Dana Stevens

This is a fascinating look at the life and career of Buster Keaton. It isn't exactly a straightforward biography: Stevens uses Keaton's life as a vehicle to explore the evolution of the film industry, with diversions into related topics such as child labor laws, the role of women in the film industry, the rise of film critics, the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, and other topics relevant to Keaton's life. Stevens has been obsessed with Keaton for a long time, and so has the rather annoying habit of assuming that the reader already knows the broad outline of Keaton's life and career, which sometimes made it feel like I might be missing something, but aside from that, I found this to be a very enjoyable read. It was a great excuse to watch some Keaton movies.… (mehr)

Oh my god this is the lightest piece of triteness i have come across in a while. If you a looking for some kind of look at another century or some well thought out appreciation of a great artist this is not the book. This is like some NPR announcer going over wikipedia articles for thing relating to whatever current "Zeitgeist" they might have in their tiny little heads. Really atrocious writing. Like a person who learned how to write at some school for writers. Precious, leaden, flat and mind numbing are the adjectives that come to mind.… (mehr)

This one is a biography of Buster Keaton. It's been years since I read a Keaton bio, but this one piqued my interest. (The fact that the author was giving a presentation at a screening of Keaton's Go West that I attended might have influenced me a bit.) Unlike a typical biography, Ms. Stevens interweaves the account of Buster's life with reports of other people and events of the time. I was treated to excurses on things like the Gerry Society, the Childs restaurant chain, the birth of film fandom, and personalities such as Roscoe Arbuckle, Bert Williams, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Depending on the topic, I was either fascinated or bored, but all in all I appreciated the approach. I'm very glad I checked this one out. Ms. Steven created a new experience out of a familiar story.
--J.… (mehr)