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Stuff I'm Reading

 *"Unscripted." This is billed as the real-world "Succession," and, yes, it's more disturbing than "Succession."


The "Logan" character, Sumner Redstone, loses his mind, and he begins aggressively courting young women (so he can brag about these women when chatting with Larry King). Two of these women recognize that they could steal Redstone's fortune; they become Redstone's "family," and the nurses hover on the perimeter and whisper nervously about elder abuse. Elsewhere, Redstone's deputy, Les Moonves, assaults women and orchestrates a coverup; he promises minor casting opportunities to victims who agree to stay silent.

In non-fiction, it helps to have someone you can admire, and I guess that person here is Sumner's daughter, Shari. However, she is a Trump supporter. If you can forget about her gross politics, you might enjoy her battle against Moonves. The final scene--with Shari kneeling at the grave of a father who hated her, with iPhones screaming the melody of Frank Sinatra's "My Way"--belongs on any list of great non-fiction endings (I think).


*"Max's Dragon Shirt." Max the bunny needs new pants, so his sister Ruby takes him to Target. Max doesn't care about pants; he wants a shirt with the image of a colorful dragon. Nothing that happens after this first disagreement is predictable. Also, everything seems to be drawn from actual life.


*"Drinking at the Movies." In this memoir, Julia Wurtz believes that she may have herpes, so she goes to a NY clinic for a test. But the religious zealot at the door wrongly thinks that Wurtz wants an abortion--and she says the only acceptable way to terminate the pregnancy is to suck in her stomach, so that the fetus grows tired and dies. 

This leads to a fight about the pregnancy--a complication that is actually purely fictional. No one is pregnant! Wurtz enjoys herself--and then she re-fashions her own "herpes moment" as a work of art. I love, love, love her.








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