A review by iancarpenter
An American Dream by Norman Mailer

3.0

Given Mailer's very vocal and macho public life it was impossible for me to read this and not keep thinking, "this is what Mailer thinks men are." I read so much that to me is at least tangentially about masculinity: Ellroy, Bukowski, Easton Ellis, Kerouac, Ondaatje, but never, even when it's writers damning men, do I disconnect and feel the authorial desire like I do here. It feels so postural, desperately so at times. It took me a couple hundred pages to get over this. BUT, the writing is incredible: fluid, bold, and reaching for crazy heights. It's a huge push to extremes, to a nasty, vivid honesty about selfishness, desire, cruelty and insecurity. Not 100% for me, but an interesting read, particularly given how close to shocking it must have felt when published.