Customer Reviews

The Huey Williams Story

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I read this book five years ago and it still remains my favorite. It's so very extremely precious to me. If you have an open mind to endless possibilities that need no explaination... if you want to read a book that comes from a pure place and travels beyond the norm of the collective imagination... if you LOVE Andy Kaufman for ALL he did and ALL he was in ALL of his myriad dimensions then you MUST read this book! Andy lives on and I feel less alone.

This is a pseudo-autographical novel written by the late comic/actor/performer Andy Kaufman from 1977 to 1983. Most of the book centers on a young Huey's adventures climbing a mystical mountain at an amusement park and the further up he goes, the more adventures he finds himself involved in - basically it's a journey into "other lands", very dreamlike in its nature. The story will then go back and forth to Huey growing up "on earth" (i.e. in reality) and eventually becoming a comedian and actor. When things get too normal we return to the mountain: back into dreamland again (although it's never said to be an actual dream; and the "normal" story's character learns from the mountain experiences). The writing flows beautifully and the book even keeps in grammer and spelling mistakes just as Kaufman typed it. The story ends with a description of a random building in New York - as Kaufman was in the midst of the disease that took him way too soon and couldn't continue (there are dates, like in journal entries, before each "chapter", and this last chapter ends months before his death). The first ten pages, before Huey climbs the mountain - centering on his first year of kindergarten, wandering around his neighborhood, hanging with his buddies and being chased by tract bullies - is as realistic and involving as any coming-of-age prose I've read. I own two of these books, and also Kaufman's POETRY & STORIES, which I also recomend, if you can find it.

It took a bit too long to receive but the copy was in Like New condition when it did arrive.
Thanks!

I bought the book for my daughter Jenny, who is a big Andy Kaufman fan. She tells me that she is really enjoying reading it.

The book is unedited and Andy wasn't known for his literary skill, so it's not exactly polished. There are numerous spelling errors and the prose isn't beautifully composed and the book isn't finished, but the ideas and twists within are amazing.

It starts off a bit confusing, then it seems like a sweet little personal story and then it becomes increasingly more bizarre with every page. The progression seems natural though, so no matter how bizarre it gets, it all seems perfectly logical.

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