THE FERRARI IN THE BEDROOM

by Jean Shepherd ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 30, 1972

Shepherd again applies his beer-can-and-undershirt machismo and hyperbolic pleasures and outrages to the mini-peaks of life in this latest collection of essays. There's a good deal about cars -- from memories of the Indy 500 and the Saab to a blistering account of the Car in New York City, particularly the cab -- ""the yawing, sagging, stinking hulk"" with ""its toadlike pilot... crashing from pothole to pothole."" Inevitably Shepherd looks back to boyhood wonders like the Johnson Smith catalogue -- ""a rich compost heap of exploding cigars, celluloid teeth, Anarchist (Stink) Bombs"", Chicken-Claw Choosing up sides, and a 1951 Hudson Hornet named Lillian. He also fires away at current motes in the tired eye, like David Susskind and the groove kids, apple-checked folk singers costumed as Master Sufferers, and Women's Lib which he can't quite seem to locate even with saturation bombing (does any woman know what ""the Chicken Clawed Chooser"" is?). But most of this is as busy as a rumble seat ride on a washboard road. More for the cult.

Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1972

ISBN: 0307755312

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION