A review by ocurtsinger
Joe Gould's Secret by Joseph Mitchell

3.0

I achingly realized Joe Gould's 'secret' about halfway through the book, and was thereafter in a constant state of pity for him, for Joseph Mitchell, and for many of the various characters swept up in the Oral History. I think he was an interesting and respectable guy, but it made me sad to realize that if he were still around today, he would be brushed off as a destitute panhandler so much more easily now than in the Bohemian scene of the 1940's. It was also fun to read about New York at that time. I also just finished reading Patti Smith's Just Kids, which details a lot of the Chelsea Hotel scene in the 70's and 80's, and I think we're pretty inundated with books about the Beat scene in the 50's and 60's, so this was a fresh little portrait of the New York underground literary scene of an even earlier time. All in all a pretty fun read, even if the 'secret' isn't as exciting or fulfilling as you'd wish.