Kevin Spacey Books

Kenn Harper's Give Me My Father's Body is undeniably and superbly researched; easily the book's crowning achievement. Occasionally though, I was annoyed with the "what if" scenarios. At least twice in the book Harper says what would have happened if things had gone another way. In one instance, the book describes Minik's plan to return to the Greenland and to lead a group of Inuit to the North Pole. He hoped to attain international honour for his people. Harper made the declaration that even had Minik tried, there was no way that he would have been successful. He further added that Minik's desire to prove the superiority of his race was an ethnocentric idea no doubt learned from the white people of New York, that the Greenland Inuit would balk at such ideas and that, with nothing to gain but glory for their people, they would surely refuse to help Minik. Even if Harper's learned ethnocentrism theory is correct, Harper has no way of ever knowing what Minik could have accomplished had he tried. If Minik had learned such ideas from white people, who's to say the Greenland Inuit wouldn't in turn learn such ideas from Minik? The point is, no one knows what would have happened and it is futile to guess (even for the well-informed). Also, the edition of the book that I have, has included discussion questions at the end for readers groups. These are very laughable. To paraphrase a typical question, "Kenn Harper lives among the people that he writes about and is therefore the greatest historian and writer to ever write about Northern peoples. Discuss how his portrayal of Eskimos is the most accurate description ever to be put on paper." But despite the embarrassing readers club guide at the end and the occasional subjective statement from Harper, the book is eye-opening about the victims of science and was a pleasurable read.

Poor Minik, captured by white traders and brought to Manhattan to be a freak! It was the age of freaks, when everyone who was different was first taken away from their home, and then put on display. Minik found out that his beloved father had been stuffed and mounted for all to jeer at the New York Museum of Natural History.

Author Harper has been through the files of the Museum and what he has come up with will convince even people who love the Museum, that reparations are in order. Eskimo people are not the only ones outraged at the long ago disposition of native relics. It is still worthy of outrage. What puzzles me is actor Kevin Spacey's interest in this affair. His preface to the book is well-written, not that I believe he actually put pen to paper to write it up, but clearly he has an emotional investment in this material and, from what I understand, he is planning to play Minik himself once his duties as Lex Luthor are finished in the new Superman movie. But why not let a native actor play the part? My in-laws who know Kenn Harper by reputation, and who have seen him speak in public, say that Spacey is part Inuit and hgas had a long interest in Peary's expeditions.

Peary himself emerges from Harper's well-researched book as a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand he showed true courage in surmounting obstacles and sub zero temperatures. On the other hand he was not particular gifted in solving human personnel difficulties, and seems to have grown impatient if his will was crossed by others (or by the hand of God). We have all known men like Peary--impetuous, self-assured, and gifted. But few of us have known the crushing tragedy of Minik of Qaanaaq, of Greenland's icy shores.

This book is a must-read. The reader must come into it ready to make his or her own conclusions about the material, though, as it is written to persuade a certain viewpoint. With no other viewpoints offered to compare this one to, it is difficult to say for certain if this one is correct. The story is one that anyone interested in humanity, globalization, anthropology or just an interesting story should read.

Storyline is very intriguing, but the writing is a bit droll. It is also longer than necessary.

Kenn Harper has managed to bring together an amazing story through detailed research. Minik, the Polar Eskimo child, was brought to the US by Robert Peary and essentially placed on display. The story of his disconnected life is full of pathos and sorrow. Yet Harper weaves the story with life.

Peary's behaviors were simply egotistic and reprehensible. He treated the Eskimos as his property. He placed their lives in harms' way by bringing them to a culture and location that assaulted their senses and immune systems. Minik was the price paid for that deed.

I did get bogged down in names from time to time, especially as Harper recounted the financial misdealings of Wallace, who had taken responsibility for Minik. But overall, the story is entertaining and enlightening. It speaks to the ethnocentrism of Peary's generation and to the isolation of the Polar Eskimos. It took me a long time to read and absorb this book but it was rewarding in the end... to see and feel a culture so far away.

When writing about Jack Lemmon's failed aspirations on the celebrity golf classic Chris Lemmon declared that he could clearly imagine his "Pop" winning with his traditional hearty "Isn't that a bit of terrific!" Every time I read that I could hear Jack Lemmon's voice in my head. That's the juice of this story. Jack's voice singing through his son's words.

This is the view of the gifted, charming, incredibly likeable Jack Lemmon through the eyes of his gifted, talented, and seemingly honest son Chris. He is a bit heavy handed on the "beloved father" and "cherished sister" phrases which, although refreshing in a celebrity biography (very un-Mommy Dearest), such affectations were completely superfluous because his adoration of his Pop came through in every word.

It took a bit of getting used to hearing of squeaky clean Jack Lemmon swearing and drinking so much. But he swore in such a funny, enthusiastic, unique way that I ended up adoring that about him. And the drinking? He fixed it. The hero came through in the end.

Some of the players didn't come off as well. I was appalled at the pettiness of Lemmon's wife who had her knickers in a twist over some fight with Walter Matthau's wife and made Jack and Walter's friendship difficult. Chris said of the depth of his father's relationship with Walter "I think if Uncle Waltz had taken up golf, Pop would have married him." But that was not the only time Lemmon's widow got into fights with people. She fought with Jack and nearly killed him in a drunken rage when she threw a heavy glass ashtray at Lemmon's head. That particular drunken brawl was the end of drinking for Jack, but not for his wife. Chris alludes that he and his stepmother were never on good terms and it's admirable that he didn't stoop to airing any of their dirty laundry in this book. Though dirty it certainly would be.

The book takes us on fishing trips to Alaska, sound stages in Hollywood, and on the golf course. Chris' references to the "Lemmon curse" is amusing and so well told that it played in my imagination as clear as a movie. What a great sense of humour Jack had, and how delightfully it was passed down to Chris.

I had such a crush on Jack Lemmon, and still do even now he's gone. I wish he had enjoyed a happier marriage and had taken more time to be a father. But he was true to himself, and did remarkable things. I would imagine being his son to be the most wonderful thing in the world and one of the hardest. What an act to follow!

This was a fascinating tribute to the father, not the actor or the person. Chris Lemmon is a really gifted writer. I hope he continues to write. I will eagerly buy whatever he puts his name to after reading this charming book. I hope he reads these reviews because there is something I'd like to say to him. "Hello Ramhead, go F yourself!" (He said he missed hearing that.)

Actor Chris Lemmon,not as famous as his late movie star father Jack pays homage to the elder Lemmon in this book. The elder Lemmon has done quite a few films throughout his career with his late longtime friend Walter Matthau. Chris' mother divorced Jack when Chris was a toddler. Chris became a cast member of one of Fox's first sitcoms,Duet,which ran from April 1987 to August 1989. Duet was then spun off as Open House which ran for nearly a year. Chris' character Richard Phillips and his wife Linda,played by Alison LaPlaca, were respectively,a patio furniture salesman and an executive film producer. Richard quit the retail business and became a cocktail lounge pianist. On the spin-off Linda went into real estate. Post-Duet-OH,Chris has had a series of guest roles on various shows. Hundreds of people,including Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones,attended memorial services for Jack in 2001. Jack was 75 years old when he passed away. I dedicate this book to Jack's memory.

CL pays the ultimate tribute to his father in this classy portrayal of the supremely gifted father and the somewhat lonely but not lost son trying to sort out a complicated relationship made more complex amidst the mixed fortunes born of fame and celebrity and the tensions and heartaches that always come with divorce. This is a wonderful read that confirms much of the positive image that most people hold of the elder Lemmon while affirming the deep love that father and son were able to share in an environment that has split so many other families apart. Jack Lemmon was without doubt driven in terms of his career, but the measure of the man is that he reserved a part of himself for his son that was theirs and theirs alone.

Recommended: A Twist of Lemmon: a Tribute to My Father, by Chris Lemmon

Chris Lemmon writes as though chatting with a friend, about the father he loved. I was drawn in by the humanity of the man and the honesty of his son, the author. According to Chris, Jack Lemmon was like an ornery little boy, a little like my own father. Both father and son were aware of Jack's strengths and shortcomings (drinking, a temper, over-dedication to his career). I think Jack Lemmon is probably recognizable in some person in everyone's life. STAR is not the picture drawn here.

There is some language that a few sensitive folks may find offensive; I did say he was ornery didn't I? However,I believe if those folks read on, they will be glad they did. There's nothing really vulgar, but some humor is pretty worldly. Chris says that one of his father's favorite lines to the nurses, even near the end, was "Wanna take a peek at Stiffy?" Alternating from hospital room to scenes from Jack's life Chris Lemmon creates a complete picture of the man without ever going Hollywood neon.

A twist of Lemmon is Chris Lemmon's literate, deeply-felt tribute to his father, the unique Jack Lemmon. CL wrote partly for his children, who must have liked his elk- and poodle-stories better than his golfer's yarn (but tell this to a golfer), partly because it helped him heal the big loss he felt.

An extraordinary insight into people's nature presented his highly-gifted father with a career that lasted half a century. Two oscars, eight nominations, best actor in Cannes (twice). There were times when he stood alone. His Billy-Wilder-films have no equal but he was proud of DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES 1962 and SAVE THE TIGER 1973 - he suffered creative agonies and was never happier. A committed democrat and environmentalist. "Experts" smiled at his breath-taking performance in THE CHINA SYNDROME 1979 - three weeks later fiction came true. No other film, except MISSING 1982 - about a father who searches for his son in Chilean morgues - made more headlines.

Many anecdotes revolve around "America's sweetheart" who wrecked jaguars and ferraris, did not make the cut at Pebble Beach and was chased by moose, eagles, bobcats and bears. He had great moral courage, though: The fact that he suffered painful operations during his childhood did not keep him from entering the navy (many heroes stayed in Hollywood) and make dangerous stunts. Too few films catch his "quirky, unpredictable, sweet devil side". He was one of Hollywood's most exciting stars.

A tribute is no platform for criticism and while CL drops many hints most of his concerns remain unspoken. Nobody could accuse CL of "nepotism". JL made it by himself and expected the same of his son. That he played small parts in his father's films is perfectly legitimate. It was a proud moment when his father was in the front row "applauding, whistling, wiping away a tear". Daddy's amazement that junior worked hard enough to buy a car is the book's comic highlight (the Paris-brothel-episode is not bad either). How I wish that CL could have protected his generous, trusting and compassionate father from all those well-meaning people who asked him favors and harmed his career (the man of flesh & blood belonged to his family but his reflexion on celluloid belongs to us). Neither could he influence his father's eating habits (cheeseburgers) despite a warning shot: CL lost his mother Cynthia Stone to cancer in 1988 (his book is of course a tribute to both parents who remained optimists to the end).

His parents divorced when he was three, both remarried and he commuted between two patchwork-families with younger sisters. He and his father had fishing-trips to Alaska ("it was only during those times that I felt he really belonged to me"), jam-sessions, golf. He excuses his father's "inadvertent irresponsibility" - he woke his father up with a triple-martini when he was six - but is still haunted by "that empty chair at dinner-table" and felt "in the doghouse" when separated from his father. He did not grow up in his father's household and survival was difficult for a son-of-the-first-marriage who was a teenager during the hippie-era. JL's second family was part of his everyday life and "the only person I think he ever did commit to totally was Felicia" - his second wife. "Pop and Felicia had been partying hard the night before...an airborne ashtray had sliced pop's forehead". JL's private life is still terra incognita (or "treasure island" for biographers).

His moving description of his father's last fight ("I never heard him complain once...his only concern during the final days was for us, his family") and his desperate attempts to tell the dying father what he did not say to the living one are the highest points in CL's book. Chemotherapy; radiation; the reprieve; devastating surgeries; colostomy; morphine; the respirator. But CL also writes: "He had too much pride to let us know if he was suffering". Memories of his fater who held him after his mother's burial counterpoint his account. He makes also an alarming confession: "I remember feeling hurt that no one had told him...that I'd been out there with him through those many weeks he's been unconscious" although he admits: "We'd all remained in a state of utter denial".

CL holds out to the end and his real, great merit is that he does without rose-colored-glasses because he understands that his father, about whom Kevin Spacey said that his humanity was even bigger than his talent, deserves the truth. I hope this book becomes a best-seller!

Synopsis: There have been a series of violent murders involving women with no known connection having their throats slashed with a some kind of weapon that the NY City coroners have never seen before. A special task force is set up to catch the mysterious killer and Lt. John Vinda, a tainted cop is placed in charge of the investigation (partially because he's that good and partially because he will be easy to pin the blame on since he is already damaged goods)

This was an enjoyable read, but it was kind of like eating a handful of candy - it was fun while it was going down but there wasn't much to it. There was an interesting twist to the manhunt in that the cop and the serial killer have both suffered similar losses. It is interesting to see how the serial killer has warped himself into a monster while Vinda has buried himself in his job to avoid his pain. In reality, he's not dealing with his loss that much better than the killer.

Caunitz is a retired NYPD detective so the language and scenes ring true and it is fun to watch the chase unfold. I dropped the rating for this book a bit for a couple of the more contrived scenes.

"Exceptional Clearence" is a book with no outstandings qualities. There's no great detective work or a gripping and interesting mystery to solve. The characters are poorly developed and I remember Ed Mc Bain's 87 Precint novels as a good example of how to built a convincing and weel structured police novel. Caunitz has too much to learn in this way before reaches a respectable position among the great police writers, like Mc Bain, Chandler and others.

I enjoyed the tactics used by these cops to solve their case, but I never really felt any sense of mystery or suspense. It's easy to read, it passes the time, and it's not bad... but it's not that exciting either.

This is author Caunitz's shortest book and that is my only complaint. He does not write "mysteries" in the classic sense; he writes police-procedural novels. You get the salty cop dialogue, an authentic inside look at what a cop's life is like, and all of the political, criminal, and hectic details - since the author is a former NYPD lieutenant. If you want a read "with the bark off" and enjoy hearing what a cop's life is REALLY like, you will enjoy this book immensely. If you are looking for something clever and Sherlockian, this isn't it. I love Caunitz's stories and reread them every once in a while.