Klicka på en bild för att gå till Google Book Search.
Laddar... My Goodness: A Cynic's Short-Lived Search for Sainthoodav Joe Queenan
Ingen/inga Laddar...
Gå med i LibraryThing för att få reda på om du skulle tycka om den här boken. Det finns inga diskussioner på LibraryThing om den här boken. A few laughs, but not near enough to merit buying or even reading this book. If I weren't doing the airport/waiting around shuffle, I wonder if I would have gotten through it. I don't think I even underlined any passages, which I did many times in Queenan's cineplex heckler book. For one thing, I think the premise is way off: Queenan's curmudgeon persona has always focused on airhead movie stars, airhead politicians, sacred cow celebrities, easy but deserving targets. But he is rarely mean to the average rube on the street. He's not one to belittle Mother Teresa or the worthy Nobel Peace Prize Winners (the Latin American one that had a manufactured bio would be fair game). So this er experiment is not like PJ O'Rourke being a liberal for a month or two. However--and I'm probably not being coherent--but if you know something about the price of rainforest destruction or the recent history of Tibet, you won't find Queenan's sideswipe attempts to squeeze humor from these tragedies the least bit funny. I don't think even O'Rourke would sink this low. Sure, people that think they are leading the charge against Chinese genocide by decorating with "Tibetan" bells and rugs made my Nepalis are deserving targets, but Queenan never digs down to that next layer: how useful are these feel-good consumer habits? Joe Queenan is known for his caustic wit and scathing reviews in which he holds no hostages and has many favourite targets. In this humorous volume, he decides to stop being Mr Nasty and become Mr Nice; to stop writing nasty things about people, to espouse good causes, do random acts of kindness and selfless acts of beauty, to be philanthropic and help make the world a better place. Oh yeah! Who are you kidding - hence the subtitle - a cynic's 'short-lived' search for sainthood. He doesn't find it easy, and this is where the humour lies: he deliberately goes out of his way to make it difficult - be it finding a greener way to do dry-cleaning, to which animals are the neediest of adoption. However luckily for the readers, he still manages to keep taking the p*** out of all his favourite targets - Sting and the rainforest, Ben and Jerrys, Jackson Browne and his shade-grown fairtrade coffee, ex-President Jimmy Carter etc - but in a gentler way that still lets you know what he really thinks. An enjoyable read, but one that started running out of steam by halfway. It did pick up towards the end when he gives us a series of lists, including one of people he wants to apologise to ... typically Queenan, he then makes us laugh by giving us all the reasons why. inga recensioner | lägg till en recension
Joe Queenan admits, even though the money is good, all his meanness has filled him with self-loathing. My Goodness documents Queenans journey toward self-regeneration. After reviewing the history of goodness in the Western world (from Jesus Christ to Sting), he chronicles his own moral attempts at rehabilitation. Being nice is the biggest challenge of his career. Inga biblioteksbeskrivningar kunde hittas. |
Pågående diskussionerIngen/ingaPopulära omslag
Google Books — Laddar... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)070.92Information Journalism And Publishing Journalism And Publishing Biography And History BiographiesKlassifikation enligt LCBetygMedelbetyg:
Är det här du? |
After years of acidic attacks on bad acting, films and people and society in general, Queenan decided to turn a new leaf and become a good person. He signs up to socially conscious electricity firms, creates a website apologising to all the actors he has criticised. Although in the case of Sting, who he had once witheringly, in reference to the film "The Bride", said that he was outacted by a dwarf (David Rappaport), apologised to all short people, saying that height was not indicative of acting skills.
After a while though, Queenan gets sick of helping people and writing positive stories; his editors at a film magazine turn down a sentimental story and ask for a cynical, satirical piece. So we get the old Queenan back, although it's been a funny ride along the way. ( )