Customer Reviews

The Art of the Interview: Lessons from a Master of the Craft

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Interviewing has been part of my professional life for nearly 15 years, so I was looking forward to reading a book by someone who's been doing it twice as long, and with far more famous interview subjects than I tend to work with.

But it wasn't too far into the book before I realized the same points were being made over and over and over, using scenarios with different famous people as examples. The book seems to be part memoir, part how-to, and doesn't really satisfy as either one. It's too repetitive and not quite in-depth enough to be a good how-to, and it's not quite personal enough to be a memoir. By the time Grobel resorted to interviewing _himself_, I felt the book had wavered so much between memoir and how-to, that the self-interview seemed not only redundant (bringing up many of the same how-to points that had been reiterated throughout the rest of the book) but self-indulgent.

The book feels padded, especially by the interviews with prominent editors and interviewers -- I feel those could have been trimmed even more than they no doubt already were. I think the material in this book could have made a compelling magazine article. As it stands, however, it's a rather lightweight book.

The parts I most enjoyed were the parts that approached memoir. I loved hearing about Grobel's personal reactions to, and opinions of, big-name celebrities. I loved hearing stories about battling recalcitrant publicists. I appreciated the bits of personal information, such as Grobel's initial desire to be a novelist. Maybe there _is_ a memoir inside Grobel. If he ever writes it, I'll read it, because the scraps of information he throws in "The Art of the Interview" are fascinating.

I didn't buy this book to pick up tips - I've been an interviewer / writer for most of my life and am comfortable with my style. I bought the book because Larry Grobel is a great journalist and wordsmith, and I was curious to know about how he does what he does. On that count, the book is a hit.

Where it misses is in trying to instruct. The midsection of the book covers several different types of interviews (for print, online, TV, etc.) but completely neglects covering what I consider to be some very important ground. Most celebrity interviewers, like myself, are not at the highest echelon - most of us will not get exclusive sit-down TV interviews for the Playboy Channel; will never spend weeks with Marlon Brando on his private island; or get five or six sessions with Barbra Striesand for a big magazine cover story. Grobel's been there, done that. (But it's nice to know that even Grobel has the same experience with brick-wall publicists; he doesn't necessarily have Oscar winners banging his door down all the time.)

I have interviewed quite a few of the same big stars Grobel has - Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Halle Berry, Meryl Streep - but my experience is quite different. I usually get about five minutes at a red carpet premiere, four minutes at a TV junket, or 20 minutes at an on-the-set press conference in which I must compete with other reporters for answers. It's rather appalling that Grobel does not even mention press junkets, red carpet premieres, or set visits in his book - let alone e-mail interviews which are becoming more and more commonplace as the world goes online.

Grobel has the time to make an "art" of the interview - given the limitations of the situations, what the vast majority of reporters do is a quick caricature or a sketch. Still, there is a certain excitement and spontaneity to the randomness of a red carpet premiere, or having a chat at a press junket with young up and comers who aren't so guarded around the press. As long as the interviewee can express themselves well in writing, even e-mail interviews can be cool. It's too bad that Grobel doesn't mention any of this.

Had I been looking for tips to break into the business of interviewing celebrities, I would have been pretty disappointed in The Art of the Interview. However, if you are looking for more of a memoir and are interested in the process of what an interviewer actually does, then The Art of the Interview is highly recommended. Grobel is an excellent writer, and he does a good job of seamlessly going from point A to point B.

Would you believe that there's a class in interviewing people at UCLA? Well there is, and it's tought by Lawrence Grobel. What I found astounding was the amount of preparation that he goes through before interviewing someone.

After having it explained, it all makes sense. If you're going through the effort to travel to Tahiti to spend a week interviewing Marlon Brando, you're not going to get another chance to follow up with more questions later. But for the interview with Drew Barrymore he prepared 158 questions, that's right one hundred and fifty eight.

I don't plan to go interview movie stars, but I've had job interviews, and the preparation he does in advance makes it clear that these techniques will work in both directions. The person interviewing you will turn out to be interview by you instead and can't help but be impressed with your preparation and understanding.

Over the last three decades, John Brady's classic book "The Craft of Interviewing" has become somewhat sine qua non amongst any serious practitioner of the interview profession. Sadly, a lot has changed in the world of journalism since Brady's landmark book was first released. Today students will discover a vastly different professional scenario awaiting them as they enter their journalistic careers. The business has not been kind to those who have mastered the craft of the interview. Magazines and newspapers are on a downward spiral and publishers have been forced to compromise their editorial content for advertising and sales, publicists run amok, the internet and magazine style television shows have spawned celebrity-driven puff pieces disguised as news. The age of pop journalism is upon us.

The Art of the Interview by Lawrence Grobel offers a new perspective and a first-hand account of what it's like to operate in the ever-changing world of modern interview writing. A certifiable master of the Q & A form, Grobel presents us with a no-holds-barred journey through today's world of overly-aggressive publicists, pampered celebrities, and magazine publishers who continue to marginalize the role of the classic in-depth interview.

Lawrence Grobel is best known for his interviews in (...) magazine with such reclusive subjects as Al Pacino, Patty Hearst, Robert De Niro, Governor Jesse Ventura and others. Along with Alex Haley's earliest work for Playboy, Grobel's conversations with the late Marlon Brando at the actor's island hideaway in Tetiaroa, Tahiti is still recognized as one of the literary high marks for the popular magazine.

Grobel's new book presents what appears to be a very difficult and challenging career choice for new writers, but if you dream of venturing into the world of high profile interviewing, he provides the reader with invaluable insights and riveting personal accounts of what it's like to face off with the likes of Barbra Streisand, Steve Martin, Norman Mailer, and others. Most readers will likely find the celebrity gossip here as much fun to read about, as it is to learn the craft of writing an interview. When it comes to the business of writing, Grobel is as upfront with his opinions as he expects his subjects to be, and he doesn't hold back when scrutinizing the styles and methods of Barbara Walters, Charlie Rose, Larry King, and other fellow interviewers.

The book details numerous examples of the ins and outs of dealing with publicists, editors, and difficult interview subjects. His advice is frank and easily digestible, and I believe that the information provided here would be helpful to any individual studying to become a newscaster or journalist in either the print or broadcast medium. My favorite chapters on reading this book were the interviews with editors and fellow writers. These particular chapters offer some wonderful tips for aspiring writers on the methods of research, structure, writing, and publishing interviews.

The Art of the Interview ends with a point-by-point breakdown of Lawrence Grobel's March 2001 (...)interview with the former University of Indiana Coach, Bobby Knight. This interview starts out nice enough, but Coach Knight's infamous temper soon turns its ugly head and Grobel finds himself scuffling with the interviewee over the writer's tape recorders. It's completely over-the-top and crazy, but this is what great interviews are all about. If you missed this feature during its original run, this chapter alone is worth the price of the book.

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This book is taking me forever to get through. It IS very interesting, but it is less about teaching the art of interviewing and more about all the examples that the author has experienced. I was hoping for an instructional book, which it is, but you have to dig through tons of expamples and stories to get to the real lessons. Sometimes the examples are very helpful and other times they seem to be there just to prove that the author knows famous people. This is not the best way to learn how to interview. It's more about the experiences of a professional.

Book arrived on time, in excellent condition and I even had a follow-up contact from the seller to be sure I got it. Good experience.

A wonderful read...there's some really juicy information about some high profile people in here too. Very accessible and highly interesting.

As one aspiring to become an interviewer, Grobel's book acts as what I feel, a decent guide for even the most amateur interviewer. Sure, as many have pointed out, this book does seem to double as a memoir. Still, one can find pointers, or at least relevance.

Particularly what was fascinating about this book was just the way in which he talked about his interviews. I mean, it is always good to have a presence of sorts when interviewing, and this seems to come out in his book.

Now my greatest problem is that it is hard to equate interviews with Barrymore to interviews with the local police chief; however, Grobel does make it seem possible enough, and that is what matters.