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athryn's review
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Felt more like a series of essays than a coherent biography or history of Keaton. Which is totally fine, but I wasn't expecting that going in. I did enjoy reading about the wider world of Hollywood of the time, filtered through people who worked with Keaton, but I think I would have preferred something either more focused on Keaton himself, or more expansive in scope.
jdk_andes's review against another edition
4.0
Not quite the biography I was expecting, but this nonetheless was incredibly informative and engaging
hawkjones's review against another edition
4.0
Really sticks the landing with an amazing last paragraph.
unladylike's review
3.0
I first recall becoming curious about Buster Keaton thanks to one of my favorite rappers during my college years, Buck 65, who took hip-hop to its folk street-talkin' sense, telling stories from rural Canada and listing all the good old-fashioned things that were his "idea of Heaven." I still love this poem, spoken over a simple beat, but in my early twenties, I had no idea what he meant by "the theaters still have silver screens and Buster Keaton matinees." At some point I noticed he had a website that included a list of his favorite films of all time, and I hadn't heard of almost any of them, and was shocked that they were mostly from the 1920s and '30s. I grew up watching plenty of the Marx Brothers, Alfred Hitchcock, and some other classic black and white film and television, but the only stuff from the silent era I knew was The Three Stooges' early stuff that my grandparents had collections of on VHS.
I have now watched around eight Buster Keaton films - mostly shorts from his early adult career - and found the sense of awe in them that so many others have before me. But I *really* wish there were footage of his family's acts with him when he was about five, getting kicked around like a ball by his father and seemingly never getting hurt, despite the awful implications and fears of abuse involved in those performances, which this book details.
I have now watched around eight Buster Keaton films - mostly shorts from his early adult career - and found the sense of awe in them that so many others have before me. But I *really* wish there were footage of his family's acts with him when he was about five, getting kicked around like a ball by his father and seemingly never getting hurt, despite the awful implications and fears of abuse involved in those performances, which this book details.
puzzled_pagan's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent dive into the life and influence of one of the most fascinating figures of early American cinema. Buster Keaton is a towering, if mysterious, figure, and Stevens' ode manages to reckon with his life and the strange synchronicity it had with the rapidly changing twentieth century.
codylunsford's review against another edition
4.0
great stuff! a good piece of biography/cultural context.