[Powderworks] Willie's
Brigitte Mounier
bmounier@sympatico.ca
Mon, 12 May 2003 16:07:59 -0500
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Well I have just finished " Willie's bar and grill " (a 3 hours easy
read) and overall I'm disappointed. But perhaps my expectations were
too high.
The book tells about the places they went and gives a ton of
anecdotes, political, cultural and others. (which failed to interest
me much, although whether that's my fault of the author's, I don't
know). So the avalanche of anecdotes and tangentes ends up drowning
the main flow of the book. Of course, maybe it will be of interest to
Aussies. As for me, I have lived in the States, been to a lot of the
cities mentionned, followed the aftermath of 9/11 on American TV
channels so it's nothing new, nothing interesting and it rather bores
me.
Another crucial fault, which I have seen in an awful lot of travel
logs, is the lack of human interest. Reading about places can be very
dry. What saves it is the human interest in it. We, as humans, are
naturally interested and drawned by other human beings and their
story. Although Rob talks a bit about the band, crew and some
characters met along the way, he fails to ever brush a complete
portrait of anybody. We cannot close the book and say : " Oh, so this
is what X is like=8A " We don't get a feel for anybody, in my opinion,
and that leaves us hungry. I noticed the same dryness in " Strict
rules ", all about giving information, precious little about the
human aspect, the characters and personalities. Perhaps it's an
Aussie thing.
I was expecting a funny book and Rob definitely tries his hand at
humour. I suppose Rob and I just don't have s similar sense of humor.
I laughed at loud several times while reading, but every single time
it was at a Bones' quote.
As for fans, well, we don't really get a better sense of who the band
members are, what they are like or what they are thinking. Perhaps
life on the road is really not very eventful, perhaps Rob is more
gifted as a songwriter than a author. Where did we see that it
explained a bit more about Pete's decision? It doesn't. Not a word.
By the way, there's a sure difference between American and
Australian, as languages, which do make the reading a bit more
arduous for me.
So that's just my clumsily stated opinion. If some others thought it
was brilliant, I'm curious to hear about it, I welcome different
point of views.
And I'll bait those who haven't read it : the book ends on Rob
wondering what should be the last song they should play if they did a
farewell show. Bones answers and that answers is so funny and so
typical of him I'm still laughing and it's the perfect ending to the
book.
brigitte
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<div><font face=3D"Times" size=3D"+2" color=3D"#000000">Well I have just
finished " Willie's bar and grill " (a 3 hours easy
read) and overall I'm disappointed. But perhaps my expectations were
too high.<br>
<br>
The book tells about the places they went and gives a ton of
anecdotes, political, cultural and others. (which failed to interest
me much, although whether that's my fault of the author's, I
don't know). So the avalanche of anecdotes and tangentes ends up
drowning the main flow of the book. Of course, maybe it will be of
interest to Aussies. As for me, I have lived in the States, been to a
lot of the cities mentionned, followed the aftermath of 9/11 on
American TV channels so it's nothing new, nothing interesting and it
rather bores me.<br>
Another crucial fault, which I have seen in an awful lot of travel
logs, is the lack of human interest. Reading about places can be very
dry. What saves it is the human interest in it. We, as humans, are
naturally interested and drawned by other human beings and their
story. Although Rob talks a bit about the band, crew and some
characters met along the way, he fails to ever brush a complete
portrait of anybody. We cannot close the book and say : " Oh, so
this is what X is like=8A " We don't get a feel for anybody, in
my opinion, and that leaves us hungry. I noticed the same dryness in "
Strict rules ", all about giving information, precious little
about the human aspect, the characters and personalities. Perhaps
it's an Aussie thing.<br>
I was expecting a funny book and Rob definitely tries his hand at
humour. I suppose Rob and I just don't have s similar sense of
humor. I laughed at loud several times while reading, but every single
time it was at a Bones' quote.</font></div>
<div><font face=3D"Times" size=3D"+2" color=3D"#000000">As for fans, well,
we don't really get a better sense of who the band members are, what
they are like or what they are thinking. Perhaps life on the road is
really not very eventful, perhaps Rob is more gifted as a songwriter
than a author. Where did we see that it explained a bit more about
Pete's decision? It doesn't. Not a word.</font></div>
<div><font face=3D"Times" size=3D"+2" color=3D"#000000">By the way,
there's a sure difference between American and Australian, as
languages, which do make the reading a bit more arduous for
me.</font></div>
<div><font face=3D"Times" size=3D"+2" color=3D"#000000"><br>
So that's just my clumsily stated opinion. If some others thought it
was brilliant, I'm curious to hear about it, I welcome different
point of views.<br>
And I'll bait those who haven't read it : the book ends on Rob
wondering what should be the last song they should play if they did a
farewell show. Bones answers and that answers is so funny and so
typical of him I'm still laughing and it's the perfect ending to
the book.</font></div>
<div><font face=3D"Times" size=3D"+2" color=3D"#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face=3D"Times" size=3D"+2"
color=3D"#000000">brigitte</font></div>
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