Customer Reviews

Blind Date

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sex, terrorism, incest, mass murder, betrayal, rape, prostitution. Somehow, Kosinski is able to show us the worst aspects of humanity and get us to completely accept them, even embrace them. The story is episodic. Through those episodes, Kosinski shows us something very like real life. It's more exciting than many people's lives, but there's no grand plan, no overreaching narrative arc. To paraphrase the Simpsons, it's just a bunch of stuff that happened, but it certainly was a very interesting read.

Kosinski's BLIND DATE is a collection of current events, flashbacks, & odd moments in the life of one George Leventer. Though some of the events are disturbing, they all manage to keep your attention. I kept wanting to read more about the life and times of this Russian photographer. Kosinski provides a fascinating look at one man's life, from his early childhood in the Soviet Union, to his years as a member of the international jet-set elite. The book's back-and-forth, non-linear style doesn't interfere at all with it's readability. In short, it's a modern classic!

A superbly entertaining, uniquely original, hugely enjoyable, horrifically real, surrealy introspective, and wholely original novel about the worst of society, but portrayed so beautifully, it makes the novel enjoyable, and exciting. You can read the work and a single sitting, in fact, you barely want to put it down, George Levantar is Kosinski's Humbert Humbert, Raskolnikov, an anti-protagonist of his times (to call him a hero would be giving him to much credit, since his heroics are almost non existent). This episodic novel gives you a portrait of existence in the grattos and penthouses and the slums and impoverished, a portrait of the world that only a genius like Kosinski could show.

If I were to go into the discrediting of the facts of whether or not he wrote his own books, it would be simple to say that the New York Times article proved that there was a unity of voice, and most people quoted by the Vanity Fair article said they were misquoted. Feel free to read the works of Kosinski knowing that you're reading the works of a man that had his own words, and his own thoughts--some very dark thoughts, but his own--and who was a great writer of literature.

Kosinski has always been one of my favorite authors since I started reading him in the mid 1970s. This work, like most of his books (A Painted Bird comes to mind), are the type that will stick with you long after you complete the last chapter. This particular book, Blind Date is a series of events from one man's life. It takes us around the world and explores events that, while ugly at times, never-the-less need to be examined now and again. This life, as represented by the main character, is not one that the ordinary person will ever witness, but it is written in a fashion that is almost hypnotic. Our main character, like all of us, is made up of both good and evil. Kosinski merely enhances the good and bad acts and gives us quite a griping collection of small stories. Some of the subject matter, such as rape, incest, murder, etc. are rather distasteful, to say the least, but the author is able to pull it off.

I have to agree with the suggestion of another reviewer here when he suggested you THINK while reading this book. I say this, if for no other reason, than you are reading some pretty good writing. This is a well done work. Now I doubt if this one will fit the taste of everyone (my wife hated it), but it is a work that you should at least give a chance. As pointed out by yet another reviewer, part of this tale is fiction, part is semi-autobiographical. This is quite fascinating.

All in all, I do recommend this one. I have read it several times over the years (just finished another reading) and it has aged well and is certainly worth the time and effort. I am glad it is still in print. It is one of those books that sort of define an era in our history, both physical and literary, and deserves to be around for a bit.

Read Blind Date by Jerzy N. Kosinski
The only the real life of Kosinski is as strange as his fiction.
And his fiction is strange yet utterly plausible in the mind of the reader.

I liked it, the main character is capable of quite morally good things as well as dark dangerous things. Some is very true the two most unlikely stories in the book actually. Kosinski writes about his main character missing the plane to LA and all his friends were killed in a mass murder, Kosinski was supposed to go to Roman Polanski's house but lost his luggage and was delayed a day just causing him to miss arriving the night of the Charles Mansion Helter Skelter murders. The second story is about his main character marring a rich heiress for love only to see her die. This actual happened to the Kosinski. His mixture of pure fiction with the Autobiographical is mesmerizing. Leventur his main character is a Russian émigré who has many international adventures. He is a womanizer, a killer, a hero victim, avernger and villian. The plot bounces around the world from the opressed world of the Soviet Union to the extra
grandure and freedom of america. I also loved Being There.

Depicted in non-linear time frames, Kosinski dramatically succeeds in presenting the tumultuous life of one man, George Leventer. Associating with the powerful, beautiful, and lonely people around the world, Kosinski's character captures that elusive state of accepting the paradox of being powerful but lonely, requiring love but displaying violence, and growing old but questioning fate. His narrative is sharp and cinematic in structure and tone. Erotica is insightfully tamed and given in precise portions. I became entralled in dissecting the characters intentions as much as their decisions and actions. A superb study in pychological drama and state of consciousness. Please read it and THINK about what it has to say.

This thoroughly engrossing novel is a seemingly autobiographical telling of the life of George Levanter, an investor in business opportunities and an investor in the art of living. The book can be sub-titled a man's education in the good, the bad and the evil. Levanter's first teacher is his mother who initiates him into the world of sexual education. Levanter grows up in the Stalinist atmosphere of Eastern Europe and learns early not to let himself be too personally affected by political considerations.

Levanter, from an early age becomes an expert in the special allure of womanhood. He learns the subtle art of seduction, definitely including the ins and outs of how to make women happy. Levanter is also initiated early into photography and travel. Part if his experience brings Levanter to Manhattan, Los Angeles, Paris and to a number of European capitals. Levanter's skills introduce him to prostitutes as well as women married to wealthy corporate officials. Much of Levanter's education also covers the seemier side of life and include those individuals whom most people would rarely encounter. Imagine, for example, a man referring to his member as a tumor.

I must warn potential readers that the last sections of this loosely structured novel are very violent and bloody. While I did thoroughly enjoy and recommend _Blind Date_, I cannot say that it would necessarily satisfy the squeemish.

"Blind Date," by Jerzy Kosinski, is coca-cola for the mind. You sip a little at a time and ponder the after-taste. All in all, the book serves its purpose, which is to involve the reader with quick flashes of whit and brutal irony. But my personal opinion is that the chapters repeat themselves in their psydo-philosophical/psychological "victim"/"avenger" theme. Thus, "Blind Date" quickly grows predictable, even a litte lame, and fails as a collective-whole. This is a book that is quickly read and quickly forgotten, but it's fun, if you don't take it too seriously, which you shouldn't.

I have just started to read this book, but it looks very interesting and spicy. I really enjoy it and I would recommended to everyone who likes Kosinski's books.