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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A book for Exile readers, otherwise not much point., 22 Mar 2005
I bought this book because I like the work that John Dolan and others have done at The Exile. Given John's background this was never going to be a majorly hyped blockbuster and I did notice before buying that all the testimonials came from people associated with The Exile, not that a testimonial from Eduard Linomov should be taken lightly.I'm not sure that I learnt much about John from this description of his late teenage and college years. Portraying himself as a socially inept unwashed nerd with supurating feet doesn't seem to match the person who had enough conviction or perhaps hatred to find his living outside his homeland. Apart from his inability to find love and sex in California, in and around the City of Brotherly Love is enough to inflict lifelong complexes on anyone, but it really doesn't explain much. We get some glimpses of infatuation with causes, support for the IRA, sympathy with the SLA. Only occasionally do we get a glimpse of the knowledge accumulated and the intelligence of the young nerd, but the narrative then seems to deliberately wander away from that, preferring us to see the uncouth lout that is most teenage boys. In the end, this book is not about John Dolan, but does highlight some of the attributes that he is. Dolan's writings peel back the veneer, the myths, the romanticism of a subject and he presents material in a raw and often unpalletable manner to those with sensitivities. In this respect, Dolan is true to himself in stripping away the romanticism of growing up in 1970's California and leaving us grovelling in the dirt and poverty of the real people. Overall I like the writing style, but will probably have to read it again to discern much of the humour. Three stars for style, but no extra for content.
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by Gary Brecher
