The Pastiche of a Presidency, Imitating a Life, in 957 Pages (NYT book review, not wholly positive)

The New York Times ^ | June 20, 2004 | MICHIKO KAKUTANI

[Libertina]

Not "wholly positive" at all! LOL

[nwrep]

I hope Michiko is polishing up her resume, because she will not last very long at the New York Times.

[COUNTrecount]

Not Pulitzer material by a long shot, but a shoe-in for a "Grab Me" for the BJ recorded version of the tome.

[turbocat]

I am floored at the review. Definitely not good - and the TIMES yet.

[Miss Marple]

I am waiting for some of the quotes. What's this about voodoo in Haiti being in the book? I want to know how THAT got worked into his autobiography!

[goldstategop]

He could have omitted half the material and it would have been a more readable book. But Clinton is like Victor Hugo, for whom digressions ARE as much the point as the main subject being discussed.

[Libertina]

Perhaps it is her stratedgy to movinh up in the world to someplace better...say the Wall Street Journal or syndicated columnist ala Michelle Malkin? he he he ;)

[nothingnew]

I'm gabberflasted!

FMCDH(BITS)

[Clara Lou]

Even the NYT has to identify a steaming pile when it sees one.

[ikka]

Looking back on those days of living with a violent, abusive stepfather, Mr. Clinton writes like someone familiar with therapeutic tropes. He writes that seeing his stepfather angry and drunk, he came to associate anger with being out of control, and determined to keep his own anger locked away. He writes about experiencing a "major spiritual crisis" at the age of 13, when he found it difficult to sustain a belief in God in the face of his family's difficulties. And he writes about the coping mechanisms he developed — including learning to live "parallel lives" where he walled off his anger and grief to get on with his daily life.

In order to cope, he went schizo.

[atomicpossum]

Looking back on those days of living with a violent, abusive stepfather, Mr. Clinton writes like someone familiar with therapeutic tropes. He writes that seeing his stepfather angry and drunk, he came to associate anger with being out of control, and determined to keep his own anger locked away. He writes about experiencing a "major spiritual crisis" at the age of 13, when he found it difficult to sustain a belief in God in the face of his family's difficulties. And he writes about the coping mechanisms he developed — including learning to live "parallel lives" where he walled off his anger and grief to get on with his daily life.

I always said it-- he is completely pathological.

[rmgatto]

The book, which weighs in at more than 950 pages, is sloppy, self-indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull — the sound of one man prattling away, not for the reader, but for himself and some distant recording angel of history.

Good writing. This reporter has the talent necessary for a move up to a major paper.

[goldstategop]

This is one memoir that can be safely said to be written by its subject. No ghost-writer would leave in passages most people would sooner skip over.

[AM2000]

;-)

[Wild Irish Rogue]

Wow.
Even more so because it's from the New York Times.

" but there are also dozens of pointless digressions about matters like zombies in Haiti and ruins in Pompeii."

John Kerry visited Port-au-Prince ?

" some telling snapshots of his awkward childhood: a fat, self-conscious boy dressed in a new Easter outfit every year — including, one year, pink and black Hush Puppies and a matching pink suede belt;"

Gennifer Flowers has written that Bill liked to cavort in her pink nighties, so perhaps this was the genesis of his cross dressing.

[prion]

He does a persuasive job of explicating his more successful initiatives like welfare reform

If "initiative" means voting for something you'd voted down repeatedly for fear you couldn't weather the fallout if you voted it down one more time.

Still, wotta review!

[swheats]

The book, which weighs in at more than 950 pages, is sloppy, self-indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull — the sound of one man prattling away, not for the reader, but for himself and some distant recording angel of history.

I guess this is the version for those who wouldn't believe that it's based on a bunch of lies. Not worthy of spending your hard earned money.

Isn't there an old saying that it takes more words to craft a lie than just telling the truth?

[swheats]

What's this about voodoo in Haiti being in the book?

Surely he was under a spell to write such nonsense. No, I haven't read the book and "know" it's nonsense.

[TXnMA]

Methinks that Michiko-San might make a good guest on Hannity and Colmes...