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katehow11's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Mainly drawing on quotes and tales from people in Joe Gould’s life, Jill Lepore crafts an oral history of the man obsessed with recording an oral history of everything he saw, heard, and did. The result is a multifaceted depiction of the feverish graphomaniac.
This book is very short, and the story is sometimes hard to order because of how it jumps around in time and is built off tidbits of information here and there. But I think this is in parts a result of the form and a reflection of Gould’s own erratic nature. This is an ode to oral histories as a whole. Though the book is brief there are plenty of fascinating facts about both Gould and early 20th century America.
Lepore also does a fantastic job of framing Gould in the context of the larger history that he was a part of. Harlem Renaissance poet/artist Augusta Savage is used as a lens to ground Gould in reality and depict what it was like to interact, or deal with, the man. It’s an interesting choice to have Augusta Savage be the through-line, but it works. I do think more of a connection could be drawn between both artists’ tendencies to destroy their own work.
This book is very short, and the story is sometimes hard to order because of how it jumps around in time and is built off tidbits of information here and there. But I think this is in parts a result of the form and a reflection of Gould’s own erratic nature. This is an ode to oral histories as a whole. Though the book is brief there are plenty of fascinating facts about both Gould and early 20th century America.
Lepore also does a fantastic job of framing Gould in the context of the larger history that he was a part of. Harlem Renaissance poet/artist Augusta Savage is used as a lens to ground Gould in reality and depict what it was like to interact, or deal with, the man. It’s an interesting choice to have Augusta Savage be the through-line, but it works. I do think more of a connection could be drawn between both artists’ tendencies to destroy their own work.
pharmdad2007's review against another edition
2.0
If you're going to write a biography, I can think of many subjects better and more interesting than an undiagnosed but probably autistic (and maybe schizophrenic) little man whose main claim to fame (aside from the ridiculous and grandiose claims he made about himself) was that he was friends with some famous people.
ericpschoon's review against another edition
A concise investigation into the lives and works of a man who's a great case study of how hard a lot of work can be mistaken for artistic talent or intelligence.
egraham's review against another edition
4.0
Picked this up on a whim and am totally thrilled that I did.
bookishdoll's review against another edition
5.0
1. Joe Mitchell was not a good person.
2. Joe Gould made me both love and hate him.
3. I'm very curious about what Gould would be diagnosed with today.
-Overall, so interesting.
2. Joe Gould made me both love and hate him.
3. I'm very curious about what Gould would be diagnosed with today.
-Overall, so interesting.
pdonnellan's review against another edition
2.0
The whole time I was reading this book, I kept thinking that this story would be better served as an article in The New Yorker. It fits naturally as follow-up to the first New Yorker articles that profiled Joe Gould's effort to write “The Oral History of Our Time.”So I wasn't surprised when I later learned that a version of this story was published in the July 27th, 2015 issue of The New Yorker. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough substance here to justify a book. The most frustrating aspect of reading about Lepore's search for Joe Gould's lost manuscript is that you are never quite sure how much of it she actually found during her sleuthing.