I liked this book, not least because I'm a puppeteer! The book shows the potential of puppetry to make people's lives more bearable in hard times. Having once translated the memoirs of a Polish puppeteer during the Warsaw Uprising (not the Ghetto Uprising shown in this book), I could well believe Mica's adventures with his puppets.
The second part of the book, set in Siberia and Germany is not as detailed as the first part, but this would have made the work of epic proportions, so whilst not necessarily as satisfying as the first part it delivers what needs to be said to set the scene for the later parts.
The real importance of this book is the attempt to address the… Read more
Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Burton, Harris, O'Toole and ReedThis book is a great collection of all the anecdotes you ever wanted to read about Harris, O'Toole, Burton and Reed. However, as it goes on, intentionally or otherwise, the 'fun' of it all begins to wear thin. The reader might glory in a hard-drinking Harris and his endless fights with restaurant waiters (who have to put up with such abuse for probably less money a year than Harris earned per film) but this soon begins to wear thin. Likewise, the tales of Oliver Reed and his violence, are pretty harrowing.
This book is one of the biggest disappointments I've ever read.
The author claims to have spoken to old gang members and researched the subject of Glasgow's notorious street gangs of the late 19th and 20th century. Fair enough, there is a wealth of information and fascinating facts but it is bogged down by the terrible writing of the author, who seems more concerned with belittling the establishment and showing us how 'right-on' he is.
The problem is that the book can't seem to make up it's mind what it wants to be. On one hand it denounces the notorious novel "No Mean City" as being unrealistic and distorting the image of Glasgow, while on the other hand glorifying… Read more
