OYENTE

alexandra gillis

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This Book Is Funny!

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 08-07-19

Having been a fan of the “Cathy” cartoon, and of her many appearances as a guest on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, I was pleased to find this book of essays written by Cathy Guisewite. She retired from her syndicated comic strip career some time ago, and where’s she been? Apparently, she took time off to do the mom thing. Good for her! And she’s been thinking and stewing, which is good for us.

This book is really funny, with enough one-liners that Cathy should think about becoming a standup comedian. The book is also deep and intellectual with moral objections and arguments on a range of topics related middle aged women: rearing children, building a career and a family, and, along with her sisters, caring for 90 year old parents. The issues in this collection are definitely those of an affluent white lady, but she owns it. Even the rich white lady faces job setbacks, heartbreaks, personal anxieties, and sees the objectification of women in the clothing choices available at the mall, to be super specific.

Cathy Guisewite gets personal in this book, too. She reveals her humble heritage, as granddaughter to an illiterate Slovakian country bride whose own daughter, Cathy’s mom Anna, taught her to sign her name when Granny was about 28. Cathy’s mother, first in her family to attend college, majored in journalism and worked for a short, thrilling time before marriage writing ad copy for a midwestern department store. Cathy marvels at her mom’s modesty, and discovers her successful ad man dad was ghost-written by his young wife for some time when he started out in advertising. Cathy muses on the evolving roles of women and has a great chapter on how easy she thought it would be to work around her infant daughter’s schedule. Cathy’s relatable frustrations with her occassionally obnoxious grown up daughter (as only daughters can be with their moms) mirrors her own interactions with her mother Anna. (Her mom reads the mom parts in the book, too, which is a treat.)

The whole book is so enjoyably surprising, with quiet or sometimes very loud revelations about all manner of things which Cathy needs to get off her chest. Polite Detroit Cathy allows pissed off Cathy to cork off about the ridiculous numbers of styles and sizes of jeans for women. She goes on a funny rant about women’s lingerie and why there’s no sexy, silly equivalent for men. My favorite essay was about downsizing her parents’ house and all of the happy memories that are evoked through their possessions. She has a wonderful essay about her aging father and all the things he taught her and her sisters with his capable hands. And in between trips to visit her parents in Florida she has lunch with a girlfriend who somehow unwittingly but confidently breaks all the BFF rules, leaving Cathy apoplectic by meal’s end. Lots of Cathy’s observations had me laughing and crying in the same paragraph.

I highly recommend this book of essays for many reasons, not the least of which is its funny! Cathy writes thoughtfully and sardonically about motherhood and daughterhood, about treating others with respect and is still rotating her self-effacing gaze from herself to the rest of us and back again.

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Late Punk Rock Era Stories Told By The Music Makers!

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 08-06-19

Loved it!! My 28 year old son gave me this book for Mother’s Day, with thanks for playing X at home when he was growing up. I feel like I missed a lot of this whole music scene since I was scrabbling around so hard trying to make a living in the early 80s, latching on to a few bands for cool harmonies, relatable lyrics and those jamming tempos. My brother was a bouncer at a club in New York at this time and always got me in to see bands but, still, only so many hours each night for fun. This book filled in many of the gaps and fascinating back stories of bands I still venerate and many I didn’t listen to, until now!

More Fun In the New World is a rock era education from the perspective of members of Black Flag, The Cramps, Los Lobos, the Go Gos, The Bangles - and a bijillion more. I especially loved hearing the women’s music stories. The cowpunk/LA punk/Paisley Underground music scene seemed more DIY and accessible than earlier punk genres maybe because media (national showbiz news reporting, local access cable TV, SNL) was reporting on it faster, making it seem more pervasive and immediate. All the collage art of the early 80s, skateboarding, home movies and of course, garage bands had been with this generation of musicians since were little. They took all these toys & crafts and carried them into their teens and beyond, adding those symbols of youth onto the pile of hurts and heartaches and anger and rebellion that have been the subjects of pop music for 70+ years. This book chronicles the hard work, mind-blowing talent, drugs, superhuman strength, joy, frustrations, influences, determination, sexism, racism, crazy scenes, hilarious spats, friendships, reconcilliations — boy oh boy, there’s so much here, so much fun.

I definitely recommend listening as each different essayist reads his or her own recollections. The unwinding of X as told by John Doe is especially heartbreaking, Mike Ness’ essay is sweet & semi-tragic, Keith Morris’ “Hollywood Shuffle” is laugh-out-loud funny, Jane Weidlin’s story is captivating. Hard to single any one author out as each musician, filmmaker, artist conveys the energy of the early ‘80s punk rock scene in surprisingly upbeat terms.

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Summary of Hillbilly Elegy

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 09-27-17

This is a good recap for those of us who read the book months ago but need to brush up for book group. This summary is broken down into six chapters, highlighting one or two stories from the original text, wrapped up with take-away points. It is a quick review. Not a replacement for the original book by any measure.

The reader needed help from a competent producer who did not correct mispronounced words such as "amidst" (pronounced a-mist. Come on! Lazy!) and "albeit." For an author who stresses education the sloppy pronunciation was jarring.

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