- Paperback: 366 pages
- Publisher: Tucumcari Pr (Oct 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0939122251
- ISBN-13: 978-0939122257
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13.2 x 2.5 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,274,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The other side of Hollywood, 28 Aug 2003
By Paul Lappen - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Working the Hard Side of the Street: Selected Stories/Poems/Screams (Paperback)
This is a group of short stories and poems about life in present-day Hollywood, as seen from the bottom looking up.Alex is a native of Sarajevo who found himself in Los Angeles by way of Brussels and Chicago (plus an Army stint in Vietnam). He had writing in his blood, and figured L.A. was the place to go. While amassing rejection slips, he worked a variety of jobs, including furniture moving, painting apartments, TV repos and delivering phone books door-to-door.
Much of the book concerns his experiences behind the wheel of a taxi. Some of those he meets are decent, reasonable people; others can be described in terms much less complimentary. One day, an older woman gets into his cab and says that she is Maria Callas, the international opera star. The only problem is that Maria Callas died several months previously. When apprised of the fact, "Ms. Callas" gets very angry and belligerent and refuses to pay her fare. She is taken away by the police.
Later in the book, Alex sells his cab and goes in with some friends on the making of a horror film to break into the video market. Called Bloodsucking Geeks (written by Alex), the budget can best be described as tiny. All of the video distributors are either not interested, or they want total control on a vague promise of future payment. After several months, with no job and no money to buy a cab and return to the streets, Alex finds himself experiencing involuntary dieting (also called starvation).
City of Angels? Maybe for that couple of percent of people who get anywhere near that thing called "fame and fortune." Everyone else is just trying to get by in a place where, if you don't have the right job and a flashy car, the odds are very much stacked against you.
This book is excellent. It's full of honest, heartfelt writing that certainly shows a very different view of Hollywood. It's also highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Detailed look at life on hard streets of LA, 22 Feb 2003
By Dave Heaton - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Working the Hard Side of the Street: Selected Stories/Poems/Screams (Paperback)
Kirk Alex isn't kidding when he refers to the "hard side of the street" in his book's title. This collection of stories and poems shows us the streets of L.A. through the eyes of a tough yet world-weary taxi driver. His stories offer an endless stream of down-on-their luck people, including prostitutes, wanna-be actors, eccentrics and, not least of all, the narrator, who is as lonely and hurt as the people he meets but more self-aware. He's hardened to life, bitter from heartbreak and years of struggling just to get by, but also wise...yet at the same time, always on the verge of suicide. These hard-luck tales have a working-class realism that at times recalls a less-repetitive, not-quite-as-alcohol-and-sex-obsessed Bukowski. The short stories--generally only a few pages in length each--are introspective and moving but also filled with humor, surreal moments and oddball characters. It's a compelling read that successfully brings you into the mind of a conflicted, complicated man...
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Working the Hard Side, 17 Mar 2001
By Wilburn Lee Baker - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Working the Hard Side of the Street: Selected Stories/Poems/Screams (Paperback)
This book lays out fantastically twisted but amusing and amazing stories. The result is a unique, fascinating view at the under-belly of Hollywood and at the peaks and valleys in the author's life. I read Working the Hard Side of the Street in a single day because I couldn't stop. The author gives us the perspective of a cab driver - one of society's "flies on the wall." As a cab driver, his services are both required and disrespected by the various fares around Hollywood. Stars, prostitutes, and a mangerie of characters required a ride. Because, they don't care about the driver, they reveal more truth about themselves than you'd hear in a confessional. In addition, the author includes his own quirky, salacious, and desparate experiences. This book is NOT for children or others easily offended by reality (including real words). I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone tired of the tripe now passing for modern literature. This book will connect with you and tell you wonerful and disturbing stories you'll remember forever.
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