Scan barcode
A review by offbalance80
True Believers by Kurt Andersen
1.0
I can't even with this book. Here I am, someone who really would love to write a few things myself, but worry that I shouldn't, as I don't have full enough knowledge of these topics. That CLEARLY never stopped Kurt Andersen in writing this book.
A few notes to you, sir:
1. The film version of Grease was released in 1978.
2. Not sure how the theme to Dr. No could be played years before the film's release, but okay.
3. How is it that you spend PAGES UPON PAGES talking about your main character's Type I diabetes and how serious such a condition was in the late 1960s (and even today), but COMPLETELY GLOSS OVER THE FACT THAT SAID CHARACTER WAS PREGNANT TWICE AND HAVE IT BE NO BIG DEAL? Maybe I just have known more people who happen to have diabetes. Maybe Kurt here has never seen Steel Magnolias in any form. Even the tiniest bit of research would have demonstrated that going through a pregnancy with serious diabetes is a big deal, and I doubt sincerely that the MC could have just gone about her busy law-clerk schedule with ease when she had to carry around sugar tablets and run for soda in case her sugar crashed. Not to mention all of the smaller details about the 60s, and modern teenagers that were just completely off base (MC's granddaughter playing a My Little Pony game on a game boy in a nightgown at 17? Sure, Jan.). Not to mention the plot that the MC hatches with her weirdo friends to "elicit change" in the 1960s is the stuff of Austin Powers, not James Bond. Perhaps I grew up watching too many documentaries, but once I found out what the Great Big Secret was, it was the best laugh I had since I finished Mamrie Hart's book. Seriously you guys? Seriously?
Unfortunately, such missteps were all too common in this overlong, dull as dishwater muddle with bargain-basement Tom Clancy aspirations. Every "twist" was laughable, the characters two-dimensional, and the backstory interminable. Avoid.
A few notes to you, sir:
1. The film version of Grease was released in 1978.
2. Not sure how the theme to Dr. No could be played years before the film's release, but okay.
3. How is it that you spend PAGES UPON PAGES talking about your main character's Type I diabetes and how serious such a condition was in the late 1960s (and even today), but COMPLETELY GLOSS OVER THE FACT THAT SAID CHARACTER WAS PREGNANT TWICE AND HAVE IT BE NO BIG DEAL? Maybe I just have known more people who happen to have diabetes. Maybe Kurt here has never seen Steel Magnolias in any form. Even the tiniest bit of research would have demonstrated that going through a pregnancy with serious diabetes is a big deal, and I doubt sincerely that the MC could have just gone about her busy law-clerk schedule with ease when she had to carry around sugar tablets and run for soda in case her sugar crashed. Not to mention all of the smaller details about the 60s, and modern teenagers that were just completely off base (MC's granddaughter playing a My Little Pony game on a game boy in a nightgown at 17? Sure, Jan.). Not to mention the plot that the MC hatches with her weirdo friends to "elicit change" in the 1960s is the stuff of Austin Powers, not James Bond. Perhaps I grew up watching too many documentaries, but once I found out what the Great Big Secret was, it was the best laugh I had since I finished Mamrie Hart's book. Seriously you guys? Seriously?
Unfortunately, such missteps were all too common in this overlong, dull as dishwater muddle with bargain-basement Tom Clancy aspirations. Every "twist" was laughable, the characters two-dimensional, and the backstory interminable. Avoid.