Cutty, One Rock: Low Characters and Strange Places, Gently Explained

by August Kleinzahler

Book Overview

Cutty, One Rock takes the reader on a wild journey by airplane, bus, ferry, and foot from childhood to early manhood in the company of a New Jersey family in equal measures cultivated and deranged. We witness scenes of passionate, even violent intensity that give rise to meditations on eros and literature, the solitariness of travel, and the poetics of place.

These individual pieces, most of which first appeared in The London Review...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374530181
• ISBN13: 9780374530181
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Cutty, One Rock

I read the essay "Cutty, One Rock" in, I think, the _London Review of Books_ a year after my brother killed himself. I lent it to someone and lost it, and I only now, years later, got the book and read the essay again, and it is even more powerful. It is tough and bright and relentless. I wish I would have written it, and I wish I could send it to my brother. I miss him like a limb.

Keep Those Essays Coming Poet Barkeep!

"Cutty, One Rock" by poet August Kleinzahler is a memoir that begins with his childhood in Fort Lee, New Jersey. "It was the dog who raised me. Oh, the others came and went with their nurturing gestures and concerns, but it was the dog on whose ear I teethed and who watched me through countless hours with sagacity and bearing of a Ugandan tribal chief." Yes these recollections are often quirky, but also contain many laugh-out loud passages. Kleinzahler describes his Mafia-dominated suburb as, "a theme park for Tourette's syndrome." And with deadpan humor he complains about one Mafia neighbor, "It wasn't very considerate of him to kill our plumber, Mr. Ferri. Reliable plumbers are hard to come by." However, the essay about the myth of Eros seems out of place among this collection. The scholarly take is often pedantic; the author cites classic love poems and knowledge as if to fulfill a page requirement for a class paper. The reader is handed a bouquet of flowery facts that look nice, but add no real depth to understand the notion of Eros. Kleinzahler's title piece, "Cutty, One Rock," is easily his best work. The author recalls the double life of his older brother, a banker by day and gay hustler by night. "He was born wild, born troubled." Humor and sadness commingle in a stellar, brutally honest essay. Overall, the memoir, "Cutty, One Rock," will move the coldest of hearts as unconventional lives are examined with dignity. Bohdan Kot

Cutty, One Rock is the real deal and totally JERSEY

Being a native from Fort Lee New Jersey I can only say that this fine writer has captured the essence of life here atop the rocky cliffs of the Palisades. Fort Lee and Jersey in general is not just a place but a place of mind and once in your blood it becomes a part of you no matter where you dwell or travel. Of course, this work is about a family and a life and covers much ground so there is more to it than just Fort Lee. This is a book that speaks to all of us no matter where we live since it, in the end, is about human nature and the sense of humor we need to survive. All I can add is that I hope Auggie comes home again to Fort Lee so we can buy him a Cutty, one rock at In Napoli's or JD's on Main Street, or maybe the Villa Amalfi since it was once Joe's Elbow Room.