M. Miller

A perfect spite

Revisado: 10-25-23

A very entertaining, disconcerting infodump. Early in the work, the author quotes The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm, and that makes too much sense. Malcolm’s book is better realized, but this one too has comic pacing and winks to what its audience wants out of seriocomic materiel. Narrator makes it all sound almost sexy - but not quite. (Not his fault, it’s some pretty weird stuff!)

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It more than sufficed

Revisado: 10-23-23

Cohen's most humane's work, for whatever that's worth. (A lot, imho, despite the, shall we say, tangy finish.) The casting of a former student of Bloom's as a narrator was on point; Duchovny doesn't get enough credit as the sort of actor who "gets" cadences and asides as complex as Cohen's. Frankly, I missed the left-field compound word choices from Cohen's earlier work in this one, but he remains a gifted comic novelist who can worldbuild with a local color, and you can tell from hearing him read himself that he knows it. Not necessarily a bad thing, and he reins in his worst excesses in here. In summary - as one of Blum's dopey composition students - I hope this work gets others deeper into the Cohen catalog. Take that to the bank, to the cleaner's, bang-zoom to the moon, etc.!

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Goes down easy without too much thinking

Revisado: 10-13-23

Organized but insubstantial and way too good at looking the other way (reinforced by the laconic audio narration). I was most shocked by the extensive acknowledgments - didn’t any of his readers tell him what he was refusing to see?

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Mon semblable ma soeur

Revisado: 09-24-23

Audiobook works only because Klein read it. The insouciance and youthfulness about Philip Roth are especially endearing and thought out. Rest is a little all over the place, befitting its material. Book book works mostly because of good editing. All that said, I hope this book outlasts its moment. It’s a doozy and she has a clear head about what is and is not.

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For Nineties kids (and adults putting away childish things)

Revisado: 09-15-23

The author has a cutesy, folksy, smart assed edge to her knowing reading that is reminiscent of her subjects. More like an anthology of magazine profiles than a thesis to me, but I enjoyed it a lot and would recommend it to Zoomers who never heard of these people and live with their legacy every day. (If you’re not new to these delightful whack jobs, skip the prologue exposition and go straight to the pork.)

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Oppie unbound

Revisado: 07-29-23

Riveting as promised. Pretty even handed about a maddening subject, and not just as some glib motif about quanta and paradox. Makes you want to read books again. For a book as hefty as it’s subject is lean, the pacing is gripping. (Credit the editor!) The narrator mispronounces a few names a few times, but on the whole his recording is impressively consistent as he performs multiple characters and ethnicities over several generations and recording sessions. Does not sound stentorian as it could have, and that made it a nice long term time investment.

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Leaves imprint in mesa

Revisado: 07-13-23

A “Miss Lonelyhearts” for the Great Recession. Millet’s quiet sparseness is not to everyone’s taste, but her “takes” are thoughtful and her dialog tags quietly cutting. Narrator Paul Heitsch reads in a deadpan, unsmirking saunter well attuned to the author’s comic rhythms. This book is not as gentle or antic as some reviews suggested, and he as reader “gets” that. This book is not her biggest or best, but I think it is uncommonly thoughtful, small- and big-c Catholic… and consequently unmarketable. I miss when she goes really dark, as in her unforgettable George Bush Dark Prince of Love, but there are flashes of those teeth here. Hope for more of those teeth next time as the world burns.

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Affirming

Revisado: 04-03-23

Professional but plainspoken, solipsism through a crystal-clear prism - too phony? reductive? Yes, yes. But I liked that I didn’t always like the work or him. That’s how I knew that I was in the hands of someone sincere. God bless those around the author… for reasons you can read about in the text.

Some readers less into may receive this heavy material more favorably or generously hearing it read aloud. He does good rueful laugh and laconic delivery.

Anyone with life experience in this subject should give this text a chance (and give life itself another shot, if in that subcohort).

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Subtler Depravity

Revisado: 09-14-22

Review title is from Melville's Billy Budd, a book quoted in this book. A necessary baptism for new writers.

Not a lot of new information for those who have read the show commentaries and back catalog, but still funny as hell and occasionally alarming. Not often do we get to celebrate a book that quotes Milton and the New Criticism before ripping into some ritual chastenings! But you don't have to go to Yale or Iowa or even like those places to like and learn about caretaking from this story.

The recording of Milch reading the prologue is as moving as anything he ever wrote, like Rev. Smith's death on Deadwood. Narrator Michael Harney does a credible, humane impression of Milch's patter, but I missed the man's peak performance. I recommend the "Idea of the Writer" recordings from the early 2000s WGA strike for the full immersion, the digressions punctuated by barking.

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Are there awards for these? Lend them sugar

Revisado: 04-11-22

Beyond beyond. Without question the best Audible selection I’ve ever heard. It’s not even close. And that’s not even factoring in the most deranged parts of the text, or the lack of visual referents to the text. I mean, the multiple inflections/intonations of “this or this” different every time…. everyone involved in this taping needs merit pay. (Book also choice.)

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