Review of My Sister Life (Paperback)

I am ambivalent about this book. It is a page-turner; it is easy to read, and it is salacious. But it is also cold, distant, and doesn't offer anything particularly insightful about motivation or causes of the familial dysfunction, other than the mother's remoteness from her children and the father's diffidence.

I wondered at several times whether this was indeed biography, or just an elaborate fiction, along the lines of an earlier generation's "Go Ask Alice". A bit of Internet research suggests that it is indeed real, and that the author set out with a forensic-like dispassionate intent.

I suppose I had expected something a little bit more personal. I am pleased it does not have the schmaltzy tones of a bad telemovie. It certainly desrcibes in exquisite and distressingdetail the processes of mental and physical abuse, but it is all conveyed as a description of a specimen on a glass slide.

Read it, and don't weep - for there is no emotional connection made with this reader, at least!



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Review of Dean and Me: (A Love Story) (Paperback)

Growing up working for an executive at NBC, I was lucky to have known Dean Martin myself. Now, years later, as founder of the "Dean Martin Fan Center", I have met and heard from so many people who were close enough to know both Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis when they were a comedy/musical team who took the world by storm.

After entertaining the world for ten years through stage, radio, films, television and recordings, the public grew to love the team. Then, after a decade of burning up everything they touched, the duo became burned out themselves. Having to please the studio executives who wanted to keep the cash cow producing, their material became recycled. Martin and Lewis as individuals grew and saw beyond what they were doing. Those pressures and confining elements only led to animosity between each other, and finally wound up in divorce. As in any parting, not only did it hurt the two involved, but also their family and friends. The public was their 'extended' family-- and now each fan had to choose between taking Dean's side or Jerry's side, usually putting blame on the other partner for the breakup. The media took huge advantage of this.

When I first heard that Jerry was a writing his memoirs ofthose partnership years, I was more than a bit apprehensive. After all, Dean has already left this world and what would Jerry say about him? Would Jerry take credit for everything? Would Jerry somehow put blame for their breakup on his partner somehow?I finally got my advance copy sent overnight from the publisher. Amazingly, it wasn't the size of the Gutenberg Bible that I expected. I finished it in one sitting, actually waiting for something I didn't like or would find inacurate to blast on about. Guess what?I WAS SHOCKED -- Shocked to find that this book is honest, sincere, unbiased and does not put either Dean or Jerry into the spotlight -- rather it lights up the stage. It is a well written, well balanced, easy to read history, focusing on the duo as a "team". Their excitement... their worries... their amazement... their ups and their downs... their freedoms and their obstacles. Jerry ties together anecdotes and facts many of us heard before, with more focus and information, to have it all finally make sense.I don't impress easily when it comes to stories told (no matter who writes them), but as for "Dean and Me : A Love Story,"this is the real deal. Finally -- an honest inside look at the exhilaration and ever mounting pressures Martin & Lewis experienced, always having to please everyone around them, except themselves.

James Kaplan, Jerry's co-writer, is absolutely marvelous in helping Lewis, not only get his message across, but making the reader feel the emotions inside along the way. He paints a picture with words. I would advise anyone wanting a first-hand look at Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, that this is the book to read.

- Neil T Daniels (...)



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Review of I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away (Paperback)

So what's this then? A collection of columns written by Bill Bryson for the British Night & Day magazine, assembled into a book? I was sceptical when I first picked it due to the unfamiliarity here; I thoughthe was a travel writer. But then I started reading through the first fewpages and am delighted to report that they were so entertaining andaccessible that I ended up finishing the book very satified.

This book isabout America, about consumerism, hypocracy, politics, culture andeverything else in between, such as motels and boring interstate highwaysand the condition of AT&T service these days. Why should all this be sointeresting? Because Bill Bryson's voice shines throughout, dissectingnormally more complex subjects into bite-sized articles which are eminentlyreadable to the extent that it is at times impossible to stop. Of course,his trademark humour is present too. If you read this in public, there isthe risk of embarrassment by your involuntary snorts oflaughter.

However, 'I'm a Stranger here Myself' isn't perfect. Much ofthe book is predictable, and 85% of the time, Bill appears to becomplaining. Someone as talented as Bill Bryson should know not to engagein such indulgence because the end result is that the reader occassionallyfeels frustrated over the ostensible monotony. You also can't help but feelthat an assemblage of brief columns is not enough to make a book.

Although this book is not standard Bill Bryson fare, it still manages toexcel. It really is exceptionally enlightening, to read what he has to saysubsequent to spending 20 years in England. He compares the contrastsbetween the two nations and questioning so many aspects of life thatAmericans take for granted, such as driving from shop to shop when they aremerely footsteps apart, or the blatant excesses of junk food. Each article(in my edition, Black Swan) covers only five pages so they are very easy toget into.

If you are an American, perhaps you will enjoy this book morethan anyone else as you will undoubtedly find it compelling to look intothe views of an outsider in the process of 'assimilation'.

'I'm a Strangehere Myself' doesn't feel like a book, more like a colelction of columnsbinded together. If you are willing to accept this, it is an extremelyrewarding, insightful and refreshingly diverting read. This is enough togain a hearty recommendation.



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Review of In a Sunburned Country (Paperback)

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Bill.As a proud Australian, it has been a never-ending source of irritation that Australia is forever portrayed as a land of beer-swilling "yobbos" who say "cobber" and"fair dinkum" rather a lot.For instance, 'The Simpsons' -usually such a witty, clever and insightful show - completely missed thepoint in their Australian episode.Finally, someone has managed to capturea bit of the character of this great country.He releases it from theshackles of the Paul Hogan stereotype.

This is a terrific read.Brysonhas, mercifully, gone well and truly off the beaten track to explore manydifferent parts of Australia - the cities, the outback, the tropics, andeverything else in between.But as ever with a Bill Bryson book, more thanthe destination itself, the pleasure is in getting there.Laugh-out-loudmoments abound, though perhaps more in the restrained way of "A Walkin the Woods", as opposed to the guffaw-fest that is "NeitherHere Nor There".

You don't have to be at all familiar with Australiato appreciate and enjoy this book.I am, sadly, one of those Australiansto which Bryson refers that has never seen Ayers Rock / Uluru myself.Infact, I have never been to the majority of places Bryson visits.It was arevelation for me, too.

Bryson once again recounts numerous historicaland trivial anecdotes which, together with his unique view of the world,elevate this book well above the mere travel genre.This is insightful,this is informative, this is FUNNY.

Perversely, my only criticism isperhaps that he likes Australia a little too much.God knows, I'm sopleased that he does.However, he is, I believe, at his best whendistressed.Dull and drab places, and stupid, mindless people bring outthe devil in Bill Bryson, and have always proven to be useful comic fair. There are elements of that here - his body boarding experience, his viewson Canberra, and his trials and tribulations with hotel receptionists inDarwin - but at the end of the day, opportunities to vent his sarcastic witare somewhat limited.

Being an enthusiastic and devoted fan of the greatStephen Katz, I would also have loved to have seen him deal with thehardships of outback Australia.He would have absolutely LOATHEDit.

Read this book.It is a treat.



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