It has been a while since I got captured by a book that I could not put down until it was finished. Daryl Davis is a musician who experienced racism aIt has been a while since I got captured by a book that I could not put down until it was finished. Daryl Davis is a musician who experienced racism all his life. And so he decided to start meeting leaders of the Ku Klux Klan. He would call (or have his secretary call - he was a successful musician) Klan people to set up meetings, and just forget to mention he was black, and they would be surprised! Woo!
The thing is... they would still talk to him. And they weren't all what he expected. And he started to make friends with them. And he'd attend Klan trials and Klan rallies and it would weird people out when these leaders would greet him friendly by name, and boy howdy we have a book.
One thing you learn right away is that there is no one Ku Klux Klan - there are many splinter groups, some of which are rivals. Some more violent than others. (And yes, he gets to know some hate-crime murderers) There are the white supremacists and the white separatists, and they consider themselves very different.
How do you make friends? You find common ground, and he does find common ground with people who believe Blacks are an inferior species who should all go back to Africa. The Klan members are mostly very anti-drug, as is Daryl. And who doesn't like country music?
I'm writing this review the way I write, which is nothing like he writes, so I'm giving you the wrong impression. The book is sometimes funny, but it isn't a humor-book. It is fascinating. Some of Daryl's new friends change a bit as a result of their relationship, and some don't. But the conversations they have... wow. And it isn't just a bunch of interviews. Things happen. A Klan-friend of Daryl gets arrested on a trumped up charge, just because cops and judges often discriminate against people in the Klan. And the irony does not escape Daryl, although it does escape the Klan member. And if Daryl is friends with the leader of one Klan faction, members of another one don't really take kindly to that.
In some cases - I really do mean "friends." Like socializing, calling on the phone, "how are you, pal?" friends.
Three flaws: One - everyone in the book speaks in a similar voice. Given that I doubt Davis was allowed to tape-record his conversations, I'm assuming that the quotation marks are not to be taken literally, and he is writing dialogue around his memories. So that took some getting used to. Also, the chapters of the last fourth of the book get short and have a little less depth, as if he finished his book, and saw all these post-its and notecards that he forgot to include, so he wrote quick chapters. Still interesting, but weak pacing. Finally, (and I didn't realize this until I was writing the review), while I got to know Klan leaders, it would have been nice if the book was a bit longer and had some more about rank-and-file members. My hunch is that Davis didn't talk to a lot of them; while a leader might be able to get away with talking to a Black person at a restaurant or home, I doubt a regular member would. But still, it would have been interesting.
I am sure people got mad at this book, because we are supposed to think of The Klan as cardboard villains, or (if we are all progressive and liberal) as tragic ignorant manipulated figures. After reading this book, you see them as people, which was really Davis' point, but it puts you in another kind of minority....more
Riveting. Some of the plot twists were too predictable, and that detracted from things. But on the other hand, the details in the story were realy greRiveting. Some of the plot twists were too predictable, and that detracted from things. But on the other hand, the details in the story were realy great. Things like the emphasis on stylists and presentation and interviews, bathing in glitter the idea that a bunch of children are going to have to die for the amusement of an audience... you don't expect it to take that tack.
Collins has created some real people in this book. And you care what happens to them....more
A fascinating tale about the days of Early Comic Books, and the Jews who created them. It's fiction (there were no Kavalier and Clay in real life) butA fascinating tale about the days of Early Comic Books, and the Jews who created them. It's fiction (there were no Kavalier and Clay in real life) but based on real things that happened to real people. Almost more real than real. It isn't all about comics; its about characters, which I liked.
Laurel saved me from embarrassment. I have a friend who is a professor and an author, and he researches both Comics and Jews. So I was going to recommend it to him. Laurel said, "Ummm... do you think maybe he's read it?" And I realized... Oh, yeah.
In fact, he had a chapter about it in his latest book.
Anyway, I'm not super-enthused (hee hee "super" ) because there was a bit of a rambly feeling to it... I'm going to quote Gertrude Stein "There's no 'there' there." I cared about the characters, but not absorbingly like the best books do to me....more
I thought there was definitely an element of "I am so sick of writing these books" in this one. For example, "You want me to begin with Bond winning sI thought there was definitely an element of "I am so sick of writing these books" in this one. For example, "You want me to begin with Bond winning some sort of gambling game like in most of the other books? Fine! I'll narrate a high-stakes round of ROCK PAPER SCISSORS! Fuck you!" and "You want a death trap? Okay, how about having Bond's testicles dangle over a LIVE ACTIVE VOLCANIC GEYSER! Go to hell!" and "You want the scene where Bond instantly masters some skill that other people take years to? Okay - watch him LEARN TO WRITE HAIKU! Eat me!"
And then I looked at Wikipedia and it said that this was the second to last Bond novel Fleming wrote.
So this is a collection of short stories, all of them outstanding. The title (a novella) is what you would think. It is a bit different than the movieSo this is a collection of short stories, all of them outstanding. The title (a novella) is what you would think. It is a bit different than the movie, in a good way. The movie works as a movie; the book works as a book. The romance between the narrator and the protagonist in the movie is just not a Thing. Everything I've read says that the narrator is clearly gay, but I know I'm sounding ignorant, but I don't see it.
I wish I could give this one three and a half stars.
I was switching off between my new Nook and a library copy of this book. Like you care.
Anyway, onI wish I could give this one three and a half stars.
I was switching off between my new Nook and a library copy of this book. Like you care.
Anyway, one of Stephen King's best handling of romance. And this is one of the best time-travel frameworks I've seen in fiction. You can go back in time through this one portal, but always to the same date. As soon as you go, all the changes you've made to the past are erased. So I can go back, and poke you in the eye when you were 5, and that would be History. But if I go back again, the eye-poke will have vanished.
So let's say you want to prevent the Kennedy assassination. No problem. But the date you go back to is years before that. What do you do in the meantime? Particularly given that the past prefers not to be changed.
Great characters, and I learned a lot of history (that I then went to wikipedia to verify). Wikipedia itself is like time - travel... you can change it in minor ways, but if you try to change something major, there may be pushback....more
Scholarly enough to be called Academic, but with lively writing that gets one enthused about two awesome things - Jews and Comics. I think the subtitlScholarly enough to be called Academic, but with lively writing that gets one enthused about two awesome things - Jews and Comics. I think the subtitle is misleading - this book wasn't just about super heroes. My interest was grabbed at the beginning, and kept throughout....more
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