|
Sarah Vowell's writing is both precise and conversational at the same time. That is the mark of a truly good writer.After completing this book I plan on reading Sarah's other books of essays. I knew Sarah Vowell's voice and style from episodes of This American Life on NPR. I found myself devouring essays about political topics I had heretofore had zero interest in. A definate must read for those with a dry sense of humor and a love of all thing pop culture and political. However, I picked up this book knowing nothing about it, just on a recommendation from a friend. It took me a few essays in to really start to get into it, but once I did I was hooked.
For example, relating the hardships endured by the pilgrims to her own flight delay is shallow in the extreme, and attempting to make it humorous by developing an "it could have been worse" mantra, is just a catchphrase that enables the author to continue her excessive whining, yet avoid being openly labeled a whiner. For an author who openly idealizes great speeches and literary works, such as addresses by Roosevelt, and Lincoln, Ms. I'm liberally minded, and have similar historical interests, yet I can't fathom why anyone would choose to read the questionably glib ramblings of a well-off, hyper-active, depressive, so engrossed in her own attention seeking needs that she writes an entire book relating interesting historical antidotes to her own insecurities and selfish wants.
It's written in the author's speaking/story telling manner, which is appropriate for recitation on NPR. Vowell's writing just demonstrates how far we've fallen. While I can work to "hear" the author's voice, after a few chapters it becomes more irksome than listening to a teenager use "like" to start every sentence.
I gave this one star because it was remarkably underwhelming for the witty-sophisticated, short essay genre. This book is just a collection of self absorbed ramblings.And frankly, the sentence structure and word choice makes it painful to read.
The concept is a modern historian as glib essayist, but that is really just a platform for the author to talk about herself. Many reviews compared her as the Gen X alternative to David Sedaris, however, Sedaris manages to be both funny and poignant, intellectual but self deprecating, caring but brazenly honest.
Still, it was better than some other commentaries out there, but just not as witty (but always just as insightful) as I would have expected. I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed. I love Sarah Vowell, but this wasn't her best.
I first learned who Sarah Vowell is, not from her books or from her appearances on NPR, but from a short film about her and one of her books that was on the DVD of "The Incredibles." That film interested me enough to read her books and I have been well rewarded. Vowell would feel the same way eight years after writing them. As you might expect from an author who writes essays about current events, many of her essays have not aged well. Other topics include the presidential election of 2000 and the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Do I really care what Ms. And overall, there is no theme to carry the book along. Vowell wrote for various publications in the period from about 1998 to 2002. Vowell thought about Tom Cruise ten years ago.Anyway, there are some good hits among the misses in this group of essays and if you are a fan of Ms. They vary in quality and, after ten years, interest. This book is one of her oldest and is a collection of essays that she wrote for various publications.
These are just random essays that Ms. Vowell's writing, this is worth reading while you wait for her next book to come along. The essays cover various topics including trips to North Dakota to see where Teddy Roosevelt lived during his sojourn in the west, a cafeteria at the bottom of the Carlsbad Cavern, Tom Landry, Canadians, and growing up with a fraternal twin sister. It is these essays that seem like ancient history now and reading them makes you wonder if Ms.
Highly recommended. This book is just plain fun to read. The writing is funny and the subject matter is truly interesting.
|
