Jason ZinomanKirja-arvosteluja

A good interesting look at horror movies, mostly from the 70’s. I was honestly hoping to read more about some of my favorite stuff from the 80’s and on, but that wasn’t the focus of this book, and something I didn’t realize when I picked it up. All in all though, it was good, and interesting, well written and researched.

If you're looking for a comprehensive biography of David Letterman's life (which I was), this is not the book for you. The author goes into exhaustive analysis of Letterman's comedic style and how it was successful, or not, on his various shows. Letterman comes off as a cranky, nasty and very unhappy man who does not treat women very well. I used to enjoy watching his late night show, but I definitely have a less than flattering opinion of him now. Nevertheless, the book was moderately interesting.

Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night by Jason Zinoman is a 2017 Harper publication.

It has been nearly three years since ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ went off the air. For some reason, it seems a lot longer than that.

When I saw this book, it struck me that, I really didn't know all that much about him personally, save for the big sex and blackmail scandal he admitted to on the air, and his infamous stalker.

I hoped this book would give me a little insight into Letterman’s life, but I would have been happy just to read about his upbringing, and how he climbed his way up the chain to become a major late night phenomenon, because I realized I didn't even know the basics.

I was only able to tune in to ‘The Late Show’ on occasion, not because I didn’t like the show, but because I had to be up too early in the morning. When I had a DVR, I watched it more frequently, but my kids were always wanting me to watch ‘Conan’, so I was not exactly a loyal viewer. In fact, it got to the point where I only looked up the ‘The Top Ten List’ and skipped the rest.

Still, I always found Letterman to be somewhat of an enigma. He was different, offbeat, and of course the king of irony, but he also had a few rough edges and sometimes I just wasn’t quite sure how to take him. I doubt I'm the only one who was ever taken aback by his approach to his female guests, in particular.

This book explores Letterman’s various moods, his brand of comedy, as well as giving the reader insights into his personal relationships, while taking us through his career highlights- his successes and failures, all the way up to his final show.

I’m not sure if anyone can ever truly penetrate Letterman’s veneer, but it is obvious he is complex, plagued by demons and insecurities, and could be very difficult to deal with, but, if nothing else- he is original.

I didn’t come away from reading this book feeling all that much differently about Dave, one way or another. I didn’t like him more or less, after having taken this journey, but I did feel as though I might understand him better.

What I did enjoy about this book was the history of late night talk shows, watching the way Letterman was able to carve out his own niche, and the way his show evolved over the years. There are some fond memories, some great sketches, as well as some awkward moments and of course a few controversies along the way.

It was an amazing journey and Dave is certainly an interesting person, much more intense than even appears on the surface. I did enjoy reading this book, and found that, while it stuck with a chronological format for the most part, various avenues were explored as deeply as they needed to be, even if it meant going backwards or forwards in time.

The layout is organized, is easy to read and follow, and is thankfully and refreshingly unbiased, in my opinion. The author has no problem pointing out Dave’s less than flattering moments or aspects of his personality that made him seem difficult or even vulnerable at times. I loathe biographies with too much hero worship or show signs of sycophancy. This book seems like a fair assessment of Dave’s life and career, which is something I really appreciated, along with a special attention to detail and of course the obvious amount of research he put into this book.

I have recently discovered Dave has a new show coming to Netflix. I'm not sure if I'll watch, but the guest list sounds intriguing, so I may give it a try.

Overall, this an in depth look at Letterman’s life and career, is well written, fair and very insightful.

4 stars

The author really liked words. He used a lot of them. Definitely was way more analyzing of things than I was when watching the show. He derived a lot of meaning. Liked the insight and opinion. Got to be a bit much at times.

I wasn't sure what I expected from this book, so it probably isn't fair to say I was disappointed. It was well written. .

A very detailed account of David Letterman's life - almost too detailed. The book centered around his show and how his life played out through it. We listened to it and Hub stopped listening after 6 tapes; I finished it. PS. I never watched the show, but still found it interesting.

Great book. The subject comes off as a very unhappy man.'I did not know that L on CBS
bs beat Leno for the first couple of years. The comic is very funny, but repressed. The book goes through all of his battles with networks, writers, and lovers, especially Merrill Markoe. It is not a conventional bio, but enough details are provided so that this was a good bio.

t½

Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night by Jason Zinoman is a highly recommended biography for anyone who was a fan of Letterman. Zinoman looks at the legacy left by Letterman's career which spanned more than thirty years, beginning with his college broadcasting career, to Late Night with David Letterman, the Late Show with David Letterman, and up to his retirement in 2015. Rather than focusing extensively on his personal life, which is mentioned as it relates to his career, this account concentrates on his career and how he redefined talk shows.

It has never been in doubt that Letterman shaped the humor and the format of current talk shows. Although much has been said or speculated about Letterman's personal life and reclusive nature, Letterman is the quintessential originator of the current talk show model. Pulling no punches, Zinoman covers the difficulties between Letterman and the show's employees and writers, especially Merrill Markoe, who shared a long professional and personal connection with Letterman. He mentions the recurring characters written into (especially) the early shows. Letterman also does not shy away from noting the personal toll fame extracted on the iconic talk show host.

During the beginning of his national broadcasting career I was in college and a perfect audience for his irreverent, mocking, sarcastic humor. After watching some of his morning show in 1980, I started watching Late Night with David Letterman (1982-92) almost nightly during the beginning of his career and through his switch in 1993 from NBC to CBS, although my viewing began to taper off toward the later years. I vividly remember many of the early shows or stunts shared in Letterman, and how I laughed uncontrollably over a stunt or sarcastic comment/joke, which was the talk of all the (dare I say) hip, young crowd the next day. In fact, David Letterman is an integral part of popular culture over several generations.

Zinoman did plenty of research and interviews for the book and has notes for each chapter. He includes quotes in the text from many inside sources and personalities associated with Letterman's career.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.

Disappointing. Zinoman collected some interesting anecdotes, but the book is not well organized, and he doesn't do a compelling job of stating his arguments. If you're moderately well-versed in '70s horror, there's not much here that will be a revelation.

The most interesting part of the book, actually, is the end, when he talks about how films like Last House on the Left and Alien influenced the horror films that came later -- but that's all stuck into the last 40 pages or so.

Zinoman's related series on Slate ("How to fix horror," as I recall) is a faster, more interesting read.

I'm a huge fan of horror movies and I love seeing behind the scenes of how movies are made, so it's no surprise that I would totally dig Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror, by Jason Zinoman. The book presents a history of how filmmakers, such as Wes Craven, Roman Polanski, George Romero and others, took the old schlocky stories (Frankenstein, Dracula, etc.) to the next level, with stories that push the boundaries of politics and social commentary, as well as gore.

Zinoman didn't go into deep analysis of the film (I'm sure there are plenty of other books that do), but explored the lives of the directors and writers that became known as auteurs in the industry (whether or not it was truth), revealing how they came to develop the movie that are now classics of horror. Keeping in mind that I did not live in the era and have not seen several of these movies (though I have heard and know about all of them), I can't judge whether the author's point of view accurately reflects the movies or the time in which they were made, but I can say that it worked for me. I was thoroughly fascinated and entertained, so much so that I plowed through the book in under two days. It was a great, fun read, and I now need to do a marathon and see all the movies that I have not seen.

The one flaw, for me at least as I have a deep love (read: obsession) of lists, is that the author did note compile of filmography of movies mentioned in the book. How else am I supposed to easily quantify which movies I have and have not seen?

So lacking a proper filmography, I skimmed through the book and made my own list of all the movies discussed or mentioned, and posted it on my blog.

Overall an excellent look into the development of modern horror, what influenced it and how it's influenced current entertainment. Some of the stories I've heard before but most were, if not fully new, had enough new details to them that I felt I learned something new about these movies and their creators.

I mostly read this book hoping to gain some insight into the popularity of movies such as Last House On The Left or Texas Chainsaw Massacre and while that didn't happen I do have a better appreciation for what went into making them and the impact they have had. I think I will just have to accept that fact that hyper violent movies will never make sense to me.