AltWeeklies Wire
'Big Machine' is a Big, Mean Story by Victor LaVallenew
Far from a standard dry examination of doubt and faith, Lavalle's allegorical approach is sweeping and swashbuckling. Big Machine takes us from Ricky's idyllic childhood -- sweet as saccharine, with a black tar of burn -- to his romantic nadir, dying in a puddle of piss and shit in the basement of a house owned by a man named Murder.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
D. Scot Miller |
09-02-2009 |
Fiction
Ta-Nehisi Coates Charts a 'Beautiful Struggle'new
To read this memoir about growing up in black in Baltimore is to catch a glimpse of the profound legacy and letdown of a generation raised to rebel but forced instead to fight disappointment, imprisonment, and despair.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
D. Scot Miller |
07-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Fashion: A Philosophy' Tumbles on the Runwaynew
Relying heavily on Immanuel Kant and Walter Benjamin, Svendsen (as translated by John Irons) creates a concise and comprehensive primer on fashion and clothing as it relates to identity. He then stitches on a virtual CliffsNotes of philosophy on fashion, citing Roland Barthes, Charles Baudelaire, and Michel Foucault, and then appliques some hep quotes from Bret Easton Ellis, AbFab, and the Pet Shop Boys.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
D. Scot Miller |
07-02-2008 |
Nonfiction
Reading Between the Beats of 'Rollin' with Dre'new
Bruce Williams and Donnell Alexander's book is strange and sinister. What makes it strange is that it's actually about Williams, who worked as a bodyguard, valet, personal manager, and confidante for Dr. Dre.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
D. Scot Miller |
04-30-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Medicine for Melancholy' Faces the Changing San Francisconew
Jenkins' film is important because it spotlights the most overlooked aspect of the city's changing face: black people, and the lack thereof.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
D. Scot Miller |
04-30-2008 |
Reviews
