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dave_white's review against another edition
3.0
Good, but it suffers from being written\published as few articles.
doc_savage's review against another edition
3.0
It was interesting, but I really struggled to get through this one. I listened to the audiobook, so the fact that it took me nearly two weeks to get through 9 hours of audio is saying something. I know it was recommended because I have enjoyed similar books about people he was connected to in his career. Perhaps his particular style is just not my thing.
agw622's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.5
You get a lot of Lenny's voice in the story. It is a very matter of fact approach, but it makes you feel really bad for the man. It does make you think about the censorship becoming more popular nowadays.
ericjaysonnenscheinwriter2392's review against another edition
4.0
I received a copy of "How to Talk Dirty..." from, of all people, my English professor and thesis advisor at Amherst, Professor Bill Pritchard. It was an enlightened gift, and since I was going into the Peace Corps, I would have a lot of time and solitude in which to absorb it. I had ambivalent feelings about Lenny Bruce. I related to the pain of his personal life, his broken home, and poverty, his outsider status and hatred of authority, which ultimately led to his dishonorable discharge from the Navy. But when I read this book I was seeking a role model, and Lenny Bruce was not the one. He was like one of the characters in "Crash", the David Cronenberg movie, except that Bruce used himself rather than a car. He was a drug addict, had abysmal relationships with women, and was burdened by a death wish. He also did not seem to have much insight into his situation. He seemed to enjoy being the enfant terrible, martyr and first amendment darling of the elite liberals, but was caught up in the turbulence. He was no Houdini, no trickster, but rather like one of those daredevils who rolls over Niagara Falls. You can admire his temerity, but not his intelligence. In the end, Bruce had very little wisdom to impart to an impressionable young man seeking a path to make a difference in the world. If anything, Lenny Bruce influenced me NOT to become a comedian. Whatever desire I had was snuffed by the details and sordid undertones of his book. Bruce was adept at suggesting the brutality and depravity of the nightclub scene he worked, the lack of community and social connection. But his book influenced me also on another level. His lack of reflection and the bluntness of his prose suggested to me that I was not of the same ilk. Finally, I saw some footage of Lenny Bruce doing his act, and it wasn't funny. I think Mort Sahl was better at the kind of social and political satire Bruce tried to do...but Sahl had none of the notoriety of Bruce. Yes, Bruce died prematurely, and that is a shame, but he did not die for the first amendment. He has become a first amendment saint, but so have Larry Flynt, Hugh Hefner, flag burners, and the American Nazi Party. Is that a point of pride?
johnnyb1954's review against another edition
4.0
Definitely interesting, Bruce does a great job of explaining the way his material took on hypocrisy and challenged censorship. Relevant even now. Better then the movie. It is tragic the way his life and career were destroyed by the legal harassment and sensationalist reporting about it.