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Rating: 
Summary: Delightful and Revealing Profiles
Review: Hemingway, Baryishnikov, and Henry Luce are the subjects of some of my favorite celebrity profiles in this wonderful book. But topping my list is "Man Goes to See a Doctor", the awesome Adam Gopnik's sweet and funny rendering of his shrink. Here's a snippet: "Your problems remind me of" - and here he named one of the heroes of the New York School. "Fortunately, you suffer from neither impotence nor alcoholism. This is in your favor." Highly recommended!
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Summary: An outstanding collection of profiles.
Review: It's easy, I suppose, to knock 'The New Yorker' as effete and self-satisfied. Certainly its left-wing bias looks a bit strange surrounded by all those ads for expensive imported whisky and porcelain figures. This book demonstrates, however, that for seventy-five years the magazine has been turning out splendid profiles of a very disparate group of people. And, what's even more important, they're written so beautifully. Even an oddball piece like Ian Frazier's 'Nobody Better, Better than Nobody' is lucid and full of fine sentences. Every one of the profiles in this book has something to recommend it. You needn't admire or be familiar with the subject of the profile. I harbour an intense dislike for Roseanne Barr, for example, but John Lahr's profile of her had me enthralled; and I enjoyed Roger Angell's piece on Steve Blatt, despite my never having seen a baseball game. David Remnick states in his introduction that he gave pride of place to Joseph Mitchell's 'Mister Hunter's Grave', and that's understandable: it's a masterpiece. But Richard Preston's long story about the Chudnovsky brothers and their search for pi, or Mark Singer's tale of the amazing sleight-of-hand artist Ricky Jay, would distinguish any anthology. I think that Remnick could easily compile another volume as strong, and I hope he does so in the future -- he should include something by himself next time.
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Summary: "Life Stories" Hit the Mark
Review: This is a compilation of some of the best Profiles to appear in the New Yorker over the last 80 years. Sometimes you will be familiar with the person being profiled, sometimes not, but in all cases you will find the stories entertaining and the writing, superb.My favorite Profile happens to be of one of the non-famous persons, George H. Hunter ("Mr. Hunter's Grave," by Joseph Mitchell). It is a story not so much about a person but of a long-forgotten community, and a way of life. Despite being the longest entry in the audio collection, I rewound the tape three or four times to listen to it again and again - it was that good. Some of the celebrity stories are just as compelling, although, being celebrities, many aspects of their lives are already well known. But this sometimes opened a window into foreshadowing that could not have been appreciated by the reader (or even the writer) at the time the piece was done. One example of this concerns Ernest Hemingway ("How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?", by Lillian Ross). Hidden somewhere in the middle of the Profile, Ross mentions the fact that Hemingway's father had committed suicide. This had no major relation to the story in general, and was probably forgotten by most readers at the time, but we have the perspective of history. And it becomes more than just a tidbit when we realize that Hemingway, too, committed suicide 10 years later, in 1961. Another eyebrow-raising instance came when hearing about Marlon Brando ("The Duke In His Domain," by Truman Capote). Capote was on location with Brando in Japan as Brando was taking part in the filming of "Sayonara." Brando at one point confesses to Capote that he had to lose weight for the part, and that he wasn't there yet. He still had 10-15 pounds to go. Despite this, the dinners delivered to Brando's hotel room are not those of one looking to cut down; to the contrary, Brando could only gain weight eating the food being sent up to him! Hearing Brando fuss about what he should and should not eat and Capote take note of the rich foods on the tray, it almost seems fake, as if Capote knew how Brando was going to end up. But, of course, he didn't. The story was written in 1957! But what makes this collection great, though, is the quality of the writing itself. It matters not the subject: actor, comedian, dancer, writer, boxer, even a dog! The common thread running through all the Profiles is the way in which each story is told. Always lucid, always interesting, the stories are less stories and more like works of art. If you enjoy exceptional writing, this collection is for you. Highly recommended. Five stars.
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