R. Herz

Should have been great

Revisado: 09-20-20

Perlstein does great work — his Nixonland was a landmark, tremendous and valuable irrespective of your politics. This book, though titled "Reaganland," is about almost everything but until you get near the end, where it gets unfathomably sketchy on RR, and meanwhile the "everything" that fills the rest is an overbalanced very left view of the world and the country. The research here is formidable, of course, which is what we expect from this author. But — to slightly modify Philip Roth's wonderful quote — "He knows everything. It's too bad he doesn't know anything else."

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Could have been better

Revisado: 01-20-20

Well-written and wonderfully read, but what a whiney memoir it turns out to be of an exciting time and place, and also — odd for so good a writer — how inadequate to what she apparently imagines as what should be her rage. I am sorry to say this, and I wanted more from the book.

What's good? Her style is well-wrought, strong throughout. And the reading its terrific.

What's not so good? Well, there is a problem with the narrator: Nothing is quite right for her, and, as she confesses repeatedly, although she is treated very well given her job, she is never convinced that this work in the tech trade is what she wants to do, or that her life or her trade has the virtue she thinks it should have, or that she is any good at it, or that the tech ethos is anything but corrupting. She avoids consideration about the societal implications of her choices, and her condemnations tend to the aesthetic or merely descriptive. She sees a homeless man wearing a sweatshirt from the company she works for, a beggar in swag. “It was the city’s socioeconomic gap personified, I said. It felt even more significant that the man in the light-rail station was black, and not just because San Francisco was losing its black population at a rapid clip. To my knowledge, the company had just two black employees.” Her co-worker listens to her story, described as "a novelistic apparition, a hallucination," and says, “I wonder whose it was … We’re not supposed to give away the hoodies.” I suppose that that's honest in its descriptiveness, and so I should be appreciative; but I wanted more. Stylistically, I found that "To my knowledge, the company had..." not a judgment but an afterthought, an "oh yeah and ..." moment.

Other quibbles: Her verbal pantomime with corporations becomes mere virtue signaling, tossing rocks from behind a fence — Facebook is the “social network everyone hated,” Edward Snowden is “the NSA whistleblower who was back in media,” Microsoft is the “highly litigious Seattle-based software conglomerate.” Her catalogue of offenses — discrimination, antisemitism, racism, sexism — become, in effect, mere lists, as she writes them down but does not engage with them except ironically and as things that make her uncomfortable. In fairness, at this point in the book, which is the second half of it, she is burned out. Not from the work, which she describes as work from home barely getting out of bed, but from her own lack of engagement in it, her uncertainty about what she wants to do with her life.

So, I say it again: the book is wonderfully written, witty through most of it, but the main character is surprisingly more self-centered and shallow than I had expected, and becomes wearying. It is callow when it should be engaged and fierce. Its style sometimes lapses into vacuous word games. All in all it could have been a much better effort for someone with her obvious writing talent. I look forward to her next book, however, which I am sure will be better.

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Well done, but

Revisado: 11-03-19

The book is well-done, but it is more love letter to James Baldwin, and a good and well-deserved description of his works and thought in the 50's and 60's, than a fair and balanced treatment of two divergent points of view. The treatment of Buckley and his actions and thought unfortunately mars what could have been a really good study.

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Not His Best—Alas!

Revisado: 09-22-14

What would have made Personal better?

I've loved this series, but about 60% of this book is filler. That kind of "She said the wall was blue. The wall could have been blue, but it wasn't. It wasn't grey or orange either. Grey would have meant that someone chose that color, and some people would say that orange could have been an accident...." and another 1,000 or so more useless words. Drop the GD filler is the answer.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The plot was okay, but there was so much "and then" feeling to it — as if the story had been randomly constructed with a goal more or less in mind.

Which scene was your favorite?

Little Joey.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment. I kept thinking, Ok, this is a boy's own life fantasy. Don't usually get this with his books, but this one was too limp.

Any additional comments?

Anxiously waiting for the next one.

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Couldn't finish

Revisado: 04-21-13

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

The story is good but the reader is so phlegmatic that I had to stop. He makes me sleepy.

What did you like best about this story?

Plot. Love the series.

How could the performance have been better?

Different reader. This one reads like a bedtime story. No excitement.

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Couldn't finish

Revisado: 04-21-13

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

The story is good but the reader is so phlegmatic that I had to stop. He makes me sleepy.

What did you like best about this story?

Plot. Love the series.

How could the performance have been better?

Different reader. This one reads like a bedtime story. No excitement.

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Ok but....

Revisado: 04-09-12

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Well written / read, but for something claiming to trace groundbreaking years, it is provincial and nearly claustrophic. Imagine a book constructed entirely of footnotes. I expected something larger.

Would you ever listen to anything by Will Hermes again?

Yes. I'd at least go, as I did with this, halfway.

What about Adam Verner???s performance did you like?

Wonderful.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes. Movie might be better.

Any additional comments?

Worth a listen if you temper your expectations, and probably wonderful if you grew up in NYC in the early 70's listening to groups this marginal but convinced you were at the center of the universe.

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Great Read

Revisado: 01-25-11

I thought it was slow at first, but then as the several plots began to intertwine, it got momentum -- it is a terrific read into contemporary events, and the narrator, Lou Diamond Phillips, does a truly outstanding job.

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MAGNIFICENT

Revisado: 08-03-05

Brilliant reading of a brilliant book. It is a coming of age story, but unlike any other that I recall; very male, very testerone-filled. But what a delight! Even the minor characters are beautifully etched, the prose is full of descriptions and rhythms that linger long afterwards. Honestly, I can't praise this enough.

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