Books

The Essential Bogosian: Talk Radio, Drinking in America, Funhouse & Men Inside

Average customer rating:

Real life pulled from minimal elements
The Essential Bogosian: Talk Radio, Drinking in America, FunHouse and Men Inside
Great Book

The Essential Bogosian: Talk Radio, Drinking in America, Funhouse & Men Inside
Eric Bogosian
Manufacturer: Theatre Communications Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Pounding Nails in the Floor With My Forehead
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ASIN: 1559360828

Customer Reviews:

Real life pulled from minimal elements.......2007-05-25

I bought this book at the theatre after recently seeing a production of Talk Radio with Liev Schreiber. I really enjoyed the play and also the monologues. With virtually no props and simple dialogue (the way people really talk), Mr. Bogosian creates realistic slices of life. I was reminded of the plays of David Mamet, another favorite, especially Glen Garry GlenRoss, which I also saw two years ago starring Mr. Schreiber. You see the average person trying to cope with world class problems and seemingly getting no help from God, the government, the past, and passers-by. Both playwrights with few words can draw out the audience's deepest feelings. I love this kind of work.

The Essential Bogosian: Talk Radio, Drinking in America, FunHouse and Men Inside.......2007-01-12

In a very good condition, looks like new.

Great Book.......1999-12-06

This is a great book for anyone who loves comedic theatr

Lost in the Funhouse (The Anchor Literary Library)

Average customer rating:

the way we tell stories
Confusing, Hilarious, Profound
Maybe not as bad as I originally thought
Stretching short stories
laizzez-faire postmodernism

Lost in the Funhouse (The Anchor Literary Library)
John Barth
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Floating Opera and The End of the Road
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Chimera
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The Crying of Lot 49 (Perennial Fiction Library)

ASIN: 0385240872
Release Date: 1988-03-01

Book Description

Barth's lively, highly original collection of short pieces is a major landmark of experimental fiction. Though many of the stories gathered here were published separately, there are several themes common to them all, giving them new meaning in the context of this collection.

Customer Reviews:

the way we tell stories.......2007-03-07

Taken both separately and as an arranged series, these 14 stories explore the relationships between narrative, life, knowledge, creation, self and being. Like much of Barth's work, these texts wrestle with the profound implication that insight into the way we narrativize experience, into the way we make and tell stories, can actually help us understand how we perceive and live life. Deeply existential, yet also inventive and playful, Lost in the Funhouse twists and turns the established folds of form and meaning, trying to tease out something new. Where the stories succeed, they shimmer brilliantly.

In a few instances, however, the book sinks a little too far into post-modern self-referentiality, with stories about their own conception, about their own futility. While these concepts are intriguing, and Barth's examinations lively, several pages worth is often too much. Especially at first reading, such stories seem not only bewildering but also boorish, even annoying. Part of the problem is perhaps simply that such ideas are no longer new. But it's also true that some of the stories are rather obscure, so much so that the book now includes Barth's "Seven Additional Author's Notes," for needed clarification.

The stories in this slim volume, many of which are post-modern or metafictional experiments, seem inevitable, even necessary. Eventually someone was going to have to write them, and no one is perhaps more capable of exploring narrative and form in this way than John Barth. Unfortunately, however, some of the stories drag and feel a little tedious, which the reader should be prepared for. Overall, this is a challenging, rewarding and expansive book. Lost in the funhouse, indeed...

Confusing, Hilarious, Profound.......2006-06-05

Lost in the Funhouse can be a very bewildering and irritating collection if you aren't in the right mood for it. If you aren't well-versed in post-modern fiction (barthelme, calvino, etc are good reference points) you might want to start somewhere else first. Even Barth's novels are more immediately digestible.

With that said, though, this collection doesn't really operate on one consistent level. Perhaps this is because many of these stories were written by Barth much earlier in his career. The three stories concerning Ambrose's birth and development are very straightforward and enjoyable on a surface level until the whole series goes flying into left-field with the titular "Lost in the Funhouse" story (which Barth is probably most known for). From that point on, most of the stories are more about the process of writing and the relationship between the reader, writer, and the characters. Stories like "Title" and "Life-Story" work more as essays on the nature of fiction than actual works of fiction, and were (for me at least) a little tedious. The best moments occur when Barth combines his thoughful analysis on the nature of writing and art with a really good ground-situation, typically based on Greek mythology. The best of these are the utterly raunchy "Petitition" and the labyrinthine "Menelaiad".

Taken as a whole, though, Lost in the Funhouse is greatly satisfying, even if (like me) you really only understood about 20% of what Barth was talking about on your first read-through. It's the sort of book I'll go back to again and again to try and delve deeper into the mystery of the funhouse while appreciating all over the hilarious bawdy humor.

Oh, and make sure to read Barth's seven additional notes at the front of the book (though maybe only after you've read the story that is being discussed in each note, so as not to ruin the initial experience)-- they really help to clarify some of Barth's intentions. I can't even imagine appreciating a story like "Glossolalia" without having read the note concerning it.

Maybe not as bad as I originally thought.......2003-01-13

I reviewed this book in 1999, calling it "Self-Serving Drivel." I recently went back to re-read it, hoping that I had been naive and dumb at the time and that Barth's stories would improve with the reader's experience. No such luck. It's still self-serving drivel.

Maybe at the time it was published this brand of metafiction was revolutionary, but it has not held up well over the intevening years. Some modern metafiction has revealed important, enduring truths about the problems of reading and writing, but Barth's convoluted first steps into the genre read as needlessly complicated tellings of very simple stories.

His prose style is certainly unique and evocative, and some of his stories are amazingly inventive ("Ambrose His Mark" most notably) but as a whole this collection comes off very badly. When he launches off into syntax-less prose poetry he reveals all of his style's weaknesses in exchange for no noticeable strengths. All in all, not very good.

Stretching short stories.......2002-10-07

I will admit that there are plenty of classic masterpiece quality short stories out there, collections or otherwise. I'm just not an avid reader of them . . . maybe I just like big hefty books, maybe I don't like switching gears every twenty pages or so . . . who knows? But I do like Barth and this is pretty short so I figured, what the hey? Unlike most short story collections which generally just wait until an author has enough stories to fill a book before publishing, this book was originally conceived as a group of short stories that in some form or another share the same thematic elements and much like an album, is sequenced into a proper order and should be read that way. So he says. Barth admits in the foreword that he doesn't normally write short stories and this was his attempt at playing with the medium, which as you might suspect gives you all kinds of hit or miss stories . . . generally the quality is pretty high and for such an academic guy, Barth's pretty funny (he can respect and make fun of mythology at the same time without seeming smug or arch, which I think is hard to do) and if the humor's on, then for the most part that can carry the nuttier moments. Basically it's a "post-modern" sort of short story collection, so there aren't many compromises to things like form or structure or plot (one story is essentially a Moebius strip) which has the effect of making some stories feel like little more than academic exercises in form, rendering them a bit distant emotionally. Like looking at abstract art I guess, you can admire the technique even as you can't appreciate the emotion behind it. But when the collection works, it works great. The title story is my personal favorite, but the last one is the best of the mythology based ones (parts of this seem like a runthrough for Chimera) and overall if you're not looking for Joycean slice of life tales or knotted little tales of suspense, but instead an attempt to bend the rules a bit, then you'll probably like this. Not Barth's best work but it's short and the gems outweigh the duds by a good margin, so it could be worse.

laizzez-faire postmodernism.......2000-06-06

John Barth is not a doctrinaire postmodernist. He does not reject the label of 'postmodernist writer', but he is not interested in following the doctrine to logical end. That would apparently take the fun out of the funhouse.

This book is a series of essays, meditations, short stories and jokes that examine the creative process as ontogeny. Barth is funny and melancholy at the same time. He is skeptical, but also to some degree hopeful, about the possibility of writing anything that could be useful to someone else.

His enthusiastic and hilarious references made me want to read or re-read many classic pieces of literature including Allen Ginsberg's "Howl", Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and the Iliad and "1001 Arabian Nights". And he made me believe that I could get a lot more out of them, if I would just question a few more of my presumptions.

How to Write Killer Fiction: The Funhouse of Mystery & the Roller Coaster of Suspense

Average customer rating:

An absolute keeper
Start with this book by Carolyn Wheat
Finally A Book on Mystery & Suspense!
AWESOME RESOURCE FOR MYSTERY/SUSPENSE WRITERS - A MUST HAVE!!!!
Killer Recommendations

How to Write Killer Fiction: The Funhouse of Mystery & the Roller Coaster of Suspense
Carolyn Wheat
Manufacturer: Perseverance Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1880284626

Customer Reviews:

An absolute keeper.......2007-02-12

The title hooked me, and it just got better after that. As a writer of fiction, I have a stack of "how-to" books on my shelf, some of which have been helpful, others not so much. But this one has the clearest explanation of such things as story arc, the novel styled as a classic myth, how to (and how not to) handle an ending. Better yet, not only is the book filled with excellent information, it's written in an entertaining style. And the examples that Ms. Wheat uses are from books that most of us have read and authors most of us recognize--not pages and pages of dry-as-dust "classic" novels.
If you like to read suspense and/or mystery (and she makes the distinction clear in the first chapter), this book will make your reading more pleasurable as you begin to appreciate the things your favorite author does. And if you want to write in those genres, hurry to order the book, then commit it to memory.

Start with this book by Carolyn Wheat.......2006-09-22

Carolyn Hart, Mystery Maitresse, suggested this book to me. She was right. I was gratified to discover just how many things I am already doing correctly without any understanding of the structure provided by this book. Ms. Carolyn Wheat provides valuable insight into a great many other issues. Yes, this book will provide guidelines for the next several weeks. Thank you.

Finally A Book on Mystery & Suspense!.......2006-07-27

Pros: A great book on how to craft mystery & suspense.

Cons: If you don't care about suspense, then this book isn't for you. But I'd say you're crazy.

Thoughts: There don't seem to be many writing books dedicated to the specific techniques of genre. The book is split in two parts. The first half is mystery, and the second half is suspense. The author does a good job of explaining how the techniques used can often be very different. The suspense half of the book is just plain old Good Storytelling, and the tricks explained in that section would work for almost any story. Who doesn't want a suspensful story?

Summary: I wish more books on storytelling were like this. Just buy it.

AWESOME RESOURCE FOR MYSTERY/SUSPENSE WRITERS - A MUST HAVE!!!!.......2006-07-25

I really thought I knew all there was to writing suspense, but I wanted more insight to mystery. So at the Murder in the Grove conference, I had the honor to meet Carolyn Wheat and buy this book.

On the plane ride home from the conference, I found myself immersed in this book like it was a real life page turning suspense roller coaster.

Carolyn's insight on this genre is amazing and she should have said this was a foundation guide for mystery and suspense writing because anyone who picks up this book will no doubt after reading it, know how to write in this genre.

With easy to understand terminology, lots of examples and references, How to Write Killer Fiction is the bible for how to write mystery and suspense.

I myself will treasure this book for years to come and will highly recommend it to any writers out there. Of course no ones touching my copy because its signed by the author. nah-nah!

Sylvia Hubbard, Author of Stone's Revenge http://sylviahubbard.com

Killer Recommendations.......2006-04-17

I saw this book on the website of a local bookstore. I've been interested in learning more about the mystery and suspense forms for a while. The summary caught my eye, so I went down to the store and picked it up.

I found the prose direct and to the point. Wheat organized the book in a format that is easy to follow and brings the reader the sought after information rather rapidly. The book does not skimp on details though. She is thorough with providing examples, explanations and reviewing information to reinforce her point.

Wheat addresses the forms of mystery and suspense separately, dividing each into four arcs. Once she is through talking about the two genres, she talks about different writing styles: Outlines and Blank-Pagers. The strengths and weakness of each are discussed in detail. I found this section to be particularly enlightening, as I have tried both forms in my effort to find my own rhythm. Her insight hit home.

This is a great book to add to a writer's library. I would not limit it to mystery or suspense writers, but those who seek to understand these genres for their own enrichment. For me, the book was a good buy.

Average customer rating:

One of Koontz's Better Ones!
A decent setup completely destroyed by a lack of finality.
Disappointing Ending
Shockingly bad...
Worst book I've ever read....

The Funhouse
Dean Koontz
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425142485

Customer Reviews:

One of Koontz's Better Ones!.......2007-01-20

This book, by far, is one of the "creepier" ones that he has written. It is a fast-reader...it holds your attention, from the very beginning, to the very last page. It has a couple twists and turns, throughout, which gave way to huge elements of shocking surprise. I strongly recommend this book, if you're looking for one of his scarier ones! After I read it, I handed it over to two other readers, they both thoroughly enjoyed this book, as did I.

A decent setup completely destroyed by a lack of finality........2006-11-02

"The Funhouse" is Dean Koontz's first and only attempt at a novelisation of a screenplay. It differs dramatically from the apparently very ordinary movie (that I haven't seen) due to Koontz pretty much taking the general idea and writing his own story around it. He has spoken in interviews about his childhood love of carnivals and his subsequent knowledge of the "carnie" lifestyle. "The Funhouse" allowed him to put some of that knowledge into a fictional story, although he would do so far more successfully with "Twilight Eyes" some years later.

The story starts back in the 50s, with a young woman (Ellen) preparing to murder her mongoloid baby as she believes it to be purely evil. As you can imagine, this act of violence certainly doesn't impress her husband Conrad, a member of a travelling carnival. He sends her away with the knowledge that wherever she goes, no matter where she ends up, he will track her down and exact his revenge on her future family. From here we move forward into the 70s and the novel follows the lives of Ellen's two children Amy and Joey and the events that lead up to the inevitable confrontation.

"The Funhouse" is another suspenseful thriller from Koontz. It pulls no punches with satanic villains, gory deaths and coarse language. I think the carnival environment is a good setting for messed up behaviour and has been utilized quite a few times over the years. But this book has many flaws that ruin most of the enjoyment that it could have provided. This is the sixth Koontz book I have read and I can't help but feel that at least in this earlier period of his career, he is failing to learn from prior mistakes or develop in certain areas. Continually he seems to come up with rather suspenseful situations, but fills them with stereotypical characters. In "The Funhouse", there's the overbearingly religious mother, the father that has distanced himself from the family, the over-sexed, drugged-out friend that you just know is going to meet a grisly end etc. It appears that Koontz feels comfortable working within these boundaries though, as whenever he manages to create a mildly interesting character (Ellen for example), they simply get pushed out of the story to make way for the plot advancements.

But worse than his characterisations is his inability to tie up loose ends and give the reader a satisfying ending. "The Funhouse" is one of the worst offenders here, with Koontz raising questions that he never intends (or can be bothered) to answer. The story builds up and up towards a confrontation between Ellen's children and Conrad. Yet when it occurs, it is literally over in a matter of seconds with no words spoken. Amy and Joey gain no knowledge whatsoever of who Conrad actually is, nor his involvement with their mother. Furthermore, the reader does not experience Ellen's response to Conrad's attempt at vengeance or what affect it will have on her future relationship with her children. All we get is an extremely corny coming of age / religious conclusion that holds no finality and left me feeling ripped off.

I'm yet to read a really satisfying Dean Koontz novel but its worth noting that I've only really delved into his very early books at this stage. Here's hoping they get better as he gains more experience.

Disappointing Ending.......2006-08-22

"The Funhouse" was great until the end. I felt like Mr. Koontz did not want to take the time to tie the loose ends in this text. The ending felt very rushed and inadequate for the suspense throughout the first part of the book.

Shockingly bad..........2006-07-17

I'm usually a big fan of Koontz but this offering is dire.
It's so badly written/plotted that it's still hard for me to believe that he actually wrote this.
The plot is wafer thin and predictable, the characters lack depth and the conclusion is woeful.

Worst book I've ever read...........2006-07-11

I usually like books by Dean Koontz, but this one was awful. The first half was boring for the most part and well, what happened to the second half? It just ended. Like he ran out of time or ideas (never had too many to begin with in this story) - don't know, but it really stinks! How this has gotten as many stars as it has is totally unbelievable!! Would give it 0 if I could.

Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman

Average customer rating:

Andy Kaufman Revealed
Great, but sad too
Well-written biography of a peculiar man
Andy Kaufman a "Stand Up Guy"
An excellent look at Andy Kaufman

Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman
Bill Zehme
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385333722
Release Date: 2001-01-09

Amazon.com

Bill Zehme's biography of comic actor/performance artist Andy Kaufman (subject of the feature film Man in the Moon) is a meticulously researched, eminently readable, and very strange book--this last being perhaps no surprise given its subject. Written over a six-year period, Lost in the Funhouse is crammed with details gleaned from interviews with the actor's family, friends, teachers, coworkers, and unwitting participants in Kaufman's pranks. In particular, the book provides great insight into Kaufman's early life in Great Neck, NY, his relationship with transcendental meditation, and his first forays into nightclubs in the early '70s. Zehme, author of The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin', weaves together multiple narratives from varying perspectives, including passages in which the author appears to have entered his subject's brain. Zehme did have access to unpublished letters and manuscripts (which fans would certainly like to see published on their own one day), but the only person who could legitimately verify the accuracy of these passages is no longer with us.

At its best, the book approaches that apex of artful celebrity bi-fiction, Nick Tosches's Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams. The transitions from one perspective to the next are a bit jarring at first, but once the reader gives in to Zehmes's collage of multiple personalities, one is considerably closer to understanding the book's subject. Kaufman was nothing if not a collection of various intense personalities: the young boy continually mourning his grandfather's death; the likable and naive Foreign Man; the talentless and irascible lounge singer Tony Clifton; the bliss-seeking student of TM; the devoted and loving son who never had anything to do with his own child; and world champion of inter-gender wrestling. Lost in the Funhouse is the one Kaufman tome that will please neophytes as well as those with their own Andy Kaufman Web sites. --Mike McGonigal

Book Description

From Bill Zehme, renowned journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin', comes this masterful biography of the late comic genius Andy Kaufman.

Based on six years of research, Andy's own unpublished, never-before-seen writings, and hundreds of interviews with family members, friends, and colleagues, Lost in the Funhouse takes us through the maze of Kaufman's mind to see, firsthand, the fanciful landscape that was his life.

Andy Kaufman was often a mystery even to his closest friends. Remote, aloof, impossible to know, his internal world was a kaleidoscope of characters fighting for time on the outside. He was as much Andy Kaufman as he was Foreign Man (tenk you veddy much), who became the lovably dithering Latka on the hit TV series Taxi. He was a contradiction, a paradox on every level, an artist in every sense of the word.

In Lost in the Funhouse, Bill Zehme sorts through a life of misinformation put forth by a master of deception to uncover the man behind the legend. Magically entertaining, it is a singular biography matched only by its singular subject.

Customer Reviews:

Andy Kaufman Revealed.......2006-03-20

I was first introduced to the comic stylings of Andy Kaufman when I was eight years old; I turned on the t.v. and there he was being voted off Saturday Night Live. Kaufman intrigued me, and my interest in his work was further heightened with the release of Man on the Moon a few years later. That being said, I started reading Lost in the Funhouse as a way to get information for a research paper I was writing on Kaufman, but Bill Zehme's book entertained me so much that I read the entire thing. Writing about the performance style of Andy Kaufman can't possibly be an easy thing to do, but Zehme does so with grace and clarity, not sparing any tidbit of information that led to Kaufman's career. The best thing about Lost in the Funhouse is that Zehme has been able to capture pure Kaufman-esque moments from his early childhood. The way Zehme presents the material is like Kaufman wrote it himself, and it is by far the best information I've gotten on Andy Kaufman to date. Zehme's book is a must-read for any fan, as well as those who detested Kaufman, because it shows Kaufman as brashly as he could have ever hoped.

Great, but sad too.......2005-10-30

Zehme does a magnificent job prtraying the life and attitude of Andy though Andy's biography. In my opinion Andy was an amazing artist who revolutionized entertainment. He was truly an avant-garde and eccentric individual. Ahhh, I'll try to keep this a reveiw and not a glorification of his life!!! He was amazing and Zehme does an amazing job with the story of Andy. I reccomend this book for Kaufman fans or anyone interested in comedy, absurdity, or creativity. Just be prepared for the ending-keep some tissues next to your bed while reading the final chapters.

Well-written biography of a peculiar man.......2005-09-05

Accomplished journalist Bill Zehme tackles a difficult subject when he decides to write about the private life of Andy Kaufman. Kaufman is so conflicted that his private persona cannot be wrapped up into a tidy package, which makes it impossible to reduce him to a chapter-sized description.

There are lots of contradictory opinions of the way that Kaufman viewed the world, and viewed himself. Rather than picking a majority opinion and going with it, Zehme has given us all of those fragmentary glimpses of his life, and we are left to draw the conclusion that Kaufman himself didn't really understand who he was.

Anyone who has ever laughed at any of Kaufman's spectacular performances will enjoy this book, which does describe many of Kaufman's bits in a way that allows the reader to appreciate their humor. This is also a look into the entertainment industry from the perspective of an outsider; Kaufman was a peculiar bird in Hollywood, as he could entertain audiences, but couldn't mesh with the political machine that assigns roles to tinseltown's denizens.

This is a good, solid biography of an interesting subject, and is worth the time it takes to read.

Andy Kaufman a "Stand Up Guy".......2004-04-20

What a great comedian and "thespian" A man of many faces moods and contrasts. I never will forget his "Saturday Night Live" debut. Great book I highly recommend.

An excellent look at Andy Kaufman.......2003-10-18

Better than Zemuda's book. I would recommend this book even if you are not a fan of Kaufman. The story of a very unique man, gain insight as to just what was going on in his mind as he managed to confuse most everyone who saw him.

Death in a Funhouse Mirror: A Thea Kozak Mystery

Average customer rating:

Death in a Funhouse Mirror: A Thea Kozak Mystery
Kate Clark Flora
Manufacturer: Forge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312856008

The Funhouse Mirror: Reflections on Prison

Average customer rating:

Interesting New Approach to Life Behind Bars
educational
A Daring Refelction
Merging Reflections
A Terrific Collection of Prison Writing

The Funhouse Mirror: Reflections on Prison
Robert Ellis Gordon
Manufacturer: Washington State University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison
The Big House: Life Inside a Supermax Security Prison
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ASIN: 0874221986

Book Description

"Prisons are hard places to get into and harder yet to get out of," writes Robert Ellis Gordon as he takes you on a remarkable eight-year journey into the Washington State corrections system.

As a writing teacher, Gordon had the unique experience of gaining access to the darkest realms of Washington prisons while still being free to walk away from penitentiary confines at the end of the day. His account is aided by essays and stories contributed by six extraordinary prison students - works that give this book an unforgettable edge. Together, Gordon and his students provide revealing glimpses of this vast secret-laden subculture of incarcerated individuals, which nationwide comprises more than two million U.S. citizens.

Here is a gallery of portraits of prison life, from the female guard who tantalizes male inmates with her sexuality to the terrified young fish trying to stave off other prisoners. These stories are jarring, harsh, compelling. The Funhouse Mirror provides an inside look at the prison system we often ignore, yet only at society's peril. This uncommon book is a significant addition to the literature on American penitentiaries. It is destined to help alter the terms of the debate about one of the great national problems of our time.

"In this memoir about teaching writing in prisons, we get a strong whiff of the fear, degradation, and violence that characterize daily life inside these institutions. What sneaks up on us is the character of Robert Gordon. The author's sustained act of charity, his years' long act of hope, is as striking as the honesty and bravery behind his report." --Barry Lopez, National Book Award Winner

Customer Reviews:

Interesting New Approach to Life Behind Bars.......2007-05-03

There have been books describing the subculture of prison life and those withiin it (Hot House, New Jack, etc) but this is the first one that is told through using a combination of narrative, and stores written by the prisoners themselves in a creative writing class. This book is informative, honest, and will do nothing to make you feel better about the system. However, it is an interesting read, the stories and backgrounds of the criminals makes you realize that most of them could not, and should not be released to society. But, after hearing their stories, you do think about the 'nurture vs nature' arguement. Well written book.

educational.......2006-11-30

Since I know nothing of the prison system, wanting to broaden my education, I choose this. An exceptional book, not only for one wanting an education, yet to know the system. VERY well written. A MUST read for anyone wanting to know more that the basic of the gossip mill. Thank YOU for taking the time to write.

A Daring Refelction.......2004-02-05

Unlike most books I read, I was able to meet with the author of The Funhouse Mirror, Robert Ellis Gordon, on a few occasions. He had published his book through Washington State University Press, and a friend of mine was trying top help him distribute it to a wider academic audience. Knowledgeable, soft spoken and generous, Robert gave me a stack of his books on the promise that I would speak to colleagues and instructors in the Massachusetts area while on a 5 week seminar at Amherst College.

It went over well with fellow teachers at the seminar, which happened to be entitled "Crime, Punishment and Politics" and was led by Professor Austin Sarat. The book contains stories and essays by Gordon reflecting on his years spent as a teacher of creative writing in the Washington State prison system. Several other portions of the book contain the writings of his students in that setting as well.

The book is pure honesty. Sometime brutally so. Prison is not a fairy tale, and there is virtually no way the reader cannot be shocked and moved by the straightforward manner in which prisoners discuss their life there. Prison rape, the way in which sex offenders are treated by both other criminals and the state, and the peculiar pecking order society that has formed behind those prison walls, all of which is largely invisible to the rest of us, Gordon and friends make visible in the most meaningful way.

When I recommended it to one of my high school students, I was very clear about what the book entailed, and, though she had been a victim of violent crime, she decided she wanted to read it anyway. It was painful. She had to stop reading it several times to refocus and adjust. But when she had finished, she wrote one of the most brilliantly cathartic journal entries I had ever read. That's the kind of the power this book contains.

We are largely a throwaway society, in material goods, and sometimes, in human beings, and the 2 million Americans currently behind bars get very little consideration from the public at large when it comes to their conditions or future. The Funhouse Mirror doesn't let us forget that. It's not that Gordon is overly sympathetic towards prisoners. As he has publicly admitted, there are many who, quite simply, have to be there; he doesn't want them on the outside with the rest of us. But at the same time, I don't think he believes that prisoners have nothing to contribute to society, or that their ideas aren't worth noting and thinking about. And in that manner, he is one of the few authors who has dared to give them something of a voice outside the walls of thir imprisonment.

We've gone to great pains and expense as a society to incarcerate these individuals, and in the course of our daily lives, not much opportunity or desire to think about them. Robert Gordon's The Funhouse Mirror is that opportunity.

Merging Reflections.......2002-09-05

This book allows the reader to enter the worlds found in prisons in ways not encountered in other books on the topic. It is truly extraordinary to have the voices of this diverse group all somehow merge together to reflect aspects of our common humanity. I believe this quality in the writing by the prisoners could only happen with the wise guidance of an immensely skilled teacher and understanding person. Robert Gordon must be someone who sees and cares about the lives of others yet does not fall into the trap of becoming overly sentimental about the ironies and cruelties encountered in learning about and working with this group. Gordon manages
to lead the readers on a compelling journey that will expand their knowledge and continue to influence their thinking.

A Terrific Collection of Prison Writing.......2002-09-02

I started reading The Funhouse Mirror up while I was waiting for a connection in an airport. I got so absorbed in it that I almost missed my plane. It is a collection of stories by prisoners in Washington State. Their pieces are remarkable, but what really makes the book are the interspersed commentaries and stories by the editor, Robert Ellis Gordon. Gordon spent several years working in the prison system as a writing teacher, and the prisoners who wrote these stories were his students. While the prisoners' stories are good, Gordon himself is a far more accomplished and vivid writer. Reading Gordon's own pieces really brought home to me the hell that is our prison system, and the difficult moral and emotional problems that it poses. This is a wonderful, gripping, depressing book that I recommend to anyone who wants to learn about what our prisons are really like.

Lost In The Funhouse. Fiction For Print, Tape, Live Voice.

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Lost In The Funhouse. Fiction For Print, Tape, Live Voice.
John Barth
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HZ8ZL4

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Headpress 23: Funhouse (Headpress)

Manufacturer: Headpress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1900486180

Book Description

The centerpiece of Headpress 23 is a chapter dedicated to seventies seminal cult horror movie Last House on Dead End Street, featuring conversations with many of its stars and elusive director Roger Watkins. (Publication will coincide with the movie's deluxe DVD release on Barrel Entertainment.)

Also included are interviews with author Tom Robbins (whose book, Another Roadside Attraction, was supposedly being read by Elvis when he died), and gonzo porn film star and director, Buttman.

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The Funhouse Carnival of Terror
Owen West
Manufacturer: A Jove Book/ Jove Publications Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000J1B66M

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