James B. Cheatham

Bleak, Bleak, Bleak

Reviewed: 02-20-19

What a depressing experience. Could not wait to get these voices out of my headphones.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

The Woman with Something Extra

Reviewed: 10-21-18

Wow. Sally Field presents her life to the listener as a human being who happens to be a woman who happens to be an actor who happens to be famous. This is the story of Sally Field the person in relation to those she has shared her life with, most strongly with her mother. Through this journey you will encounter other celebrities, incidents, and locales but through the eyes of, and in relation to, this journey maker. This is not a behind the scenes Hollywood story. This is a behind the scenes Sally Field story and it is raw, honest, unflinching, and moving.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

An Abstraction of an Artist's Life

Reviewed: 07-10-18

There are many sources both written and visual on the work and life of David Lynch. What value you obtain from this book, I think, is correlative to your familiarity with these other works. There are no great revelations here, and the joy is listening to Lynch himself recant some memories for the listener.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Sestero's Tommy Wiseau voice is always with me

Reviewed: 09-29-17

Sestero's conversational narration of his text gives the impression of a guy reciting a really interesting story that is incredibly effective. The author's vocal impressions of filmmaker and actor Tommy Wiseau is injected with such affection and contagious optimism that his voice plays in my head during the day whether I am writing an email or talking with my wife as if I want to inject that almost blind you-can-do-anything spirit into my conversations. " I am listening."

Sesnero's Tommy is a fascinating character and I appreciate how the author left any review of Wiseau's completed film out of the text. The Room that is depicted in the book almost exists as an alternative cut that only plays in the book in contrast to the actual final film.

At several points during the book I kept thinking how real Tommy feels about his characterization in the book but ultimately, as trying as Tommy is to the author at times, there is obviously a friendship there that is, in the end, respected by the author, although it is clear that Tommy remains an enigma.

This innocent child-like depiction of Tommy in the audio book does tend to gloss the darker personality traits that are described, a factor that may not be present in reading the book. It's as if Tommy's charm and tenacity that captures the author passes through the author to the listener, which is the mark of a successful performance.

The author's journey is - whether he likes it or not - tied to Tommy's journey, which leaves a lot of the author's own journey and growth largely unexplored in the book. His girlfriend in the book is only presented from the author's point of view so when he describes collapsing on a couch in emotional anguish it plays like a scene from The Room, a performance with little genuine self-reflection.

It would have been interesting if the author had added an epilogue one year later, for example, with any shifts in perspective since completing the first draft. With the passing of time, how does he see that journey out of the trenches or do he and Tommy continue to maintain a friendship and how different is it post-The Room fame?

I listen to a lot of audio books and this is the first one that I continually went out of my way to create situations where I could listen to the book as much as possible. In the end I felt like I had spent a good amount of time with two friends who I will miss and that to me is a triumph.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Not Unabridged

Reviewed: 03-19-17

I knew from flipping through the Godfather Notebook that purchasing an audio version would be risky, and I am not sure how rewarding it would have been to hear Coppola and Mantegna read the entire book cover to cover, balancing Puzo's text with Coppola's notes, so I am still giving the audio book 3 stars rather than to pan it. This audio book provides a good preview for the formatting and content of the hard copy book since I imagine that the audience for this book is very specialized. I plan to buy a hard copy after listening to the audio version because in no way is the audio version an ample substitute.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Stephen King at his most indulgent

Reviewed: 03-11-17

Stephen King has written some wonderfully efficient novels, but this ain't one of 'em. For the audio book listener, here is a piece of advice in advance. Do not listen to this book in the car with the volume up and windows down due to the seemingly endless and aggressive use of the n-word strewn throughout the book. Also, if you are sensitive to repetitious verbal and physical assaults against women, stay away from It, which offers a series of men who relentlessly torture a female protagonist so bad, these horrific scenes actually recedes the terror of the novel's supernatural monster, that pales against the gleefully vicious bullies King throws at our heroes. Along that note, please be prepared for King to describe each of the female characters by the movements of their breasts, having to spend time with one of the most annoying characters (Ritchie) ever to grace the pages of modern literature, and eleven year old protagonists who narrate from a middle-aged perspective, including an eleven year old girl who has sex with multiple same-age partners and describes the both maternal and orgasmic reactions she has to each back-to-back experience. I would put this book on the bottom quarter of King's work just above The Tommyknockers. I was really hoping to like this novel. Unfortunately, I am left exhausted and spent for all of the wrong reasons.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!