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Searching... Salem Main Library | 920.073 Singer 2005 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"For thirty years, Singer's been MVP at The New Yorker . . . searching the country for superslices of Americana," praised Entertainment Weekly upon the publication of Singer's previous book, Somewhere in America. His newest collection, Character Studies, is filled with profiles of Americans that Singer thinks we ought to meet. Whether it's about the sleight-of-hand master Ricky Jay, the ardent bibliophile Michael Zinman, or better-known personalities such as the hypeartist Donald Trump or the meticulous filmmaker Martin Scorsese, Singer's elegant, incisive journalism uncovers the passions that drive the ordinary, the quirky, and the truly, fanatically fixated.
Tom Brokaw raves, "Mark Singer's essays are an insightful, hilarious, and instructive trip through the back roads and main streets of American culture," and this is true whether he's interviewing a devoted fan of the cowboy movie star Tom Mix or the self-selected intelligentsia of El Paso, Texas, who are determined to recover the skull of Pancho Villa. Singer's keen ear and sharp eye are sure to appeal to anyone interested in oddballs, America, or the conviction that characteris destiny.
Author Notes
Mark Singer has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1974. He is the author of Funny Money, Mr. Personality, Citizen K, and Somewhere in America. He lives in New York City.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Many, if not all, of the profiles in Singer's latest work (after Somewhere in America) are already lodged firmly in the memories of New Yorker readers, and not just because so many of his subjects-Donald Trump, Ricky Jay, Martin Scorsese-are so remarkable. In fact, it's often in the stories about lesser-known personalities, from a Japanese-American farming family that supplies California's hottest restaurants with their vegetables, to a convention of Tom Mix fans in Las Vegas, that Singer's talents, including his ability to seem at once sympathetic to and skeptical of his subjects, are most visible. While a remembrance of his colleague Joseph Mitchell, who famously spent his last three decades at the magazine without completing a new article, highlights Singer's more personal, introspective side, in most of these stories he's a semidetached observer: you never forget he's there, but your attention is never diverted from the main attraction. In an introduction, Singer describes his reporting as "sublimated voyeurism" and "cultural anthropology." The dual descriptions perfectly encapsulate his entertaining yet informative journalism, and the work itself places him at the head of the New Yorker's current team of staff writers. Agent, Jin Auh. (July 12) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Eclectic, long-winded and occasionally diverting portraits by New Yorker staff writer Singer (Somewhere in America, 2004, etc.). The quirkier the subject the better in this reporter's book, although Singer is clearly not interested in his subjects per se but rather in what he unearths about them that will give him insider cachet. In the case of his tediously detailed study of the family-run vegetable farm in Del Mar, Calif., that supplies Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant, Singer's well-connected attentions win him an invitation from the owners to attend their matriarch's funeral back in Japan. "Secrets of the Magus," a rather cloying profile of famous sleight-of-hand artist Ricky Jay, merits reading for his in-the-know look at the craft and its historic practitioners. "Trump Solo," written in 1997, ensures that the real-estate mogul comes off as a self-absorbed blowhard by nailing his "gaseous blather." Singer likes Martin Scorsese a lot better, recording in "The Man Who Forgets Nothing" how "convincingly" the director repudiates his most graphically bloody depictions by declaring, "I'm not interested in violence that way anymore." The most worthwhile pieces here are the portraits of less famous people involved in compelling pursuits, such as Richard Seiverling, organizer of the Tom Mix Festival, and international book collector Michael Zinman. "Mom Overboard!" offers 1996 cameos that now seem largely clichÉd of overtaxed professional women on the mommy track. Occasionally, Singer's recondite searches take him where few readers care to tread, as in "La Cabeza de Villa," which recounts the Skull and Bones Society's claim to have Pancho Villa's skull in its Yale home. "Joe Mitchell's Secret" delightfully treats a subject closer to home: deceased fellow New Yorker reporter Mitchell, author of Joe Gould's Secret, whose "urban peregrinations . . . delineated a romantic quest, the trajectory of a polite but persistent intimate affection." Peregrinations of a curious, harmless sort that time has rendered largely irrelevant. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Donald Trump's obsession is, well, The Donald. Martin Scorsese knows absolutely everything about films. And while one should never get into a poker game with master card illusionist Ricky Jay, spending time with his collection of magic memorabilia would be an enriching experience. Not all of the fanatics in Singer's captivating collection of profiles of the weirdly besotted are celebrities, the kind of people who, by virtue of their presumed wealth and fame, have the wherewithal to indulge their most esoteric whims. There's also uber-Mom Sera, programming the lives of her four children with the precision of a four-star general on the field of battle; or Pablo Bush Romero, on a quest to retrieve the skull of Pancho Villa from none other than Yale's infamous Skull & Bones society. For anyone who has blown the weekly lunch money on a new acquisition for his or her own unexplainable collection, Singer's inspired investigations of other such intensely passionate enthusiasts will come as either a comfort or a wake-up call. --Carol Haggas Copyright 2005 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Singer (Somewhere in America) here offers an entertaining mix of his portraits from The New Yorker, gathered in book form for the first time. In the essays he trains his skills on the likes of Martin Scorsese and Donald Trump; The Wednesday Group, the self-selected intelligentsia of El Paso; well-known bibliophile Michael Zinman; high-powered women who decide to quit the fast track; and Richard Seiverling, a Tom Mix fan determined to preserve the memory of the movie cowboy. It's quite a cast of characters, and Singer lavishly gives them all their due. Readers will chuckle at Singer's experiences with Trump-who was not pleased with the profile-and book lovers will enjoy Zinman's maneuvers through the ins and outs of the book business. Readers will certainly see a bit of themselves in the characters of this fascinating look at the many facets of American life. Recommended for all libraries.-Ron Ratliff, Kansas State Univ. Lib., Manhattan (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| Secrets of the Magus | p. 5 |
| Trump Solo | p. 48 |
| Joe Mitchell'ts Secret | p. 81 |
| La Cabeza de Villa | p. 97 |
| The Chinos' Artful Harvest | p. 114 |
| Keepers of the Flame | p. 154 |
| Mom Overboard! | p. 191 |
| The Book Eater | p. 206 |
| The Man Who Forgets Nothing | p. 227 |