Customer Reviews

Beat Speak: An Illustrated Beat Glossary Circa : 1956-1959

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I would not like to appear spiteful by giving only a low-star rating for this. I have therefore given it three stars (from an average of five for the sketches and just one for the written content). I am sure that the other readers were most sincere in recommending the book by giving it five stars.I am writing this merely to clarify what the content of this book is and what it is not. The artistic talent of the author is not in question and for anyone who appreciates a nicely bound hardback copy of original sketches then I am sure that they would enjoy this book. The author is a very accomplished cartoonist and her work is as good as any I have seen in this category without resembling any other artist. However, if the purpose of a prospective buyer is to acquire a full scholarly glossary of this fascinating period then this is definitely NOT the book you want. Throughout the book there are only a few dozen very common slang expressions that can be encountered in any translatlantic (i.e. American) detective series. Each page has only one such slang expression which serves as a caption to a full-page cartoon sketch. If one does not appreciate art and merely wants a complete dictionary of slang terms from the 1950s then a more suitable title would be a work like Max Decharne's "Straight from the Fridge, Dad : A Dictionary of Hipster Slang". This compilation also includes 1940s slang terms.

I bought this book without any knowledge of Ashleigh Talbot, simply because I have some interest in the Beat generation (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, et al). I wasn't expecting much more than a dictionary, and boy was I pleasantly surprised! Ashleigh Talbot's hilarious and poignant illustrations evoke the 'spirit' of Beat slang perfectly -- funky, retro-noir characters and icons with the perfect ink weight and gesture, snaking their tattooish style into your psyche. Who else could show both the pain and the humor of a Beatnik with a needle in his arm? I found myself picking up the book over and over again, sometimes just to flip through it for a few minutes; inevitably I'd see something new in her minimal-yet-complex renderings. The book itself high-quality hardbound, like a good yearbook from the 50's. I hope Ashleigh Talbot keeps it up and shares more of her exquisite talent with those of us tired of the same old thing.