This collection of essays by hot novelist Wallace (Infinite Jest, 1996, etc.) is sometimes tiresome but often truly rewarding.
Wallace is a fine prose stylist of the post-Beat school. His long sentences overflow with prepositional phrases; commas are scarce. At his best—which is to say, about half the time here—Wallace writes with an intensity that transforms rambling reportage into a sui generis mode of weird philosophizing. He makes deft use of footnotes to pile up insights beneath the flow of his main line of thought. Especially brilliant is the collection's opening essay, in which Wallace looks back on his childhood experiences as a Midwestern junior tennis star through the lens of his collegiate obsession with mathematics. The tennis world, treated at length in Infinite Jest, resurfaces in a sensitive profile of rising American player Michael Joyce. Otherwise, Wallace's best work comes in two pieces that originally appeared in Harper's: a ferocious investigative report on the culture of luxury cruises, and the record of another carnival voyage, this one a trip to the Illinois State Fair. A book review competently discusses literary-theoretical debates over the death-of-the-author thesis. Elsewhere in the volume, Wallace takes determined dives into banality. A more judicious, albeit less focused, effort finds Wallace on the set with filmmaker David Lynch, whom he presents as a contemporary artistic hero. A sprawling meditation on television and contemporary fiction lays out many intriguing theories, but its main point, that TV irony snares rather than liberates viewers, doesn't make news. At his best, the exuberant Wallace amazes with his “Taoistic ability to control via noncontrol.” But—to continue quoting from his opening tour-de-force, “Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley''—eschewing discipline exacts a price: “Force without law has no shape, only tendency and duration.''
Pub Date: Feb. 12, 1997
ISBN: 0-316-91989-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In this unappetizing and tacky effort, Philbin and Gifford (Cooking with Regis and Kathie Lee, not reviewed) combine recipes from guests on their hyperirritating morning chat show with those from their friends and family in chapters organized by holiday (Memorial Day, Easter and Passover, etc.). There are some terrific dishes here, but they are without exception those from professionals, like Daniel Boulud, many of whom have written their own, far superior books. Recipes from friends and relatives could have come from a 1950s ladies' auxiliary cookbook: ambrosia fruit salad with marshmallows and flaked coconut, and jelly thumbprint butter cookies that are virtual cholesterol bombs. The overall presentation is sloppy and disorienting, with boxed information often serving to confuse rather than help. What is a definition of wheat berries doing on a page with a recipe for rendering chicken fat? Worse than the food are the coy, name-dropping anecdotes and tips dripping with self-importance. Gifford says that her trick for staying slim is ``doing an exercise video'' because ``thousands of people will see your fat thighs if you don't.'' Party suggestions sound straight out of the Girl Scouts—for Saint Patrick's Day hosts are instructed to attach an ``O'' to the name of each guest and address them as ``for instance, Mr. O'Steinberg.'' Want to throw the cheesiest party of the year? This is your guide. (First serial to Good Housekeeping; Literary Guild/Better Homes & Gardens Book Club selections)
Pub Date: Oct. 13, 1994
ISBN: 0-7868-6067-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Lacks punch because it lacks supporting evidence.
An observer’s thoughts on America’s perceived moral decline and its government’s tendency toward autocracy.
According to Howard, America began sliding toward autocracy soon after it was founded, thanks to Chief Justice John Marshall, a John Adams appointee, whose federalistic decisions helped to concentrate power in the executive branch. Add to that a movement away from America’s "basicly (sic) Christian moral heritage," coupled with meddling by liberal and/or socialist elements within the government, and Howard sees the country rapidly heading toward the fate that met the ancient democracies in Greece and Rome. To put the current situation in context, Howard devotes large sections to explanations of the governments of the United States and Britain, as well as outlines key differences between ancient and modern democracies. However, he fails to provide many of the factual underpinnings necessary to back up his claims, such as the idea that "the total removal of limitations of the male democratic franchise" (i.e. allowing African-Americans and women to vote) limited democracy. Some of Howard’s other ideas that lack support include the notion that the intent of the Constitution’s framers more than 200 years ago should be the main factor in assessing a law’s constitutionality. Similarly, it’s debatable whether or not the British have “diluted their traditions” by allowing large numbers of immigrants into their country, or even that the United States is in a state of moral decline. These assertions are very much open to dispute, yet the author treats them as givens. This book begs for citations, or at least a bibliography, but the facts to back up the claims simply are not there.
Lacks punch because it lacks supporting evidence.Pub Date: May 7, 2001
ISBN: 978-0-7388-5189-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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