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Rating:  Summary: "Everything comes out in the wash if you use enough Tide." Review: WOW!,what a read.
Kinky has put together his best book yet.There are a great bunch of lines in this story.Typical of Kinky,you'll find several on one page and then he'll go several pages before laying on a few more.At times, it seems like he writes while riding a rollercoaster.Not all rollercoasters have to have wheels,you know-I wonder what kind Kinky rides?
Here's some of Kinky,s wisdom to chew on:
"Man cannot live on bagles alone."
"How you wear what you wear is everything."
"There was a bathroom big enough for a midget without any
dreams."
"Don't you know that when you capture something in words,you
make it disappear?"
"The only things you ever really keep in this life,are the
things you let slip through your fingers."
"This woman was a ticket for the train to Hell."
"It's always easier to get into a mental hospital,than it is
to get out of one."
"It's seldom a good sign when the bartender's drunker than
the patrons."
"That's also why,if you like the book,you should never meet
the author."
Just in case you've spent the last year in some faraway land ,
you might be unaware that the Kingster is running for
Governor of the State of Texas.Check out on the Web under
Kinky Friedman for Governor.At least with Kinky as Governor
you'll know where he stands,and he'll tell it to you like it
is.Maybe he'll put his friend Willie in charge of ATF and
bring back his new friend Clyde from Moro de Sao Paulo ,off
the coast of Brazil ,and put her in charge of States
Initatives.That ought to wake up the Establishment.
Kinky was a guest on Larry King a couple of weeks ago and
served notice that things are going to change when he gets
elected.
Rating:  Summary: Not Kinky Review: I checked this out of the library in hopes of seeing Kinky expanding his literary horizons. Unfortuneately, I have to agree with the reviewer who called it "Kinky Lite." I really wanted to like it, since his mysteries are so addicting, but I closed the book disappointed. I like the pranks and I like the characters, but there was just somethign missing. Don't read this if you're new to Kinky Friedman. Start with Roadkill or A Case of Lone Star. Three stars for my Kinky bias.
Rating:  Summary: The title is the best part of this book... Review: I love the title--it's worthy of one of the funniest, most intelligent people I have ever met only one time (that would be Kinky--I had the priviledge of meeting him at a book signing in NYC). I love Kinky Friedman. Were I a female, I would probably consider compromising my virture for a vigorous roll in the hay with him but paradoxically, I really hated this book. It's not the worst book I ever read but it's one of those books where you read for 15 pages and suddenly become aware that some significant event has occurred but you were so bored you didn't even notice. Out of my loyalty to the Kinkster, of whom I have been a fan since the Jewboy days, I read the book to the end but once I closed the book, I felt like I had to shower to remove the overpowering odor of the mildewy plot.
Speaking of the Jewboys, I wish Kinky's sidekick Jewford would write a book. That boy's funny.
Rating:  Summary: Waste of a tree Review: If this had been the first Kinky book I had read there never would have been a second. I made it to chapter 24 before I realized that life is too short to waste on characters I despise and a book that had become a punishment to read. I enjoyed every other book by Kinky, so hopefully this was merely a speedbump.
Rating:  Summary: My First KINKY Read! Not a Disappointment! Review: Interesting how this celebrated writer mixes the hilarious, bizarre, inane, contemplative, and even the beautiful in one masterly contemporary novel. Two very odd people meet our frustrated 1st person writer- narrator, sending him on three rollicking, anarchic adventures in the Village. The trio battle a mental hospital, a big time real estate developer, and the world's #1 Coffee Chain. Along the way, some terrific dialogue, discussions of the art of the novel, the real vs the fantastic,and a general critique of modern urban society shine through. A fine page turner written by a terrific pen man, with more than enough laughs for all. My only complaint: a bit too harsh on the three corporate adversaries, and our three Robin-Hood style protaganists may be interesting. but they are definitely not all that nice! A very tragic ending, but the last paragraph is a winner. maybe even a beautiful finale.
Rating:  Summary: Mixed Bag of Wacky & Weird Review: Kinky is entertaining, but this book was turgid, and turned sort of dark and dismal. I guess I'm used to Kinky being irreverent and irrelavant; not trying to send us messages. I found it depressing in spite of Kinky's one-liners and goofy plot.
Rating:  Summary: This isn't Kinky! Review: Novelist Walter Snow hasn't been able to write a word in seven years when he meets a beautiful woman with a strange request. Will he put a package for her into his safety deposit box. Walter isn't sure what he is getting into and doesn't particularly care. The woman, Clyde, is beautiful, Walter is bored, and when he sees Clyde, he begins to feel faint hints of his old urge to write. The arrival of the police two weeks later doesn't especially surprise Walter. What does please him, however, is that Clyde zooms back into his life, along with her larger than life friend Fox. The two sweep Walter into their world of scams, Quixotic gestures, and ultimately a battle for the soul of New York (against the souless Starbucks and Donald Trump). Author Kinky Friedman uses the narative device of a story within a story--Walter tells his story, occasionally slipping in the (rather bad) text of the semi-autobiographical and semi-wish-fulfilment novel that Walter is presumably writing. Friedman's thoughts on writing are occasionally brutal, frequently true, and sometimes hysterical to the point where I considered listing this review in my writing reviews rather than in the mystery section. But it is the characters and the quest that drive this book and that ultimately make it worth reading. Unlike Walter, Clyde and Fox are a little too good for this world and Friedman lets us know that their endings will not be happy. Yet their goals are partly noble. The way that the quest ultimately backfires hits with an emotional impact, yet could have been predicted from the start. After all, Fox and Clyde only take on lost causes. If you're looking for knee-slapping humor, this may not be the right Friedman story for you. But if you're looking for Friedman's attempt to really say something about our world, then KILL TWO BIRDS & GET STONED is a great place to start.
Rating:  Summary: Captivating Review: Once again the Kinkster successfuly ventures into another world. A place far removed from the bizarre detective and his insane group to an intense writer searching for inspiration not found in a bottle. The outrageous adventures are "out there" but if one pays attention you get the sense that Mr. Snow is not as superficial as he seems at first glance. I couldn't put the book down, I was keenly interested in finding out if his relationship with Clyde ever went beyond the pleasures of a solo act!
Rating:  Summary: Better than average Kinksta Review: The last 2 novels from Kinky Friedman have been a bit of a disappointment for me. The characters, while all deliciously amusing and well portrayed, were wearing a little thin like a housepest who's over stayed their welcome. We just needed a break. This book certainly supplies it. Walter Snow is a novelist who hasn't written anything in 10 years. One day while at a bank he meets this beautiful woman who asks to use his safe deposit box. For some reason not understood to him, Snow lets her use it. Soon after, the police visit and the story begins. Snow encounters Clyde and Fox. Clyde is the beautiful woman from the bank. Fox is her closest friend. Snow wants to be Clyde's closest friend and ends up becoming Fox's friend as well. Clyde and Fox take Walter Snow on the ride of a lifetime playing pranks and evoking revenge on all those that in their minds are immoral or unethical in this world. During their encounters, Walter Snow is reminded of how to live and soon he begins to remind himself of how to write. This last bit is the most interesting portion of the novel. Kinky Friedman supplies it with all of his trademark wit and charm. The pace is brisk and the humor is hysterical and outrageous. Occassionally a character mentions a line that, while you could hear the Kinky Friedman character of the past novels state it, you couldn't imagine these characters state it, but those are few. What really makes this novel terrific, however, is following Walter Snow's thoughts as he ruminates on what it means to be a writer and what the art entails. He discusses writer's block and how it has affected him. He ponders how a writer puts together his words, his art and what he does to the friends and family that becomes part of the novel; how he characters on the page that he controls are almost more real than the ones he is writing about. That's where the novel takes on an almost postmodern feel to it. Don't be worried by this last statement. This isn't the great modern novel (or the great Armenian novel, for that matter). It still has Kinky's humor, Kinky's pacing, and the story is right up your alley if you're a fan. But it's those moments when Walter Snow is sitting alone in front of his typewriter trying to draw the words from his pores that provide this novel with the depth and poignancy that the last couple of Friedman novels have been missing. A grand return to form! Thanks, Kinky.
Rating:  Summary: Kick back and enjoy the ride for what it is. Review: This is my introduction to the wacky fare of Kinky Friedman. As a result, I had no expectations, no preconceptions. What I found was a funny tale of a struggling writer who ends up entangled in the comic and illegal cons of two runabouts: Clyde Potts, one gorgeous chick, and Fox Harris, one incrutably delirious guy.
Their unusual times together provide the narrator, Walter Snow, the material he needs to write ... and provide us, readers everywhere, with the tease regarding whether the voice and experience are those of a fictional character or Kinky himself. Meanwhile, Walter has fallen hopelessly in love with Clyde and dreams of a romantic relationship, even though he fears she and Fox are linked in ways beyond his understanding.
The comedy is madcap and sometimes over-the-top. Still, Kinky sustains our interest in where this odd threesome will go. Add to this comic fare Kinky's probing asisdes about the elusive nature of writing and you get an oddly romantic and enticing book. While this is not a book that will last, it certainly is one big chuckle of a read, a delight for a rainy or snowy afternoon when one seeks comfort in pure entertainment, smiling and laughing, cozy under the afghan, unconcerned with weighty matters of life, watching a wordsmith (credit to Fannie Flagg) spin a yarn.
No need to look for deep themes or hidden meanings ... just enjoy!
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