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Title: Gilligan's Wake by Tom Carson ISBN: 0-312-31114-1 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.79 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Desert Island Book
Comment: I loved this book. Tom Carson doesn't merely joke about pop culture, he creates one of the most dazzling examples of it. This book is both high literature and low culture, ambitious and funny (if a little over the top), and his command of the stuff of The American Century (trash TV, cultish European movies, literary figures, Hollywood and Washington, DC) is so masterful that he often makes you look at the objects that comprise it in a whole new way. this is the book every American studies student wishes he in his or her head. It's a whirlwind of brilliantly evoked voices (Lovey Howell's chapter in particular) and references, but they all come together in a way that is resonant, powerful and, in the end, very moving.
Rating: 5
Summary: Toto...I think we're in America
Comment: 'Gilliagn's Wake' by Tom Carson is either a self-absorbed, self-righteous diatribe disguised by hipster cool references, or it's one of the great epic allegories about what it should mean to be an American.
My vote is on the latter.
The book is like an onion. Peeling away each layer only presents you with more layers to with which to deal. I doubt that I will be able to understand all the references - and I pride myself on being the culture-vulture (always get the free drinks in the bar trivia games, I do.)
So, what do we have here?
Imagine if you will, a discouse on the history of the United States in the 20th Century. A history that is also a reflection on the weight of the mantle of becoming and enduring as agreat power. A reflection that is, perhaps, darkened by the fact that we're not living up to all we can be. Why? Well, think of Lord Acton's comment, "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
That''s what Mr. Carson presents to us. A homily on how we are in dreadful danger of lettting the last best hope slip away. He screams at us to not let it happen.
But, instead of presenting this in a conventional manner - something Paul Kennedy did with "Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: 1500 - 2000", Mr. Carson elects to follow the revolutionary approach of using that which we are as a weapon against ourselves.
It's written in a prose style that is Joycean, but also holds elements of Marxian fervor (Groucho, not Vladimir), along with Lennonesque puns, and maybe even Faulkner-like stream of conscious ramblins.
America's histiory is told within the context of its culture...more precisely, it's pop culture. The story comes out in seven narratives. Each describes a piece of the whole, through interaction with events and persons.
The seven narrators are very, very familar to us. maybe more familiar than the so-called famous people with whom the interact. Who are they?
A former PT boat captain now running a day-cruise service.
A rich couple.
A movie actress.
A scientist.
A young woman.
And - very briefly - a possibly insane young man named Gil.
Their stories depict their actions, to be sure. But, more importantly, they also depict the story of America's actions, whether good or bad, whether well intentioned or selfish.
It's not always a pretty picture, we - as a people - have some things of which we should be ashamed. But, we have more, much more, of which we should be proud. proud enough to go on to redress the wrongs.
And, at the end, when another symbol is brought before us - and we see she is in distress and needs our help - you cannot help but wonder at how much the author loves his country and wants to make it all that it can and should be.
Rating: 3
Summary: can't get enough of the rat pack
Comment: Nashville City Paper BookClub Column - May 27, 2004
If you cannot get enough of the Rat Pack then select Gilligan's Wake by Tom Carson (Picador). The writer deftly uses his background as a columnist for The Village Voice and Esquire to infuse his novel with characters famous in our pop culture.
Saralee Terry Woods is President of BookMan/BookWoman Books in Nashville, and Larry D. Woods is an attorney
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