Scott F. Parker

I was inspired to read this book after finishing Ken Babb's new book. I have read and loved both of Ken Kesey's popular novels, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion. I will say that after finishing this book I am itching to go back and read Sometimes a Great Notion. He considered that one to be his masterpiece.

One of my favorite things about these types of books is you get to see how someone's thoughts and opinions change over time, but also how the attitudes of the interviewers change over time. There are a couple of interviewers in the 70's who were downright angry and hostile with Kesey. They were angry that he was not doing more for the civil rights movement and Kesey has to tell them multiple times that he is just a writer. Later towards the end of the book the interviewers are approaching him as a wise guru. One interviewer in particularly desperately wants Kesey to say that using drugs made him a better writer and Kesey has to continue to push back against that. I think people might be surprised at how old-fashioned his views could be at times. This book is worth the read for the subject as well as the time period.… (mere)

As a collection of essays this book varies in quality, readibility, and insight. There were only one or maybe two essays that felt like utter academese filler, using a lot of words to say almost nothing, but there were also some good essays, particularly the forward, that put Eminem in his place, so to speak, explaining some of the context of his fame and fortunes, addressing some of the obvious criticisms of both his work and his success relative to many other talented artists in rap, and in some cases doing a real deep dive in the mechanics of his poetry, rhythm, and approach. Because the project didn't obtain any rights to print the lyrics themselves it helps a lot to either be familiar with Eminem already or willing to look up the songs that are referenced and give them a good listen as you read along. I haven't listed to Eminem in a very long time, and one of those non-black kids back when he was taking off my familiarity with rap generally is pretty low, so it was an education just to listen not just to the songs of Eminem's that get attention but that of the other artists that are brought up in contrast with him.

And of course the subtitle of the book is a strong hint that the issues these essays cover aren't limited to Eminem as an artist or even rap as a genre. A lot of attention is paid to relationship between American society, race, and creative work. There is also a relatively broad range of approaches to the issue. While some essays are a little more absolutist than others than the role race had to play in Eminem's ridiculous success, in general a lot of nuance is brought to bear, that gives respect to something that is a lot more complex than "He's just that good" or "He's just that white."While there are a couple of duds, and a few essays that are very deep in the academy, making them a bit difficult to parse for the layman, this was overall an interesting and thought-provoking collection of essays.… (mere)