhaps please a voyeuristic audience.
   
   I usually enjoy reading memoirs because I like to see how others have worked things out in their lives, how they understand the course of their lives, the choices they have made, and circumstances they can't control. This book definitely does not offer any of that.



5. yes, I'll agree that Augusten Burrough's is a good writer- that seems to me the only good that came out of his highly dysfunctional upbringing! Had I known I was going to be reading about very graphic homosexual incidents, I would have left the book at the store- disgusting! A lot of people call this book funny... I found it tragically sad- I only wish Augusten would have had a hero that intervened for him, but I suppose that doesn't always happen. :(

5 comments about The Film Club: A Memoir.

1. Written with care. Interesting dance of communication between father and son. Compassionate read and enjoyable.



2. I awaited the release of this book anxiously from Gilmour's publishers. Since Twelve Publishers banks its existence on 12 books a year, i expected an award winning novel. However, the book is a severe letdown. The author decides to let his son drop out of school only if the son watches classic movies as part of his "home school education". In addition to the son dropping out of school, the author describes his lifestyle in which his wife supports him as he is unable to find himself a job. The author, the book and the story line screams of complete inadequacy. I disliked the book and the author as he made the biggest parenting mistakes of his life. There are many other books that are worth reading but this is not one of them. Sorry Twelve Publishers.



3. This is an quick and interesting read. This story illustrates the fact that raising children is hard work even on the best days. David Gilmour, the father, saw much about Jessee, his son, that he loved and appreciated, but he also knew that there were serious challenges ahead if he did not connect with him. His approach, while unorthodox is interesting. Being a film critic he chooses to take a path that he has some knowledge of and this seperates his plan from the average person's plan.
   
   Three movies a week and his son can come and go as he pleases, drop out of school and if he is free of drugs he will receive a small allowance. Frankly, I would not have made that deal with my sons. I suspect that Gilmour would not suggest that this should be a normative technique for child raising, though it could certainly be an intentional way to introduce many interesting ideas for discussion.
   
   As I read the book there were times when I honestly felt like this was an illustration of home schooling gone completely off the farm. If you are a film fan or fancy yourself a critic you will enjoy this book for the insights of some clasic movies. If you have labored under the illusion that you control the circumstances of your teen or near adult child this book will likely dispeal that illusion even if you view Gilmour's approach as misguided.
   
   In the end this book is less about movies and more about one father and his son and their journey together during some challenging stretchs of road, dealing with relationships and life choices. In the end, I wanted to know more about Jessee and his life, though I know his is a life that is still in progress. I have this sense that the rest of the story needs to be told as unadorned as this story was told.



4. I had seen this book reviewed in several different national magazines and the premise intrigued me. I thought it might be particularly interesting for my husband who can quote chapter and verse (director/producer/etc.) from just about every movie ever made. I wasn't prepared to be unable to put it down.
   
   Part of the books appeal is the length and ease of reading. I read the entire book in about 3 hours. Yes I read quickly but the book is very light reading.
   
   I think the other reason I coudln't put it down was simply because I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was convinced that due to Gilmour's shocking parenting decisions that some awful calamity would befall his child. You need to read it to find out if I was right!
   
   I enjoyed this book so much that it just might go on my "Christmas book list" (books I buy to give away to fellow readers for Christmas) but it would have to be a certain kind of reader as there are a lot of drug and sex references and some language in it. Parents may want to vet the book before giving it to kids to read (especially younger teens).



5. When I saw the inner flap of this book, with its general premise "dad allows teenage son to drop out of high school, with the only condition that son watches 3 movies a week with dad", I was immediately intrigued, being a movie buff myself, and having teenage kids as well.
   
   In "The Film Club" (225 pages), author David Gilmour (not to be confused with the Pink Floyd guitarist of the same name) brings the real life story of how he saw his 16 yr. old son flounder in high school, and decided that it didn't make any further sense to have his son stay in school. Instead, he made a deal with his son: drop out of high school, but watch at least three movies with me (of my choosing) each week. Wow. What a premise. The book plays at several levels: the obvious one is the discussions about the movies dad and son watch together and what lessons, if any, could be learned from it. The other one is the the more troubling one, namely dad's observations of his teenage son's personal life. This is where I cannot connect. The son drinks freely, and has troubling sexual episodes, and it all is tolerated by dad. Maybe I live in a cocoon, but how many of our kids are out of high school, and party it up, with booze and drugs all around, all tolerated by the parent(s)?
   
   "The Film Club" is an enjoyable book to read, in the sense that the pages fly by in no time, but I can't help but wonder about the underlying social context of it all. Sure, in the end, the son decides to wizen up after 3 years of this, and gets his HS diploma, but at what price? Puzzling to me....

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

1. After reading Eric Clapton's autobiography, I was keen on reading Patty Boyd-Harrison-Clapton's own biography/testimony. Now that I have finished her book, my reactions are mixed.
   
   I was pleasantly surprised to learn Ms. Boyd spent her early years as a child in Kenya. Although there are sad memories in Kenya, her discussion about that time is one of the best parts of the book.
   
   Unfortunately, once grown up and beginning her life as a model, her story becomes a horn of plenty for names, food, dinners and parties. This onslaught has lead to the charge that Ms Boyd is a very superficial, name-dropping, social-climbing jet-setter. Oddly, this is precisely the person Ms. Boyd had wanted to prove she was not in writing this book. My inclination is to believe that Ms. Boyd is an intelligent and introspective lady. Such a person pokes up from the text several times. Thus this continuous parade of names and parties--while perhaps accurate as far as it goes--only obscures the real story she wants to tell.
   
   (On the other hand, one can only be amazed that Ms. Boyd remembers so much detail about who she met when and what they ate. I can't necessarily remember who was at the office Christmas party just six months ago much less what I was eating on a particular day forty years ago.)
   
   Buried in Ms Boyd narrative is a tale of a self-doubting and insecure young girl slowly growing into a mature and self-directed woman. This could have been a good story all by itself; but if you weren't looking for it you'd miss it. Instead, we get occasional admissions of confusion and "low self esteem" during the major tumultuous crossroads in her life. These admissions get to be a little annoying after a while. The vocabulary she uses leads the reader to suspect M.S. Boyd has learned just enough psychobabble through therapy to use for explaining many of the poor choices she had made. I do not know if "low self esteem" really does explain much of her actions; but therapeutic terms often can act as detours around serious thinking. Indeed, some serious thinking seems to be lacking in many of Boyd's reflections.
   
   In discussing her courtship and marriage to George Harrison, Ms Boyd is not shy to admit that in spite of everything George was the love of her life. Nevertheless, I found myself wanting more about her life with this quixotic man. For a man who by all accounts was so comfortable with himself, why could he be such an absolute jerk at times? How could one focused on the transcendent turn to be so mean with those who meant the most to him? Perhaps, George was simply a mystery even to those closest to him.
   
   By Boyd's testimony, Harrison was less than candid about their past relationship after their divorce. Harrison claimed that the marriage that was stupid, meant little, and never should have happened anyway. He also maintained that his best song, "Something", was not written about Patty. He also stated several times that losing Patty meant nothing to him. In fact, Boyd is confident that George knew that she was the love of his life as well. Even among his infidelities, he was deeply in love with her and when he lost her it completely tore him up. By her written account, when Boyd returned to their home at Friar Park to gather up her things and move in with Eric Clapton, George was visibly shaken and destroyed. Years later, Boyd relates that they met once again at an airport. George had been remarried to Olivia Trinidad Arias while she herself was solidly attached to Clapton. By her account, in a particular instant during their polite meeting, she saw that George was still deeply in love with her. She, too, realized that she loved Harrison even then. The magic was still there. As Boyd herself matured and learned to stand on her own feet, she felt that she shouldn't have left George. Instead, she should have stood up and fought for their marriage.
   
   So who was telling the truth? Harrison with his professed indifference? Or Boyd's testimony of mutual emotional devastation? I am far more inclined to take Boyd's account than that of Harrison's. There are a few songs Harrison wrote at the time that seemed to betray his true feelings of loss. (Especially his "So Sad (No Love of His Own)" recorded for Alvin Lee's ON THE ROAD TO FREEDOM solo album). Is Boyd's perception that both she and Harrison still loved each other when they met at the airport reliable? Again, I think Boyd is fairly trustworthy here.
   
   If Harrison was the fire, Clapton was the fire. As her marriage to Harrison began its downward spiral, Clapton pleaded Boyd to leave George and join him. She resisted but another affair by Harrison pushed her over the edge. She fell in with Clapton and he began a long torment vacillating from passionate love to emotional cruelty. When she was away from him, Clapton was enchanting. When she was safely his, he could be indifferent or abusive. One of the major demons in Clapton's life was alcohol and it drove his life with Boyd suffering his drunken mistreatment. The picture Boyd paints of Clapton is not pretty and is very difficult to square with the hero worship laid at his feet. Finally, after fathering a child with another woman, Ms Boyd made the clean break. The reader, however, is left wondering why she tolerated Clapton's serial infidelities so long--especially given her awareness of what goes on among rock musicians on the road.
   
   One walks away from this book wondering why both George Harrison and Eric Clapton remained good friends after the high drama of Boyd leaving one for the other. It being a "musician thing" as some suggest doesn't cut it. Perhaps because it is more common than we think or she herself has no insight to share on this score, Ms Boyd does not venture explaining the bond between her two husbands.
   
   Neither do we get beyond more than scratching the bare surface the Beatles as a band or as individuals. Given the very long bookshelf of books about the Beatles by those who knew them and (more frequently) those who never met them. I would have liked to have read the perspective of one of the wives who was there from Beatlemania until the breakup. Cynthia Lennon has done so to a degree. Unfortunately, Linda McCartney and Maureen Starkey died from cancer. Yoko Ono is more interested in guarding John Lennon's memory--especially wanting to have the public see their relationship in the best light. (By and large, most of the public still believe Yoko broke up the band. Not a few within the Beatle's circle of friends have suggested there was something pathological about John and Yoko's relationship.) This leaves Ms Boyd. It may be a biographer is required to draw this out of her.
   
   Lastly, Ms Boyd tells us that after all these difficult years she finally found herself and took responsibility for her own life. How did this come about? We get a hint that becoming a professional photographer played a role in this; but we learn next to nothing about Patty the photographer.
   
   So we add Ms Boyd's manuscript to the burgeoning library about the Beatles. Ms Boyd's writing in clear if only workman like. Compared to Eric Clapton's own autobiography, Patty's is less dynamic--and that is saying something. All the names and parties distract from what should have been the focus of the book: Harrison, Clapton and Patty Boyd. If you have read more than a few books about the Beatles, some of the chronology of events seems a bit off. Still, you can't help liking Patty Boyd. She made some bad decisions in her life; but I think it is fair to say that none of the Beatles and their circles escaped making a long series of poor choices in that pressure cooker few will ever experience.



2. This book was a lot of name dropping which I found annoying seeing as I didn't know most of the names she mentioned. I loved the history with the Beatles and Eric Clapton the most. Learning that Patti was the muse for some of the greatest love songs of all time like "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton and "Something" written by George Harrison. I almost feel like Patti has repeated all the wrong patterns without learning any lessons life tried to teach her. She always relied on her ex-husbands to support her financially and had no real world experience. I understand being married to a superstar is a whirlwind, however, let's get realistic, which I feel Patti never did. A quick read. I skimmed a lot of parts that babbled about supermodels and photo shoots. She skimmed over drug usage...I felt she could have elaborated more on those moments/feelings, which would have connected her to more of her audience bc most of us share that experience or have had that experience. Writing style was not elegant, sort of choppy.



3. I thought that this book was very interesting. I especially found it interesting that even though she did not stay married to him, she, until the day he died, always loved George Harrison.



4. I was so excited to read this book. I have always been so interested to learn about her life. It was a good book like I said, worth the read. But in no ways a GREAT book.
   I have been a huge Eric Clapton fan for years and in this book he came across like a total peice of work. I wasnt clear on why she would ever leave George for him? Ya he wrote her some sweet poetic letters and wrote songs for her but other then that he seems like a constant nightmare. I did enjoy reading the book just felt like something was missing.



5. HUGE fan of George Harrison my whole life, so I was dying to read from this woman's point of view. It was interesting to read (especially about Eric Clapton--I always pictured him as such a saint), but it was very confusing most of the time. She rarely put dates in here, a lot of events were way out of order (it's 1974, no wait, we're back in '68), and I still couldn't help but feel she was/is a bit spoiled? I don't want to hear her complain about how broke she was and how little they each gave her (she gave up modeling pretty early so had no job of her own) and then hear about her travels all over the exotic locations of the world? But again, interesting to hear things from her perspective...

5 comments about His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy.

1. this was a real story, moving and touching and definitely gave insight into why these woman accept this way of life in the first place. it sure makes you wonder where the stories come from where you see the sister wives trying to make us beleive its an easy way of life...



2. This is a fabulous book. She was a strong women and managed to get out of this life, but so many do not get out. These women and children are truly trapped by a warped way of thinking about God. I became interested in this subject from a religious perspective. And wow, I really began to feel for these people.



3. This book is very compelling (hard to put down) and insightful. Its story is similar to many others about the cult of Fundamentalist Mormanism. It is sad to think that many women and children are stil trapped in polygamist situations. There are many implications pointing to the cult of Mormonism itself and why and how it has grown so large. Think broader than just this one situation when you read this true story!



4. I am totally fascinated by the FLDS society and being a librarian have found lots to read on the subject. This was a favorite. Living in Utah makes the subject all the more interesting because it is going on here. I would recommend this book to anyone. It is traveling on to my daughtger next and then will find its way to Indiana to a good friend. Had lots of startling information......both funny and sad. My heart goes out to all the people, young and old in this society.



5. This was a very good, well written book, although, after you have read "Shattered Lives", it doesn't compare to the details given. It does show the true life of someone who simply doesn't know any better. Doesn't know that she has rights, doesn't know she has a choice. I think I would have killed myself had I had to live out some of these lives. I thank God every time I read a Polygamist book that I wasn't born into it. It is total mind control - totally!

5 comments about Madness: A Bipolar Life.

1. Having recently entered into the confusing world of having a child diagnosed with bi-polar, trying to tease out a distinction between mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction, watching different psychiatrists prescribe different medications, along with the child being a hostile patient, i.e. doesn't want to talk about what's going on---this book is a brilliant insight into what's going on inside a rapid cycle bi-polar head. I recognized some actions of my son throughout this book and finally got a sense of what it must be like inside his brain. This book gave me a new appreciation for the pain he is trying to hide or run away from. And also gave me insight into how I can better be there for him in his mental illness while not enabling his addictive behavior. This illness is not fun and there seems to be a lot of differences in how to treat it, especially as the field of study on bi-polar appears to be expanding and new treatments are on the rise but not consistently throughout the psychiatric profession.
   
   Marya Hornbacher has done a great service for me by writing in such vivid prose her ongoing dilemma. Admittedly, my reading on bi-polar is not exhaustive, but this is the first book I've read that truly captured the tyranny of this illness. Ms. Hornbacher is a truly gifted writer. I do not envy her the ongoing struggle she faces, but she sure dug deep to write this. Throughout the the painful descriptions of behavior and feelings shines a courage that lifts my hopes for my own son.



2. I have a daughter who was diagnosed with early onset bipolar at age 11. She is now 22 with a 20 month old child and alcoholic (probably bipolar but won't seek help)husband. Marya's book was written with graphic discriptions of manic and depressive episodes. You can really feel her pain. This book should be great for someone who doesn't realize the trauma and pain that goes with this disorder. I was left with a sad, discouraged feeling. Although there are brief times of remission, I already felt that there is no way out of this nightmare. Maybe Marya meant the book to be that way as this is a serious illness with no cure just treatment sometimes effective and sometimes not.



3. Excellent book. Riveting and exciting look at the life of a very manic bipolar woman. Easy to read but hard to put down.



4. I have seen what Bipolar can do to people. This was really an eye opener.



5. Being the mother of a daughter who has bipolar disorder, I found this book to be very helpful in my quest for understanding of this very serious illness. It is written in first person narrative and is very intense. I wonder what will happen next each time I read a chapter.

5 comments about Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad.

1. I loved this book as much as I loved Funny in Farsi, a book our whole book club enjoyed immensely. If I had to pick one person to sit next to on a plane it would be Firoozeh Dumas. She's witty, warm, honest, and very real.



2. I just purchased this book and read it while commuting on the NY subway. It made my commuting experience a pleasure.
   
   Both books are very human and also very funny. Almost every paragraph has a surprise. She is finely attuned to the differences between Iranian and American culture. She does succeed in having us "laugh with her." I have read both of her books and highly recommend them.
   
   I have zero sympathy with the Iranian regime, but we do need more "cultural ambassadors" like Ms. Dumas who can maintain perspective and a sense of humor, and fewer Reading Lolita in Tehran's.



3. This book is jam packed with hilarious, sad, hopeful and inspiring short stories which I really enjoyed. My favorite one is when she spoke before a bunch of evangelicals at Palm Spring. Honestly, I can't think of many writers that can describe an experience as neat as her....
   This book is addictive! You just can't put it down until the short story ends and then next one is even better than the last ones.....so, I was caught reading "Laughing without an accent" skipping my lunch and laughing hysterically in my office!!
   What a fantastic follow-up to "Funny in Farsi"....Can't wait for another marvelous book by Firoozeh....



4. I just had the privilege of meeting Firoozeh Dumas and her stories are so real. Laughing without an Accent is a great follow up to Funny in Farsi; it's a bit more serious and brings us to into Firoozeh's family in recent years. She is a master storyteller, sharing her thoughts, her perceptions and most importantly, her feelings about life, family and the American way. Reading Laughing is like spending a few hours with the author. It leaves you wanting more.



5. As an expatriate like Firoozeh Dumas, but not Iranian and in my case living in Europe, I was thrilled to hear that Firoozeh had written another memoir.
   Laughing Without An Accent continues to delight and amuse, much like her earlier book Funny In Farsi. Each of the stories seem to somehow touch the heart and can connect with people of any culture. She tells her stories about her family with wit and affection.
   Many of my friends live outside of the country they were born in. All found Funny In Farsi to be right on the mark and they could really relate to the situations and family issues in the book.
   If you're reading Laughing Without An Accent as you relax on vacation, you should know that people will constantly be asking what you're reading that's so funny.

5 comments about The Complete Persepolis: Now a Major Motion Picture.

1. This is my first Graphic Novel, but not my last. I loved the story and I felt that the book had a really nice flow. Marjane Satrapi as an exceptional story teller and has a very strong voice. I read this shortly after seeing the movie, and though I loved the movie, I felt that it left alot of important stuff out. The book really helped fill in some of the gaps, and you also got to see Satrapi's personality a bit more. I look forward to reading her other works. If you have never read a Graphic Novel, this is a great place to start.



2. I was surprised to find it was in comic strip format, but I enjoyed the lite reading.



3. Without harping too much on what has already been said about the political observations that Satrapi makes or her commentary on the limits faced by everyone (and most especially) women in Iran, the truly inspirational achievement of this work is how honest she can be about herself in the story. That with everything whirling around her, the fact that she can be honest about both the good and the bad of the relationships she'd been in, the despair both at home and abroad, the flickers of hope that she clung to during the darkest times and how (true to the reality of a hopeful young woman) the very worst thing that can happen is ultimately to let down yourself and to let down your loved ones is stark and amazing. The scene where she loses the trust and the good standing with her grand mother is heart-breaking and yet could happen to any teenage girl anywhere in the world. That it's depicted in basic drawings doesn't detract from the power of the moment in the least.
   
   And not that graphic novels these days have any trouble being seen as legitimate art, but Persepolis certainly puts a nail in the coffin of the arguments made by detractors.
   
   Trust this book for it's emotion, for it's personal honesty, for it's attempts to always find something good even under the most extreme circumstances. It is not a history book. It is a personal history book. And it is one that deserves applause.



4. In the chapter "The Shabbat", set before she leaves for Austria in 1984, Marjane describes how Iraqi Scud missiles start raining down on Tehran, killing her Jewish childhood friend and neighbor, Neda. However, according to Jane's Intelligence Review and other sources, no missiles reached Tehran before Iraq's Al-Husayn missile programme in February 1988. Why would she lie about this?



5. This book can join Art Spiegelman's "Maus" and Joe Sacco's "Safe Area Gorazde" as yet another graphical masterpiece. Very enjoyable book, couldn't put it down.

5 comments about Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's.

1. I have lived with a partner with Asperger's Syndrome for over 12 years now. How true this book is as far as how their minds process differently from the rest of us "neurotypicals". It validates the difficuities of such a relationship, and portrays how one must accept the effected individual for who they are - they rarely change without egocentric motivation. An excellent book without being technical.



2. This book, above all the others I have read on the subject of Asperger's, is a must have. I gained more insight into how my oldest son might think by reading this book than any book written by people with a lot of initials after their name. Believe me, if you have a child or other relative who has been diagnosed with AS, then you owe it to them to read this book. In all honesty, I do hope that if you do read this book that your child is not going through a similar childhood that this man did.



3. This book was a bridge to the mind of my 13-year-old grandson, who not only deals with this syndrome, but Tourette's, as well. As we struggled as a family to understand him, it would've made all the difference in the world if we'd had this book as a guidebook!
   
   What was so hopeful and helpful to me was the resourcefulness which John Elder exhibited. It brings us a breath of fresh air to know that there is a world out there that needs Aspergians, and without these gifts (many from undiagnosed geniuses of historical significance), we would be much poorer indeed.
   
   I think the author was brave to share that hope with all of us!



4. This was an educating read on a fascinating character with Asperger's. To see Mr. Robinson grow and be able to utilize his condition for his personal well being was inspiring. The fact that he is Augusten Burrough's brother is what led me to read the book but after finishing the autobiography, I realize his relationship to his brother played a very small part in my enjoyment of the work.



5. Caution: SPOILERS in this review.
   
   The author seems to delight in "getting one over" certain people - he stages an elaborate stunt to get one over on the cops, tells his son convoluted lies about Santa being in trouble with the law, spends a huge amount of time setting up a trap for higher-ups at work to fall into (and then is incredulous and disgusted at the end result), and calls people insulting names because "that's the only way that works for me." Where does Aspberger's end and the "real" John Elder begin?
   
   He goes on at great length about not understanding why people from a certain city like the way he describes them. The word "goonie" is in the middle of his word, which may be the reason. If he asked instead of trying to puzzle such things out in his head he may be surprised to know others are also intelligent in ways he is not.
   
   The whole tone of this book is one of amused superiority.

5 comments about Passion on the Vine: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Family in the Heart of Italy.

1. Although I don't have even a single corpuscle of Italian blood in me, my wife is 100%. Her grandparents on both sides were immigrants who came to Newark from the town of Avellino, which is about 45 minutes east of Naples, and if known at all in America, it's probably as the alleged hometown of Tony Soprano. Naples, of course, is far more famous for crime, but it's also the ancestral home of Sergio Esposito, author of Passion on the Vine, and it provides the springboard for his worldview and life's work.
   
   So I know a little about life in a Southern Italian family, at least through osmosis. It would also probably constitute full disclosure to add that I have an amateur's abiding interest in Italian wine, as evidenced by a number of Amazon reviews I've written on books that deal with this specific subject.
   
   
   Throw in the fact that I've been to Esposito's Italian Wine Merchant store in Manhattan a number of times, and you'll probably understand why I had certain preconceptions about this book before I ever opened it. In hindsight, I probably would have been better served if I had read it blind (pardon the atrocious mixed metaphor), and like a blind wine tasting, known nothing about it before I tried it. I was kind of hoping for a book that celebrated the true and the beautiful in Italian wine, but also the accessible, in the sense that you shouldn't need to take out a home equity loan before you buy, as would be the case if you were chasing '05 first growth Bordeaux. You certainly can find good, authentic QPR (quality/price ratio) wines in Esposito's store. Unfortunately, you won't find them in the book, but I'll return to this theme later.
   
   Passion on the Vine really isn't a traditional wine expert's memoir (here I lump together the works of intrepid importers like Kermit Lynch and writer/educators like Gerald Asher), because the story of Esposito's Neapolitan family is deeply woven into the narrative. It's a relatively engaging immigrants' tale, and the personalities of his parents, uncles and aunts especially come to life and remind me sharply of my wife's many relatives who still live in Avellino. But if your goal in reading this book is full immersion in the contemporary Italian wine scene, you may be disappointed by the family details that spill across the pages at the expense of more stories about wine. Or maybe you'll love them. You'll also probably find more details about the food he's eaten than the wines he's consumed, but that goes with the territorio.
   
   Accordingly, I'm not going to recount the "portrait of the wine merchant as a young man" story since that's not of real interest to me. For me, the first half of the book seemed to drag on and occasionally frustrated me. There are a few strange things I noted, like how his transplanted family appears to have suddenly gone from near abject poverty in Albany to relative affluence in Scottsdale without explanation, and occasional incomprehensible statements, like when he describes one of his early mentors as a true "scientist," since no one can reproduce his experiments. I also can't for the life of me figure out why he would effectively call the initial investors in The Italian Wine Merchant a bunch of clueless Wall Street boobs who couldn't understand how a store could only sell Italian wines, but then gave him the money anyway. At times the book reminded me of the scene in Animal House when Bluto says "...was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" Otter whispers to Boon, "Germans?" And Boon replies, "Don't stop him, he's rolling."
   
   Esposito seems to believe he alone invented the idea that a store dedicated to Italian wine could succeed in the US, although he didn't get around to opening the store until 1998. I recall shopping in a wonderful Italian food and wine store in Chicago in the early `80's called Convito Italiano, at a time when Esposito was still in knickers. The profiled producers (see next paragraph) were mostly all well established when Victor Hazan wrote his wonderful guide simply called Italian Wine, published in 1982.
   
   When we finally get to Italy on business, the chapters are mostly arranged around visits to iconic, world-renowned properties (Bartolo Mascarello, Biondi Santi, Soldera, Josko Gravner), each singled out I presume for their respect for the land and what I might term modern traditionalism, where the best of the past is effectively preserved and enhanced by application of non-interventionist technical advances. Like I said before, these are fiendishly expensive wines that all sell for $100 a bottle or more, so don't come looking for bargains here. But Esposito has a real gift for letting the winemakers tell their own stories. The chapter on biodynamics, for example, unfolds as a Socratic dialog between a Serbian winemaker and the author's wife. It is unquestionably the best and most entertaining introduction to the how's and why's of biodynamics I've encountered, and should be required reading for anyone who wants a primer on biodynamic theory and practice. The wines you read about here are mostly true vini di meditazione, so much so in fact that when visiting legendary Barolo producer Bartolo Mascarello, the winemaker sits mute for an hour smelling the wine and smiling to himself. Except for the fact that's he's confined to a wheelchair, all that's missing is the lotus position.
   
   Esposito isn't afraid to reveal his personal foibles to the reader. He's impatient, petulant, self-absorbed, and even downright mean at times, particularly when he openly baits the effeminate son of one of his wine producers with a string of female names like Coco Chanel and Ursula Andress. Is he a homophobe? Well, that's passion of a different kind.
   
   I recognize this review is getting a little off topic, not unlike the way my initial expectations wandered from where they started. Read this book as a cultural history based on Italian family, food and wine in that order and you'll probably love it. Despite my grape gripes, I enjoyed a lot of it, and I don't think anyone could have summed it up better than Gianfranco Soldera, quoted after another prodigious Italian meal recounted by the author: "La storia, la famiglia, il cibo, il vino. Questa e la vita dell'uomo. History, family, food, wine. This is the life of man." A bottle of the wine they drank that afternoon, the '99 Casse Basse Soldera Brunello, isn't available at the Italian Wine Merchant, but you can get the '01 on pre-arrival for a little less than three hundred smackers a bottle if you inquire now.



2. Esposito write with a real zest for wine and the food that accompanies it.He provides the reader with a large amount of historical information about the origin and development of the Italian wine industry. However he gives the reader little insight in how he got to where he is and how he made his business a success - if in fact it is. Finally one has to ask the question - how does he survive so much food and drink in a day only to get up and start all over? Yeah, yeah I am Italian American and I couldn't come close to what he says he does.



3. Sergio Esposito, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich started Italian Wine Merchants in 1999, a retail shop that represents fine Italian wines. There are many interesting wines on offer, the staff is knowledgeable and helpful, and the weekly and monthly emails provide a wonderful education on Italian wines and wine in general.
   
   The emails are written by Esposito, and this wonderful book is a perfect example of Esposito's warm and educational style of writing. He starts his memoir with a description of his idyllic childhood in the slums of Naples: he remembers that "women lowered baskets from their balconies to buy the fish straight from the sea and grapes straight from the vine."
   
   When he was a child, his family moved from Naples to Albany, New York. Esposito writes movingly about the transition: The pasta they ate in Italy had been laid in the middle of the street, "so that the unique combination of Mediterranean and mountain winds would dry it in just the right way, to produce the perfect texture when it was boiled." His first pasta in Albany was "mushy ...like glue in my throat."
   
   Esposito's uncle shared his California red wine with his nephew starting a love affair with Italian wine. Esposito describes his travels as a student and as a wine merchant with great enthusiasm. Wine geeks will love passages like these, this one about Friulian winemaker Josko Gravner:
   
   "Gravner is a proponent in the use of open-top wood vats, extended maceration on the grape skins, no added yeasts, no sulphur dioxide, and no temperature control--purely natural winemaking. This is Josko's current position, and he employs both amphorae and large oak barrels to make his three wines; Collio Breg, Ribolla Gialla, and Rosso Gravner. The grapes for these wines come from his 18 hectares of vineyards in Gorizia (Oslavia) that straddle the Italian-Slovenian border. It is here that he exercises his current approach to wine: 'I am convinced that wine is a product of Nature, not of Man, whose role therefore is to accompany its maturation process while avoiding any artificial intervention.'"
   
   Any reader with the least interest in Italy will love his descriptions of the food and vintages he consumes on his adventures. For example, in one Roman restaurant, a white wine "smelled of apricots, white flowers, dried honey, nuts ... [I] got the sensation that I was being seduced in a Pompeii brothel before the volcano erupted."
   
   Bill Buford is glowing in his praise: "Without qualification, the best book about Italian wine today, if only because Sergio Esposito understands that its mysterious greatness is in its poetry--the earth, its diurnal magic, the ghosts of great-grandfathers. A beautiful, boldly sentimental memoir."
   
   As a long time reader of Esposito's prose, I couldn't agree more. Wine, of course, food, family, travel, more -- an absolute delight.
   
   
   Robert C. Ross 2008



4. I loved this book. Wine, food, gossip, history - who could ask for more. Page 128 has a story of a wedding that will have you rolling on the floor with glee. The only drawback is trying to find a bottle of Vestini Campagnano Pallagrello Bianco - which Mr. Esposito describes as, '..being seduced in a Pompeii brothel before the volcano erupted.'



5. If you have any interest in wine, food, travel, culture, history, family, and people as I do, then I recommend you read this book - I enjoyed all of it. Basically, it's a memoir of the author's move from Italy to the U.S. as a boy, and how his interest and love of wine and food inspired him to learn more about wine, open an Italian wine store in New York, and through his travels, continue his wine education.
   
   He describes his travels throughout Italy in quest of the finest wines produced in that country (and the world) and understanding what motivates and inspires the people who make them. Along the way the reader gets taken for the ride through the beautiful wine making regions of Italy, and introduced to some of the iconic figures (some a bit eccentric) of Italian wine making. The author describes in detail his meetings, conversations, and tastings with these producers, and we get an inside perspective of how some of these icons have passionately and steadfastly respected history, terroir, and nature in crafting memorable wines they believe in. You'll visit their wineries, meet their families and partake in meals the author shared with the wine makers. Together they discuss the importance of food and wine pairing, and how, when done well, enhance each other and represent one of the essential aspects of an enjoyable and elevated quality of life.
   
   I imagined myself as a secret participant of the winery cantina visits and mealtime conversations he describes in the book. As a person who appreciates good wine and food, they were absolutely riveting for me as it enabled me to learn more by getting a peek inside the minds of these great wine makers.
   
   When you open this book and begin to read, it is much like a bottle of fine wine that develops and evolves over time. It has varying layers of characteristics that enhance your enjoyment, promote thinking, and will stay with you even past the last drop, or the last page.

5 comments about The Prince of Frogtown.

1. Rick Bragg is a story par excellence. So simply written [not simplisticly... then I would not bother to write this], yet capable of painting a mental picture that brings you into whatever the author is writing about. I hung out with guys like Rick and his cast of characters back in the day. Each line brings me back to where I used to be and into the new stories as the pages fly by. Great stuff!



2. I wanted to love this book. I was ready to. All Over But The Shouting is one of my favorite books of all time. Ava's Man was good but not great and the same can be said for The Prince of Frogtown. Not nearly as good stories as the first book. And it's kind of difficult to follow the characters. Not the switching back and forth from present to past. That was dealt with well using the shading on the chapter's about the boy. But during the chapters about his dad all the people telling stories and who they were talking about was confusing. And there just didn't seem to be the magical prose of All Over But The Shouting. This book is definitely worth buying and it's good but just not Great like I hoped.



3. With this title, The Prince of Frogtown, one expects a story akin to the tall tales of Uncle Remus, and Rick Bragg does not disappoint. He is a consummate storyteller in the southern tradition of "pull up a chair, and let me tell you about the time...." Here he closes the circle of family stories in which his "father occupied only a few pages, but lived between every line."
   
   Marrying late, and instantly acquiring a ten-year-old son, prompted Bragg to look at himself as a father, and finally to explore the father he hardly knew as anything more than a drunken caricature. He goes in search of the real man that lived between the lines of his life's story.
   
   Bragg journeys back and pulls up his chair beside those who remember to hear the stories of his father's life and times. To those stories, he adds his own recollections.
   
   A vignette, "The Boy," prefaces each flashback chapter. These vignettes give us glimpses of Bragg as he learns to be a father to the boy. As he awkwardly makes his way in unfamiliar territory, he remarks, "The woman is mad at me a lot. I make her mad, being me. The boy never is. I walk in the door and the boy never seems disappointed in me."
   
   The two stories running in tandem work well. I enjoyed seeing the Bragg of now in "The Boy" juxtaposed with the Bragg of then, seeing the father he is compared to the father he had.
   
   In the stories of life with his wife and his step-son, we see the tug-of-war between the civil society he now inhabits with the harsh brash past of his and his family's past.
   
   It is interesting to see him vacillate between accepting the boy with one breath and in the next describing him as one of those boys--the soft, spoiled, privileged ones--he remembers from his youth with disdain.
   
   It is not always because of, but sometimes in spite of our life experiences that we become who we become. It is always a choice. I'm glad Rick Bragg chose to write for his life and share it with us.
   
   The final chapter, "The Circle," is both preceded and followed by "The Boy" and the story stops on an up note. His mother and brother stand amid wildflowers on their garden's path. Rick and the boy are flying down the road in the old silver sports car, and we have one last look at Bragg still growing into being a father to the boy.
   
   Perle Champion is a writer, artist, and photographer. Contact: [...]



4. Having read Rick Bragg's other works, I can say that this book not only didn't disappoint me in any way - it is as beautifully written as All Over But The Shoutin' and Ava's Man - but it also fulfilled a curiousty created by All Over But The Shoutin, in particular. It dug in to just who Rick's father was and created a three dimensional man, giving those of us who have followed this family saga an understanding of what made that man tick. There is tremendous sadness in this understanding, but Rick manages to weave in humor that will simply touch your heart. Watching the relationship develop with The Boy through passages so descriptive it was as if I could see the two of them together...more than once I found myself with a lump in my throat...and more than once I beamed with joy (particularly at the church league basketball game)! These "characters" are so rich, you'll forget that these are real people and not some beautifully crafted works of fiction. Very well done!



5. Rick Bragg never fails to mesmerize and entertain...and oh, what a way with words! 'Prince' is my favorite in this trilogy, but I'd heartily recommend any of them. A truly remarkable memoir, touching, engaging, laugh-out-loud funny, and tender in its portrayal of Alabama.
   I live in Florida now, and travel back and forth to a mountain place we have near my birthplace in Anniston. Rick Bragg never fails to make me wish I were there...