“The definitive story of the making and legacy of Graceland, Paul Simon’s still-beloved, career-topping 1986 album, drawn from extensive research and exclusive interviews with nearly 100 participants and witnesses: musicians, producers, engineers, record executives and journalists from Africa, the US, and Europe.”
Re-reading this travelogue by one the best travel writers I know of. Dervla was quite the unique and intrepid adventurer. I chuckle reading this account of her peregrinations in southern India in the early 70’s while accompanied by her 4.5 year old daughter. Many of today’s over protective helicopter parents would faint at the thought of allowing their child these sort of adventures at that age.
I finally read Theo of Golden a couple of weeks ago. I don’t want to insult anyone who liked (or loved) it, but I have to say it’s the very worst kind of “book club fiction.”
I admit it had a mildly interesting premise (the reason I bought it), but good heavens it’s poorly written - one of the most poorly written novels I’ve read in a long, long time (it was no surprise to learn afterwards that it’s a first novel and, perhaps more tellingly, that it was initially self-published). The prose is amateurish, and horribly awkward and cliched. The dialogue is unrealistic, with odd little vernacular elements tossed in that only serve to draw attention to themselves. The foreshadowing is blunt and in our faces constantly, like at the end of nearly every chapter. Throughout the book the author takes shortcuts to instruct us about the characters’ values and personalities, rather than letting us learn about them through our own observation. I mean I didn’t go into it expecting John Irving, but good heavens.
And it dragged - infuriatingly so - as the main character carries out his self-imposed mission. Plus, the author made stupid errors throughout - like describing the portraitist as a “prodigy,” but on the very next page saying the character is old enough to have an adult daughter; or recounting a war story in which a tertiary character carries a New Testament with him in battle - a copy of a New Testament that apparently includes the Psalms. The whole thing desperately needed a firmer editing hand and about another 2-3 years of development and rewriting.
The payoff at the end was the only redeeming feature of the novel. I admit it was imaginative and wasn’t where I thought it was headed. But getting to that payoff? As they say, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. Not by a long shot. I cannot recommend this book.
Craig,
I have never read (or even heard of) the book but I did read with fascination your report.
Wow. You’re amazing. This was so well written. You’d make an amazing critic. Thanks for posting that. Made my morning.
I loved Theo of Golden. Best forum recommendation this year for me, non-fiction. Maybe this is where my 12 years of public school education is an asset.
