Scan barcode
Reviews
Always Crashing in the Same Car: On Art, Crisis, and Los Angeles, California by Matthew Specktor
chillcox15's review
5.0
This may be just because Specktor's subjects in his essay collection/memoir are so up my alley (Warren Zevon! Thomas McGuane! Frank & Eleanor Perry! Renata Adler! Hal Ashby & Michael Cimino!) that I responded to those figures more than the writing itself... but the writing is pretty darn good! I think Specktor falls prey to the overriding need to insert the memoir self into this book a bit too often (I was less compelled by some of that content) but it also wasn't derailing to the essays as they were written.
bennyandthejets420's review
4.0
weirdly important to me as a kind of form for the book I'd like to write some day. the melding of autobiography and criticism and observation is sharp and funny and continually interesting. i wonder if something could be done with a version of this book that exists in blog posts on places like rate your music.com. i also like the terse paragraph style and i think the subject lends itself well to a kind of mosaic approach of short paragraphs which build and flow into each other as the genre or occasion or subject allows.
food for THOUGHT
food for THOUGHT
glennmiller5309's review
5.0
In the weakest sections, this book is interesting and entertaining; in its strongest, this book is profound. Specktor pulls off a high wire act: loosely connecting a string of celebrity -- some, minor -- biographies with personal connections and parallels to form a new category of memoir. For a young baby boomer, this provides a walk through numerous cultural touchstones. Though thoroughly enjoyable and touching, I have one minor complaint: Specktor's writing style creates loops upon loops with parenthetical asides thrown in, so that the main point was often lost or forgotten to the reader. I found myself turning often to German grammar books for mental relaxation.
sarachildrey's review
Man talking about directors and his divorce, both of which I had trouble feeling interested in. Good prose and interesting connections between film and life, just not for me right now
mikigraph's review
Not for me. I was hoping for something a little more like Olivia Laing's writing, but this wasn't it
litsirk's review
4.0
The ending didn’t stick it for me. I kind of think the last section shouldn’t have been in the book, the second to last should’ve been ahead of the third to last, leaving Warren Zevon/Ross Macdonald to finish it off.
BUT: the vast majority of this book, I loved. I have so many people, so much art, to explore because of it. Looking forward to it.
BUT: the vast majority of this book, I loved. I have so many people, so much art, to explore because of it. Looking forward to it.
emilyacres's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol
More...