Can't You Get Along With Anyone?: A Writer's Memoir and a Tale of a Lost Surfer's Paradise [Hardcover]

Allan Weisbecker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2007

At the finale of his critically acclaimed first memoir, In Search of Captain Zero, Allan Weisbecker has found his paradise at the end of the road in outback Central America (Pavones, Costa Rica), and is working of the screen adaptation of the book, commissioned by Sean Penn and a major Hollywood studio. Can t You Get Along With Anyone? is the story of Weisbecker s paradise, its underbelly, his fall from grace with the powers that be in Hollywood and the publishing business, plus the near loss of his life due to the writing of the book; he exposes a double murderer and, more dangerously, the love of his life as a sociopath. Interwoven through the various catastrophes that test him on every level, are Weisbecker s reflections on the process of writing the book itself and the nature of nonfiction. Weathering his after-writing throes, writer s queasy gut, and hemorrhaging forehead (from staring at the blank page), Weisbecker maintains his sanity and perspective through his wry, sometimes wildly funny take on his own fears and flaws, and through retreat into the purity of the simple act of riding a wave.

Editorial Reviews

Review

With In Search of Captain Zero and now Can't You Get Along With Anyone? I believe Allan Weisbecker is the greatest memoirist of our time. --Mary Sands, Jack Magazine

If you're looking for Hunter S. T's and Kerouac's lost cousin, look no further. In terms of brass balls and lunatic schemes filled with desperadoes, delusions, and dirt roads, Weisbecker goes toe-to-toe with Neal Cassidy/Dean Moriarity any day. --Jay Sweet, Paste Magazine

As his sanity, health and existence are simultaneously mangled, Weisbecker somehow manages to solve a murder, wrestle the dark side of paradise, and wind up on multiple third world hit lists...Can't You Get Along With Anyone? is a necessity for anyone who believes truth is indeed stranger than fiction...and entrancing, thoughtful and darkly humorous calamity. --Surfer Magazine

About the Author

Author, surfer, screenwriter and former pot runner Allan Weisbecker has collaborated in screen and television writing with the likes of Michael Mann (Miami, Vice, the Insider, Heat) and Robert Chartoff (Rocky, Raging Bull, the Right Stuff). Weisbecker's previous books were published (by Penguin Putnam) in 2001 and both have been bought for the movies by major stars - Sean Penn and John Cusack, with Weisbecker adapting for the screen.

Weisbecker splits his time between Montauk, New York and an undisclosed location in Mexico.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 504 pages
• Publisher: Bandito Books; 1st edition (September 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979711703
• ISBN-13: 978-0979711701
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (143 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I don't watch the Grammys for the same reason you shouldn't read this book, March 9, 2008

By 

Geoffrey V. Raymond (Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Can't You Get Along With Anyone?: A Writer's Memoir and a Tale of a Lost Surfer's Paradise (Hardcover)

A friend of mine once told me he likes to watch the Grammys because during the course of the night you were guaranteed to witness at least one train wreck.

My response to this was that I don't enjoy watching people make train wrecks of themselves. Just like I don't enjoy watching Siamese twins appear on Geraldo, or Sally Jesse Rafael--if that isn't by now too dated a television reference, or whoever is currently exploiting people like this.

I suppose Mr. Weisbecker should get snaps because the train wreck he's exploiting is himself. But that doesn't make it any less loathsome a reading experience to drag oneself through.

My biggest beef, I suppose, is this: Weisbecker makes a big deal--A REALLY BIG DEAL--about the ins and outs of good writing. Talks a lot about building suspense, carrying the reader along, giving the reader a pay-off at the end. He talks about his obligation to the reader. And yet, when it comes to executing those very things he preaches (in a manner so pompous I can only assume his picture is used to illustrate the entry for "blowhard" in Wikipedia), he completely drops the ball.

About half way through I got sick of his mewling self-pity. About three quarters of the way through I decided to stop reading. At the end, with him curled in a ball, unable to confront his toxic, two-timing lover, I all but threw the book across the room shouting "That's it? That's it, you complete pussy?"

And so okay--I did read it to the end. There were extenuating circumstances, but I did read it to the end. So the author wins. But, as the saying goes: fool me twice, shame on me. I don't anticipate reading another work by someone whose book made me want to take a shower when I was done.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brutal Truth, September 28, 2007

By 

MsB "~MsB~" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can't You Get Along With Anyone?: A Writer's Memoir and a Tale of a Lost Surfer's Paradise (Hardcover)

I pre-ordered and read the UK version of this book when it came out a year ago. At the time, my son was 8 months old and teething, & let's just say that I hadn't had much real sleep in those last 8 months (or the year since)...sleep is a rather precious commodity in my world, & I had only stopped short of prying my eyes open with toothpicks to finish this damn book! I can't even remember the last book I read that had that effect on me.

I have very little in common with Allan. I've never surfed, run drugs, dealt with Hollywood types, or even had anyone hire someone to kill me, but I completely identified with him as I read his memoir. Allan took me on a brutal journey through the truth of his life. I felt his pain when I read it, I felt like I was there with him, and wished I could do something to help. His unrelenting pursuit of truth, despite what it costs him, amazes me and has earned my respect. I wish I had the (figurative) balls to be that dogged.

This book has Allan's heart, soul and guts poured into it. You'll love it, and you won't be the same after you read it. It will beat the crap out of you, make you think and you'll still be laughing throughout. Allan truly has a gift and this book is tangible proof.

Buy this book, and get to know an honest, funny and real person. It will move you and you will not regret it.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of time and paper, March 4, 2009

By 

jeff (San francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can't You Get Along With Anyone?: A Writer's Memoir and a Tale of a Lost Surfer's Paradise (Hardcover)

Everything I thought about this book has been stated in the reviews above. I read and enjoyed "Capt. Zero", but this book is horrible. I would give it zero stars if Amazon allowed me to give that rating. The only reason that I finished the book was that it was the only reading material that I had on a vacation to Panama. I left it for someone else to "enjoy" at my own "end of the road".