Just a note that Amy Chozick's "Chasing Hillary [Clinton]" has been weirdly overlooked in "Best Of" book lists.
Maybe people are uncomfortable with Chelsea's response. Chelsea took to Twitter to say she has never had her hair straightened. (Chozick says otherwise.) Chelsea also said, on Twitter, "I didn't drink champagne the night of the defeat." (Chozick reported the opposite.)
The Tweets had a heat, an anger, I hadn't seen in Chelsea before. (Not that I know much about Chelsea.) There was clearly a goal: Discredit Chozick. Chelsea wrote with an enjoyable cattiness; her Tweets accomplished their goal. (The Tweets themselves could be the subject of an epilogue in yet-to-be-seen new editions of Chozick's book.)
Let's say Chozick's assertions were not correct. Even so, they're gripping. What an image: Chelsea sipping alcohol as she begins to understand the magnitude of her mother's loss! Another image: Chelsea embroiled in a long-running debate about her hair, its curliness, and its occasional lack thereof!
Chozick has an eye for a story. She sees stories where others don't see anything at all. She has a chip of ice in her heart, like any good writer. Watch her delighting in a bizarre aside from Bill Clinton: "My daughter is quite unusual." And spinning a moving drama from her work relationship with the charismatic David Carr, who roots for her and seems to encourage her not to file her stacks and stacks of receipts. Watch her--especially--with Hillary: Her close reading of a Hillary condolence card, her analysis of Hillary's press relationships, and the way she contrasts Hillary's press sensibility with Trump's. (Trump calls Chozick out of the blue one day; Chozick shares with us that she was on a blanket in Bryant Park at the time.)
Chozick's frenemy relationship with Hillary was one of the oddest items I examined this year; "Chasing Hillary," though imperfect, kept me entertained during an endless move from Brooklyn to New Jersey. It should get more attention.
I'll say the same for "Caddyshack," a history of "Caddyshack." This sort of book never gets serious critical buzz, but I was moved by the story of one of the scriptwriters. A brilliant Harvard grad, he mined his own adolescence to make a name for himself in the humor world. By the time of "Caddyshack," he was too far lost on drugs and fast-paced ups and downs....He maybe threw himself off a cliff in Hawaii. Or he fell. In any case, he isn't around anymore.
The portrait of Chevy Chase--who seemed to be an asshole. Bill Murray's rewriting of substantial scripted portions of "Caddyshack," on the fly. Rodney Dangerfield's late-in-life success: His secretly- sophisticated act, which was really a *performance* of a performance. The constantly-chagrined man was a character, a send-up of other constantly-chagrined men.
I have no interest in seeing the movie "Caddyshack"; I just enjoy backstage politics. This book delivered--and then some.
Lastly, I hated large portions of "From the Corner of the Oval," but it's interesting to consider how this book works as an addiction narrative. The young storyteller falls for a sociopathic colleague. In and out and in and out and in and out of love. There are betrayals, bits of collateral damage, rock bottom moments. And then, in the background, there's Obama. Give this memoirist points for trying something bold.
Maybe people are uncomfortable with Chelsea's response. Chelsea took to Twitter to say she has never had her hair straightened. (Chozick says otherwise.) Chelsea also said, on Twitter, "I didn't drink champagne the night of the defeat." (Chozick reported the opposite.)
The Tweets had a heat, an anger, I hadn't seen in Chelsea before. (Not that I know much about Chelsea.) There was clearly a goal: Discredit Chozick. Chelsea wrote with an enjoyable cattiness; her Tweets accomplished their goal. (The Tweets themselves could be the subject of an epilogue in yet-to-be-seen new editions of Chozick's book.)
Let's say Chozick's assertions were not correct. Even so, they're gripping. What an image: Chelsea sipping alcohol as she begins to understand the magnitude of her mother's loss! Another image: Chelsea embroiled in a long-running debate about her hair, its curliness, and its occasional lack thereof!
Chozick has an eye for a story. She sees stories where others don't see anything at all. She has a chip of ice in her heart, like any good writer. Watch her delighting in a bizarre aside from Bill Clinton: "My daughter is quite unusual." And spinning a moving drama from her work relationship with the charismatic David Carr, who roots for her and seems to encourage her not to file her stacks and stacks of receipts. Watch her--especially--with Hillary: Her close reading of a Hillary condolence card, her analysis of Hillary's press relationships, and the way she contrasts Hillary's press sensibility with Trump's. (Trump calls Chozick out of the blue one day; Chozick shares with us that she was on a blanket in Bryant Park at the time.)
Chozick's frenemy relationship with Hillary was one of the oddest items I examined this year; "Chasing Hillary," though imperfect, kept me entertained during an endless move from Brooklyn to New Jersey. It should get more attention.
I'll say the same for "Caddyshack," a history of "Caddyshack." This sort of book never gets serious critical buzz, but I was moved by the story of one of the scriptwriters. A brilliant Harvard grad, he mined his own adolescence to make a name for himself in the humor world. By the time of "Caddyshack," he was too far lost on drugs and fast-paced ups and downs....He maybe threw himself off a cliff in Hawaii. Or he fell. In any case, he isn't around anymore.
The portrait of Chevy Chase--who seemed to be an asshole. Bill Murray's rewriting of substantial scripted portions of "Caddyshack," on the fly. Rodney Dangerfield's late-in-life success: His secretly- sophisticated act, which was really a *performance* of a performance. The constantly-chagrined man was a character, a send-up of other constantly-chagrined men.
I have no interest in seeing the movie "Caddyshack"; I just enjoy backstage politics. This book delivered--and then some.
Lastly, I hated large portions of "From the Corner of the Oval," but it's interesting to consider how this book works as an addiction narrative. The young storyteller falls for a sociopathic colleague. In and out and in and out and in and out of love. There are betrayals, bits of collateral damage, rock bottom moments. And then, in the background, there's Obama. Give this memoirist points for trying something bold.
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