BENJAMIN GRABBED HIS GLICKEN AND RAN: An Autobiography

by Fred Gordon ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 1971

A cute title featuring what at first seems like a cute little disturbed hero, standard brand, who lives alone intending to write, but instead sleeps compulsively and escapes to his uncle's gym and into the pages of a trashy best-seller, Glicken on Baby, It's Now. We never know how Benjamin Hackett (who even looks like Dustin Hoffman) got his post-Graduate anomie, and it's only when he takes up with and eventually kills Glicken's lady author that an explanation seems in order. One thing is certain--when distinctions blur between what Benjamin lives, dreams, writes and reads -- that author Gordon is flirting with important questions re art, fantasy and madness, and that he does have some insights into effect if not cause. But again and again he dodges behind pop stereotypes and Benjamin finally melts into the crowd of little murderers. Maddeningly indecisive, this depends heavily on style, especially in excerpts from Glicken and Benjamin's journals. It may well make it on style alone but there's enough unhinged substance to suggest what might have been, and what hopefully might still be when Gordon gets his own head together.

Pub Date: June 9, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1971

Categories: FICTION