Review by New York Times Review
IN HIS LATEST COLLECTION, "High Notes," which includes a selection of magazine articles and book excerpts over a 45-year period from 1966 to 2011, Gay Talese once again reminds us of the indefatigable reporting skills and inventive use of language that made him a paragon of the New Journalism. Immersing himself in the lives of his subjects, he searches tirelessly for telling details to produce vibrant scenes and illuminating portraits. In the newer articles for The New Yorker included in this volume, whether trailing the imperious Russian opera singer Marina Poplavskaya on an exhaustive globe-trotting tour or simply hanging out in a Manhattan recording studio with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Talese remains a master of his craft, sensitively conveying the moods and quirks of his subjects. He has often sought out the hangers-on and the peripheral characters, and in "Four Hundred Dresses," a brief 2010 article about the dressmaker to the recently deceased restaurateur Elaine Kaufman, he finds unexpected gems of insight, such as the irrepressible Kaufman's splurge on $6,000 worth of brocade for new clothes just a month before she died. This collection includes Talese's 1966 Esquire article, "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," which remains required reading in journalism schools even a half-century later. Each year, as a graduate journalism professor at N.Y.U., I enjoy watching my students discover Talese's virtuosity with language as he exuberantly riffs with sentences that last more than 100 words, structures scenes in movielike fashion and, most important, demonstrates that a gifted and patient reporter can create a memorable portrait even when for weeks on end he is denied an interview with his profile subject. As much as I admire this article, however, I also teach it as an object lesson in what reporters cannot do these days. Talese has an aversion to tape recorders, and in an essay included in this collection, he discusses his unusual reporting techniques. He did not take notes while witnessing scenes in "Frank Sinatra," instead jotting down his recollections hours later - including the quotes. The freewheeling journalistic ethos of the era venerated Talese's rebellious rule-breaking, but in the current environment, given the public mistrust of journalists and the proliferation of fake news, I tell my students, "Don't try this at home." It's risky to include book excerpts in a collection, since without the narrative drive and background information, individual chunks do not necessarily stand up well on their own. Such is the case with material from "Thy Neighbor's Wife," Talese's controversial 1981 volume exploring the depths of American sexuality. More than 35 years later, the shock value has worn off and this chapter, "A Matter of Fantasy," in which Talese lovingly recreates the teenage masturbatory strokes of the future Chicago porn king Harold Rubin, simply comes across as creepy. However, an excerpt from "Honor Thy Father," Talese's 1971 book about the Mafia, offers a riveting glimpse into the dayto-day life of the scion Bill Bonanno after his father, the mob leader Joe Bonanno, is kidnapped. Told virtually without quotes, as if Talese were witnessing these events through Bill Bonanno's eyes, it's a triumph of reporting that makes you want to read the entire book. Talese did not invent this form of journalism. "The 40s: The Story of a Decade," a 2014 collection of articles from The New Yorker, includes many fine examples of the inside-the-head genre, such as St. Clair McKelway's 1940 profile of Walter Winchell. A long-forgotten 19 th-century American newspaper editor once wrote that journalism is "a business which has no place for old men." What's impressive is that Talese, born in 1932, remains a master storyteller whose rhythmic prose resonates and who is still out there - with his immaculate tailored three-piece suit and fedora - taking chances with style and brio. MERYL GORDON, the director of magazine writing at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, is working on a biography of Bunny Mellon.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [January 1, 2017]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Gangsters, smut peddlers, divas, and newspapermen burst from these sparkling essays by the celebrated pioneer of New Journalism. Talese (Thy Neighbor's Wife) includes pieces culled from Esquire, the New Yorker, and other magazines over 70 years of observation and reportage, from a sketch of his boyhood idylls in New Jersey during WWII to a recent tableau of a piquant duet between crooner Tony Bennett and a flirty Lady Gaga. In between, he offers a meditative portrait of mobster Bill Bonanno waiting out the 1964 disappearance of his father, Mafia chief Joseph Bonanno; an account of the role of a 1950s nude model in the lustful reveries and career path of a Chicago sex-shop entrepreneur; an intricate narrative of mid-20th-century power struggles at the New York Times; an indelible portrait of an under-the-weather Frank Sinatra; a vibrant picaresque of imperious Russian soprano Marina Poplavskaya as she takes the world by storm; and shorter New York vignettes of eateries and a woman who's homeless by choice. These pieces really amount to superb character studies that unfold less through journalistic quotation than through the novelistic accretion of well-observed details of action and setting. Talese gives readers real life raised to the level of high literature. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A short anthology of features from acclaimed newspaperman and magazine writer Talese (The Voyeur's Motel, 2016, etc.).The collection features 13 pieces, many of which appeared in Esquire, where the author gained renown beginning in the early 1960s after his stint at the New York Times; others ran in the New Yorker, New York magazine, and the New York Observer. Despite having been published decades ago in some instances, the content of the magazine pieces does not seem dated; one of Talese's strengths has always been his ability to explore eternal themes. The anthology can also be appreciated as a demonstration of craft. Talese's techniques are worthy of study, especially his unique talent for fully immersing himself in the lives of his subjects. Unfortunately, the book offers little in the way of added value other than an insightful four-page introduction by writer/scholar Lee Gutkind, who is often known as the father of creative nonfiction. The anthology lacks fresh commentary by Talese himself, and none of the 13 pieces contain further analysis by Gutkind or others. Another disappointment is the lack of updates to the feature stories. Happily, the collection includes what is almost certainly Talese's best-known magazine piece, "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," as well as previously published commentary by Talese about how the Sinatra story, which was published in Esquire in 1966, came together. In two pieces, Talese examines the inner workings of his former employer, the New York Times. Other subjects include an organized crime family (the Bonannos), a mass murderer (Charles Manson), a pornography publisher (Harold Rubin), an apparently homeless woman, a Russian opera singer (Marina Poplavskaya), and the unlikely collaboration of two pop-music stars (Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga). A worthy collection that would have benefitted from further effort from the book's editor and publisher. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
