The self-lacerating wit of David Sedaris mixed with the biting commentary of Dan Savage—only completely and utterly original.
Rakoff (Fraud, 2001) targets cultural excess in this humorous essay collection.
There’s something in the haute bourgeoisie obsession with “authenticity” that can quickly drive one to distraction, if not maddening fury. There has rarely been a better take on this trend than in “What is the Sound of One Hand Shopping?” in which he ponders the burning question, “just how fucking good can olive oil get?” This piece is the best example of a point of view returned to time and again in this impulsively readable volume, that is, a welcome level of intellectual disgust directed at the upper end of our nation’s socioeconomic demographic. The rest of the book, including pieces previously seen in magazines or heard on NPR’s “This American Life,” is equally biting: Rakoff discusses what it’s like to fly Hooters Air; the sad spectacle that is the Today show’s live audience; and the overwhelming greed of Paris fashion shows, which he witnessed firsthand. Although prone to deflating the aspirations of the enlightened elite, Rakoff is hardly a right-winger taking the mocking tone of a David Brooks or Tom Wolfe. “Beat Me, Daddy” is one of the smarter examinations available of the curiously masochistic position that the Log Cabin Republicans have placed themselves in, by supporting a party that not so secretly despises them. As a gay liberal, Rakoff finds himself first baffled (“I am a veritable Darwin in the Galapagos, slack-jawed in the presence of this confounding genus, a creature that seems to invite its own devouring”), then sympathetic, and finally baffled again, and a little angry. There are times when you wish Rakoff would have given himself more room, but there’s something to be said for a writer who refuses to pad.
The self-lacerating wit of David Sedaris mixed with the biting commentary of Dan Savage—only completely and utterly original.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2005
ISBN: 0-385-51036-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
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