From Publishers Weekly
Novelist Lethem's new collection of essays starts with an intriguing, if emotionally distant, consideration of his lifelong relationship with popular culture and develops into a moving memoir that transcends those references altogether. As the essays make clear, Lethem (
The Fortress of Solitude) has always been obsessive: he watched
Star Wars 21 times the summer it was released, then followed that with 21 viewings of
2001 a few years later; the novels of Philip K. Dick played as large a role in his growing artistic vision as did the canvases of his father, painter Richard Lethem. But the collection doesn't find its purpose until the author strips away the pop culture references to get at what really drives him: the childhood his hippie parents provided for him, his father's artistic influence on him, his mother's early death. The book picks up steam especially in the essay "Lives of the Bohemians," a simple and direct family history in which, for the first time here, Lethem's depiction of himself as a child feels genuine rather than theorized, lived rather than considered. By the end, Lethem fully and beautifully bares himself, admitting that he, like so many, is driven by loss. Only then does he write the truest sentence possible: "I find myself speaking about my mother's death everywhere I go in this world."
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Jonathan Lethem is the ideal narrator for these unusual, deeply smart essays, which amount to an intellectual and psychological portrait of the artist as a young man. His voice is appealing, and his diction clear but personal, a little rushed, but never to the disservice of the text. Since the writing is so engagingly honest about Lethem's past obsessions (comic book art, STAR WARS Stanley Kubrick, Philip K. Dick), especially the ones he has been changed by but outgrown, it is particularly satisfying not to have the scrim of a trained actor's voice between you and the author. Anyone who enjoys his marvelous novels (this reviewer particularly loves MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN) should be charmed and moved by this production. B.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
