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A review by briandice
Blue Movie by Terry Southern
5.0
I started reading Terry Southern because Vonnegut told me to read Terry Southern. Not in a personal, over lunch conversational way, but via an interview in [b:The Vonnegut Statement|478139|The Vonnegut Statement|Jerome Klinkowitz|/assets/nocover/60x80.png|2309196] where he basically stated that Southern was an iconoclast writing in a way that he (Vonnegut) aspired to.
Somewhere in my '20s I picked up a great first edition of this book and happened to read it at exactly the right time in my life. It wasn't the first thing I read by Southern, but it was the best. This is his giant middle finger, spire tall, pointed at the entire Hollywood industry written in a way that the satire sort of drools from the dust jacket. And it works, because Southern's genius is to set the hook and then pull the Reader into ever deeper waters. A large budget Hollywood film using A-list stars to make a full blown porno? Southern knows how to make this play. If you liked the best parts of Easy Rider or Dr. Strangelove then you know he can write dialogue and scene.
I have read everything (that I am aware of) that Southern penned. He is a genius, and looks to be under-read, especially amongst my well read friends. In 2014 I plan on returning to my fave Southern books for another romp through his brilliance - won't you join me?
Thanks, Kurt, for telling me to read this guy. You are a saint.
Somewhere in my '20s I picked up a great first edition of this book and happened to read it at exactly the right time in my life. It wasn't the first thing I read by Southern, but it was the best. This is his giant middle finger, spire tall, pointed at the entire Hollywood industry written in a way that the satire sort of drools from the dust jacket. And it works, because Southern's genius is to set the hook and then pull the Reader into ever deeper waters. A large budget Hollywood film using A-list stars to make a full blown porno? Southern knows how to make this play. If you liked the best parts of Easy Rider or Dr. Strangelove then you know he can write dialogue and scene.
I have read everything (that I am aware of) that Southern penned. He is a genius, and looks to be under-read, especially amongst my well read friends. In 2014 I plan on returning to my fave Southern books for another romp through his brilliance - won't you join me?
Thanks, Kurt, for telling me to read this guy. You are a saint.