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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
George Carlin has always been a favourite actor/comedian. He's brutally honest & hysterically funny. Reading this book made my ribs hurt, I was laughing so damn hard. He lead an interesting life & was so blunt you could practically smoke him. I will miss his wit & wisdom as long as I live. Love you, George!
I was given this as an Xmas gift from a friend and read it all the way through in part for that reason-- the feeling that when given a book as a gift, one should see it through. I hadn't listened to Carlin in years-- since I was teenager at least, if not earlier, but I had a fond recollection of him, a sense that he was a pretty sharp social commentator and a funny guy. Maybe that was true, but it doesn't come through in the book, for the most part. The writing is poor-- in part because it's transcribed from discussions (by Tony Hendra, who I expected could do much better), but in part because it's not terribly inventive, creative, or evocative. Most shocking is the terrible unfunniness of the bits he includes, so unfunny that it's almost embarrassing to read them. The Carlin I remember from when I was younger seemed funny on every topic, but what he quotes here is just flat on the page. Toward the end, as he gets into his more political works in the 90s, it picks up a little, but that's really only in the last 50 pages. Even then-- his politics are a little weird, and there's a lot of stuff about his complaints about having to pay huge amounts of tax and being chased for being a celebrity that he doesn't seem to notice clash against his righteous anger about the divide between rich and poor in America.
But also unsettling is the undercurrent of misogyny that runs through the book, starting when he describes his "first group sex," which is a bunch of teenaged guys holding down a girl and fondling her breasts. He says she "didn't struggle" but was clearly upset by it but still plays it for a laugh-- that really left me disgusted. Similar stuff about him fighting with his wife made me really uneasy. Altogether a real disappointment in many ways and on many levels.
But also unsettling is the undercurrent of misogyny that runs through the book, starting when he describes his "first group sex," which is a bunch of teenaged guys holding down a girl and fondling her breasts. He says she "didn't struggle" but was clearly upset by it but still plays it for a laugh-- that really left me disgusted. Similar stuff about him fighting with his wife made me really uneasy. Altogether a real disappointment in many ways and on many levels.
Rob and I listened to this on audiobook on our way home from New Hampshire. The narrator sounded enough like George Carlin to get across the humor, thoughtfulness, and honesty of this pure memoir.
I have a warm feeling towards Carlin, having been introduced to his work at a young age. I got a bunch of good LOLs out of this book, even when reading excerpts from his older bits that I've heard many times. The biggest laughs came when reading about his time in the Air Force - he behaved exactly as we would all expect him to behave.
funny
informative
fast-paced
Such a wonderful goodbye to George Carlin. It was so touching, to go through his life with him. And even though I knew that he was never able to complete this book, that in the end he dies, I cried.
Such a good read if you're a fan at all.
Such a good read if you're a fan at all.
I saw some not too fond reviews of this book and I have to say that most seemed to be written by just the sort of person who really didn't get Carlin's point when he made his blend of humor. Having said that I can get a bit of disappointment with the book. Most of this has to do with the lack of completion involved (Carlin died before he really got to develop it as I'm sure he planned to) and so I can't hold it against either of the men involved with getting this book together.
Otherwise its a nice little window into the mind and life of one of comedy's most brilliant minds and so an interesting way to view the many years Carlin was a part of this Earth. Who can really complain about that?
Otherwise its a nice little window into the mind and life of one of comedy's most brilliant minds and so an interesting way to view the many years Carlin was a part of this Earth. Who can really complain about that?
it's impossible to read this and not hear his voice in your head. a brilliant final chapter from a man who devoted his art and craft to words.
George Carlin changed the way I think about language and people and life; reading his account of his life and career makes me appreciate and miss his presence in this world all the more. Far more than a recap of pieces from his career, Last Words is an honest look at what made George Carlin the comedy icon and man he was.