Spalding Rockwell GrayRezensionen

Of course, not a very pleasant read but an interesting experience of going deep under the psychic skin of a very brilliant narcissist. I think what surprised me was the extent to which Gray was compulsive and fairly thoughtless about his constant need to find sex and have affairs. I wonder how much his fame played a role in his behavior.

Gray's becoming a father helped him for once to care about other people. I found this part of his life very touching.

Not sure how to rate it, but I finished the book in one sitting—so I guess that's a good sign.

I hate how Spalding's life ended. Already a man known for fits of depression, a car accident in Ireland left him in grave pain with blinding headaches that wouldn't subside. So, one day, he stepped off the Staten Island Ferry and into the East River, ending a life of neurotic brilliance.

This book is a collection of a handful of scattered unpublished and unperformed works - mainly the monologue Spalding was working on at the time of his death, about the accident and his attempts to bounce back from the wreck. It's haunting, as is the subsequent "The Anniversary", a piece about 9/11.

Spalding had a gift - the trouble was, and he readily admitted it, that he had to keep having things 'happen to him' to give him his material for his monologues. The accident, sadly, was more than he could bear.

Very difficult book to read, even though you know how it's going to end. Not what I was expecting. I would only recommend to people who are extremely interested in him.

I loved this author's experience in Thailand and empathized with his culture shock induced depression when he returned to New York. I wonder what kind of marriage he had and how his wife first learned of the infidelity described in the book. (Paul Theroux did the same thing in one of his railroad travel books. When he reprised the route several decades later he tells us that he was divorced shortly after returning from the first trip.) In Gray's case the aftermath was not divorce but suicide.

First read, this book made a big impression on me. I especially carried around the idea of the Jewish concentration camp survivors meeting up each year, sure that this reunion will always mean the same thing...only to find, as time went on, that it didn't. It lost its urgent impact.

Second read, sure reunion would mean the same thing as first time, but what can I say? What Spalding says. It didn't. It had lost its something.

As is so often the case for me, reunion with a book is a disappointment. It makes me scared ever to do it.

First read, this book made a big impression on me. I especially carried around the idea of the Jewish concentration camp survivors meeting up each year, sure that this reunion will always mean the same thing...only to find, as time went on, that it didn't. It lost its urgent impact.

Second read, sure reunion would mean the same thing as first time, but what can I say? What Spalding says. It didn't. It had lost its something.

As is so often the case for me, reunion with a book is a disappointment. It makes me scared ever to do it.

People who make you laugh shouldn't be allowed to kill themselves. It isn't right. It spoils everything. Spalding Gray I utterly resent you doing this and I will never read anything you wrote again. Sorry, but.

So, when I received a surprise package from the UK recently - there are some lovely things about the goodreads community, aren't there? - and one of them was this film, I looked at it with trepidation for a week before making myself watch. I'm really pleased I did: observing Spalding's monologues has got to be the best way of experiencing them.

This is a real treat.

But I shall never forgive you, Spalding and I still won't ever ever read anything more by you, including the books I had sitting on my shelves, saving them up for some moment when they would have made me happy. They can't do that now. Just so as you know, you are no longer on my shelves. You live at the charity shop on Bridport St Albert Park. I hope that makes you happy.

First read, this book made a big impression on me. I especially carried around the idea of the Jewish concentration camp survivors meeting up each year, sure that this reunion will always mean the same thing...only to find, as time went on, that it didn't. It lost its urgent impact.

Second read, sure reunion would mean the same thing as first time, but what can I say? What Spalding says. It didn't. It had lost its something.

As is so often the case for me, reunion with a book is a disappointment. It makes me scared ever to do it.

People who make you laugh shouldn't be allowed to kill themselves. It isn't right. It spoils everything. Spalding Gray I utterly resent you doing this and I will never read anything you wrote again. Sorry, but.

So, when I received a surprise package from the UK recently - there are some lovely things about the goodreads community, aren't there? - and one of them was this film, I looked at it with trepidation for a week before making myself watch. I'm really pleased I did: observing Spalding's monologues has got to be the best way of experiencing them.

This is a real treat.

But I shall never forgive you, Spalding and I still won't ever ever read anything more by you, including the books I had sitting on my shelves, saving them up for some moment when they would have made me happy. They can't do that now. Just so as you know, you are no longer on my shelves. You live at the charity shop on Bridport St Albert Park. I hope that makes you happy.

I really loved Spalding Gray's monologues and looked forward to his journals but was disappointed. They were dull, repetitious and depressing. Not enough humor to leaven the gloom and not a sign of his wit. It was a hard slog to get through.

First read March 14, 2015 I should have read my own first review before rereading but I didn't so reread and actually got more out of the book the second time around. A sad life but his journal was unique and very honest.

entertaining as always, this book based on Gray's monologue/movie of the same name is an interesting insight into the making of the movie the Killing Fields, life in Thailand and Cambodia, and US involvement in that region.

i prefer his monologue "live" where his tone of voice, body language, and timing inform the tale, making it storytelling rather than a story told. although i enjoyed this romp through his poetical recollections, his stories are meant to be performance art and not really for reading.

I have read most of Spalding Gray's previous books, and I liked all of them. Some of them I much more than liked, which is why I kept coming back.

This one I did not finish, but not because I am yet another disillusioned or oddly angry fan who feels artistically betrayed by Gray's later suicide. On that point, I think it might be instructive for other readers to know that the depression that brought him so low that he took his life appears to have come on, at least in part, because of brain injury he suffered after a car accident in Ireland. For more on that, see the posthumous book LIFE, INTERRUPTED, which includes an unfinished (and rather interesting) monologue about the incident. I have also heard Gray's widow on This American Life explaining what life was like for him after the accident, and I think it's an element of his life story worth considering. Dismissing this book because the author's life ended in suicide seems strangely judgmental. A writer's works should not be discounted just because his last decision was misguided and irrevocable.

All that said, my problem with the book is somewhat summarized in Gray's own fears about the direction of his monologues: happiness and contentment can make for dull reading. The challenges of parenthood don't create quite the same kind of tension as his earlier problems, and it seems clear that he is also telling stories with greater self-consciousness. I don't blame him for taking into consideration the feelings of his wife and children when writing about them, but as a reader, I also don't feel compelled to read the results. I left this one unfinished, which was disappointing after following his work for so many years. It was more disappointing still since there will be no more monologues to look forward to, but I did appreciate the central story in LIFE, INTERRUPTED, and I think that one's definitely worth a read.

There's a fair amount of filler in this book, seeing as it's primarily composed of an unfinished monologue, a few short pieces, and many essays of appreciation from various people. I skimmed or skipped much of the ancillary material, but I enjoyed the central piece that relates details about the car accident that appears to have precipitated Gray's long depression that ended in his suicide. That bitter note is not present in the monologue, however, and it's a pleasant addition to his work for anyone who enjoyed reading his stories and witnessing his dramatic recitations of them.

I caught the tail end of Swimming to Cambodia many many years ago, back when I was a young'un and BRAVO was less Queer Eye and much more independent film. Never saw the rest of it, but Spalding Gray stuck in my mind forever after. When he died awhile back I figured I should find out more about him, and I finally did.Really enjoyed these monologues, although I'm sure they would have been better as spoken word pieces. They reminded me so very much of Kerouac, because they're somewhat stream of consciousness and because the personal and profound and funny and sad are all mixed up together and given the same weight. Plus perhaps the New England vibe had something to do with it, along with the amount of traveling back and forth that occurs in most of these pieces. Now I need to track down Swimming to Cambodia again and actually watch the whole thing.

Very funny, completely engaging book, though I'm sure it would seem much sadder to read it now knowing that the author ended up committing suicide. Don't miss this or any of his filmed performances. Even the one about his eye operation is great.½

* NO Spoilers were used in the writing of this review! *

This hilarious, fast-paced narrative takes the reader on a stream of consciousness trip as Gray recounts his travels with a film crew in Thailand and eventual return to the States.

I put off reading this book due the heavy Cambodian Genocide connection, but was delightfully surprised by its light conversational tone.

My only complaint: I wish it was longer!

This is the first time that I've read any of Spalding Gray's work, though I've been meaning to do so for quite some time. (I got lucky and snatched up a few books at a local white elephant sale.) He veers wildly between unbridled optimism and sheer despair, with more of the former than the latter, surprisingly. He tells his stories with a candor that is refreshing today, when everyone seems to have something to hide. (...and yet he kept "personal" diaries/journals, too. One can only wonder about their contents.) I admit that some of these early monologues seem a bit underdeveloped, and even flat in some places. Overall though, I really appreciated the dark humor and a tone that is solely his own. I think that this was a good gateway book to the rest of his performances; it has piqued my interest, rather than dulling it. I look forward to reading and watching more.

How wonderful to read Spalding Gray in a happy place!

This book contains Gray's last pieces, as well as tributes to him by various friends, family, and colleagues at a memorial service held after his death. It's a reminder of how much we've lost now that the world no longer has Spalding Gray in it.½

Not Spalding's best work, but it is his earliest published work. As someone who owns most of the Spalding Gray canon, I like the pieces in this collection in part to see his development as a writer and a performer.

To understand the full depth of Gray's psyche and neuroses and humor, you must have seen him perform.

Meh.½

Gray, Spalding, 1941- > Travel > Cambodia/Cambodia > Description and travel/Motion picture actors and actresses > United/States > Biography/Killing fields (Motion picture)

9.0