American Rhapsody

by Joe Eszterhas

Book Overview

? If the Watergate scandal was a previous generation's National Nightmare, then maybe the Clinton scandal was our National Wet Dream, and who better to narrate it than the screenwriter Joe Eszterhas??... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375725547
• ISBN13: 9780375725548
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Willard Comes Clean

The last chapter is actually written from the point of view of Bill Clinton's penis. What an awful book! I couldn't put it down.

A Wicked and Witty Guilty Pleasure

Just when we thought we were out, they pull us back in!! (With apologies to the Godfather!) So you thought you'd had enough of the Clinton/Lewinsky shenanigans? Nah! Not till you read this wickedly funny account. Joe Eszterhas has written a big nasty hoot of a book. It's a "take no prisioners" account of the sorry and sordid affair that shook the sacred halls of DC and scared the pants back on some of Washington's more notable philanderers. The pace is fast and the book leaps back and forth in time, telling the story in two voices, that of Eszterhas himself, and in boldface type, that of his demented alter ego, the little man who lives inside him. I don't even want to think about WHERE inside him this little guy has taken up residence. Eszterhas slashes and burns indiscriminantly, trashing both LA and DC. He knows where the bodies are buried and does not hesitate to tell us. Over and over he makes the point that Hollywood is the place Clinton really belongs, saying that his kind of behavior is the norm there. The gossip is hot and lowdown and probably at least 75% true. If you like your tell-all books wicked and witty this will definitely be to your taste. I loved it even though I hated myself in the morning!

Wolfe, Thompson & Roth

Sure it's sleazy and overemphasizes the gory details (and that's putting it mildly!). But Eszterhas can write in a way that is not immediately apparent from having seen Showgirls et al. This books is SATIRE and like it or not captures a spirit of a generation that puts the whole Lewinsky fiasco in the proper perspective. This book reminds me of Wolfe's "Radical Chic", Thompson's "...Hell's Angels" or even Roth's "Our Gang". I actually felt sorry for Clinton after having read this book. He's a creature of his own appetites and is unfortunately all too representative of his own cross-section of society. Eszterhas makes the observation that Clinton's true peer group is the rock-n-roll, far left set that ended up invading hollywood, music and almost every other segment of society---why not the white house, too? You gotta love the "Rat Woman" caricature. It sums up many people's feelings so well. My personal favorite was his not-so-subtle characterization of Nixon as "The Night Creature". I liked his Nixon much better than Oliver Stone's.I might be smoking something (without inhaling, of course), but I think that this book shows real talent and a deft hand at skewering that has been absent from the literary scene for a couple of decades. I enjoyed it very much, even though I was prepared to sneer. It did however, need some serious editing and would have been a much, much better book if about 25% of it had been cut.

WILD AND CRAZY READ

THIS WAS A ROLLERCOASTER RIDE FROM HOLLYWOOD TO WASHINGTON D.C. WITH A SIDETRIP THROUH HELL.I THINK ESZTERHAUS IS THE MOST ORIGINAL HUMOROUS VOICE IN AMERICA TODAY.I ALSO BOUGHT THE UNABRIDGED AUDIO WHICH IS OVER TWENTY HOURS LONG..I HAVE LISTENED TO THE FIRST HALF AND NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD IN MY LIFE.I THINK IT IS EVEN BETTER THAN BOOK BECAUSE IT INCLUDES MATERIAL THE PUBLISHER DID NOT USE.THIS BOOK/TAPE IS THE MOST FUN I HAVE EVER HAD WITH MY CLOTHES ON.

No Holds Barred

Wow...this book gets on a roll from the first chapter and absolutely does not let up. It is a hilarious, scandelous romp through the Clinton years, from D.C. to Hollywood. If you have followed the turbulent career of Eszterhas the screenwriter and wondered what kind of a book he might conjure, this is it.I was as bored as everyone else during the Lewinski scandle, but if you thought there was nothing else to say about it, you must read this. Eszterhas breaths new life into a subject that before seemed as dead as Dillinger. In his own style, part narrative, part Hollywood tell all, part essay, he shows us a new side to this, one rarely seen under all the intense media glare that surrounded the time.If you want an entertaining read that is also an interesting look back, pick this up. You will not be disapointed.