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llysenw 's review for:
The Fran Lebowitz Reader
by Fran Lebowitz
DID NOT FINISH
What a terrible disappointment. I made it 52% of the way through.
I suppose whenever you have a collection of magazine columns you start seeing patterns and tropes that don't dawn on you when you see each one individually whether monthly, weekly or even daily. I remember reading Lebowitz way back when when I subscribed (yes, I did) to Andy Warhol's Interview magazine back when it was too big to fit in the mailbox. I enjoyed them. Now, though, reading one after another, they all very samey. Lebowitz is the original listical creator. Every column takes some current topic or peeve and creates a list of humorously outlandish buy similar things. Frankly, it gets old in a big hurry.
But that's not (entirely) why I put it down. Many of these were written in the 70s and don't age well. Even so, there are some things that weren't even funny at the time. One of those is making fun of child sexual abuse. Saying that there were 1100 victims instead of the estimated 3000 isn't made any more humorous by saying the perpetrators, therefore, had "slim pickings". Nor is it any funnier to create a tale with a "Sherlock Holmes and Gardens" tracking down "real" numbers in a tale called "A Study in Harlot". Having lived at ground zero of the Boston Catholic Church abuse scandal, I had a front row view at the real, lasting damage that causes. And I do realize there was a massive overreach by prosecutors (and living in Medford during all of that "recovered memory" malarkey) still doesn't make it appropriate for riffing. Not only is it not funny, it's not even tasteless, it's reprehensible. And it's not because of changing times. It never was funny.
Sorry, Fran, I'm sure you're fun at parties and the Netflix thing with Martin Scorsese was great, but I can't get into this.
I suppose whenever you have a collection of magazine columns you start seeing patterns and tropes that don't dawn on you when you see each one individually whether monthly, weekly or even daily. I remember reading Lebowitz way back when when I subscribed (yes, I did) to Andy Warhol's Interview magazine back when it was too big to fit in the mailbox. I enjoyed them. Now, though, reading one after another, they all very samey. Lebowitz is the original listical creator. Every column takes some current topic or peeve and creates a list of humorously outlandish buy similar things. Frankly, it gets old in a big hurry.
But that's not (entirely) why I put it down. Many of these were written in the 70s and don't age well. Even so, there are some things that weren't even funny at the time. One of those is making fun of child sexual abuse. Saying that there were 1100 victims instead of the estimated 3000 isn't made any more humorous by saying the perpetrators, therefore, had "slim pickings". Nor is it any funnier to create a tale with a "Sherlock Holmes and Gardens" tracking down "real" numbers in a tale called "A Study in Harlot". Having lived at ground zero of the Boston Catholic Church abuse scandal, I had a front row view at the real, lasting damage that causes. And I do realize there was a massive overreach by prosecutors (and living in Medford during all of that "recovered memory" malarkey) still doesn't make it appropriate for riffing. Not only is it not funny, it's not even tasteless, it's reprehensible. And it's not because of changing times. It never was funny.
Sorry, Fran, I'm sure you're fun at parties and the Netflix thing with Martin Scorsese was great, but I can't get into this.