Mary

VERY detailed

Revisado: 12-19-10

Perhaps too much for non-journalists, or those not interested in media studies; I myself work in media, so I found this excellent to understanding the back door dealings that sold the WSJ, those who lost, those who won, the details of the Bancroft family's downfall.
That being said: The painstaking detail in which this is told is a credit to Ellison's journalistic ethics, research, and dogged resolution to eschew sensationalism, but might make it too detailed and too much for non-journalism lovers to handle. An abridged version might be nice for them.
Also, would have loved much more description of the Journal's post-takeover policies for writing and the effect of Murdoch on the content of the paper--the book focuses inordinately on the effects of Murdoch on the editorial board, instead.

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Amazing piece of modern Southern Lit

Revisado: 12-19-10

I have passed this book (in hard copy) on to several non-Southern friends who wanted a piece of modern Southern Lit (not that I have anything against Eudora Welty!). It grapples with such topics as interracial dating, the dichotamies of "good girl" vs. "fun, adventurous sexual girl," growing up with a mentally ill parent, the "godlike" status given to jocks/atheltic boys in the American South (hence the title of the book) etc. while still being a fun read. Yes! It manages that elusive combination of depth and fun. Would love to see it taught in high schools.

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Won't win any Pulizers, but a fun "beach read"

Revisado: 12-19-10

Fun, cute book, with lots of references to educated topics and jokes funny to those with a college education. It won't win any literary awards, I think, but I'd pass its paperback form on as a fun beach or vacation novel. I personally enjoyed it as a cute, girly audiobook between more intellectual, heavy works to which I listen.

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As superficial as the society Shteyngart warns of

Revisado: 10-17-10

One of the problems of likening a book to a predecessor in the same genre (in this case, Orwell’s dystopian “1984”), is that if it doesn’t measure up then it’s often labeled a failure when it was quite a good book in its own right.
This book falls short of being good not only when compared to Orwell, but also when compared depth-wise to anything most of us wrote in the fourth grade.
The story is told through the “diaries” of the protagonist, Lenny—mostly self-pitying, though highly descriptive, diatribes of whining which the author hopes will make us “identify” with his pathetic state—and the “Global Teen Account” messages of the protagonist’s object of immature desire and pathetic fixation—the whiny, selfish, superficial (though she does community service—is this meant to suggest a flicker of depth?) Eunice Park. The story is flat, whiny, devoid of depth and symbolism, which is rather surprising for an experienced author who has won prestigious fellowships such as that with the American Academy in Berlin. The book purports to be a criticism of a futuristic, intrusive, one-party-run society—hence the allusions by every critic under the sun to Orwell or Aldus Huxley. Rather than critiquing overarching tenets or methods of dystopian societies as Orwell and Huxley did, it resorts to lazy cheap shots at the modern American far right. (People in this society can only watch “Fox Liberty Prime” or “Fox Liberty Ultra,” for example.)

In short: If I wanted to read a whiny, flat account of how the stupid, intrusive American right is “destroying the world,” I would have logged on to the blog of a high school-educated Hollywood star.

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funny, but strings of jokes rather than a story

Revisado: 09-20-10

This is a funny book to listen to bits and pieces of, but it doesn't actually form a complete story--which I consider to be the most fulfilling comedy to listen to or read.
If it were a physical book rather than an audio, it's the type you'd check out from the lib. or read and then give away or sell, rather than buy a new copy (or use a monthly credit.)

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interesting insight, but how will it change things

Revisado: 09-20-10

Venkatehsh's work is probably best known to most for being featured in "Freakonomics." (Why do crack dealers live with their mothers?) This book is a more in depth work at that same work—nearly 10 years studying and practically living with Chicago crack dealers in the now-demolished Robert Taylor housing project (read: Ghetto). It is an interesting, in-depth, serious academic look at the structure of Chicago crack gangs, the corruption and structure (or lack thereof) of the Chicago Housing Authority, and the effects of drugs, drug sales and general incompetence of public housing officials on the poor black Chicago population. Overall, excellent, also carefully discussing the effect of integrating so much with the Robert Taylor residents on losing academic objectivity, but also discussing how high-minded surveys, etc. really are useless for studying poorer subjects in sociology. Lacking: Venkatehsh is now a famous (and well-paid) sociologist at Columbia. He talks a lot about using sociology to help, but how did all this research really help Chicago’s poor?

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