CharlesAshbacher
"It is difficult to wade through the dense and meandering prose"
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It is difficult to wade through the dense and meandering prose
-
Jan 2, 2010
- by CharlesAshbacher
- posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More
Rating:
This is a hard book to read because some of the authors seem more eager to engage in dense and metaphorical prose rather than explain the life and influence of Michael Jackson. There are times, especially in the last essay "Note Towards a Ritual Exorcism of the Dead King" by Ian Penman, where I wanted to shout, "Get to and stay on your point about Michael!" Like many of the others, the author wanders from topic to topic, comparing Michael Jackson to many things and making apparently absurd comparisons.
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There are also instances of questionable dialog, for example, in "True Enough: Michael in Fifty Shards" by Chris Roberts, there is a supposed conversation between Michael and Lisa-Marie Presley that leads to them having sex and Michael proposing. It may have been a parody, but the problem with the life of Michael Jackson is that it is naturally hard to separate the parody from the reality.
Fortunately, there is enough reality-based discussion so that you can learn some hard facts about Michael's life and much of that leaves you sympathetic. There are descriptions of how rough his father treated the children, especially the most significant meal ticket, Michael. From these stories, it is easy to understand why Michael would want to recapture his childhood as an adult, simply because he never really had one.
I was not a Michael Jackson fan; I was simply neutral over his status as the "King of Pop." I have heard his music played on the radio but have never seen a single one of his videos. After reading this book, I sympathize with him, he most likely did some very bizarre and inexcusable things, but after reading about the environment he grew up in I can understand why at least some of that behavior was expressed. It is difficult to believe that he was ever a happy man.
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About the reviewer
Charles Ashbacher (CharlesAshbacher)
Charlie Ashbacher is a compulsive reader and writer about many subjects. His prime areas of expertise are in mathematics and computers where he has taught every course in the mathematics and computer … more
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About this book
Fresh, allegation-free perspectives on Jackson's life provided one of the year's best books: The Resistible Demise Of Michael Jackson is a collection of essays edited by Mark Fisher, who reckons "only Elvis managed to insinuate himself into practically every living being's body and dreams to the same degree that Jackson did." ... Tom Ewing... posits that much of the singer's later work "sounds like multiple drafts of the same song, a crushed and frightened attempt by a desperate man to get the pain out". With no jokes about Bubbles, and only sadness that he ended up with a "permanent Pierrot-grimace sneer", this is a fine attempt to reclaim Jackson's reputation from the tabloids. --Bob Stanley
Fresh, allegation-free perspectives on Jackson's life provided one of the year's best books: The Resistible Demise Of Michael Jackson is a collection of essays edited by Mark Fisher, who reckons "only Elvis managed to insinuate himself into practically every living being's body and dreams to the same degree that Jackson did." ... Tom Ewing... posits that much of the singer's later work "sounds like multiple drafts of the same song, a crushed and frightened attempt by a desperate man to get the pain out". With no jokes about Bubbles, and only sadness that he ended up with a "permanent Pierrot-grimace sneer", this is a fine attempt to reclaim Jackson's reputation from the tabloids. --Bob ...
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Fresh, allegation-free perspectives on Jackson's life provided one of the year's best books: The Resistible Demise Of Michael Jackson is a collection of essays edited by Mark Fisher, who reckons "only Elvis managed to insinuate himself into practically every living being's body and dreams to the same degree that Jackson did." ... Tom Ewing... posits that much of the singer's later work "sounds like multiple drafts of the same song, a crushed and frightened attempt by a desperate man to get the pain out". With no jokes about Bubbles, and only sadness that he ended up with a "permanent Pierrot-grimace sneer", this is a fine attempt to reclaim Jackson's reputation from the tabloids. --Bob ...
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