Customer Reviews

Like Shaking Hands With God: A Conversation About Writing

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

 

 

I really enjoyed Stringer's Grand Center Winter and am a life-long fan of Vonnegut. But I was terribly disappointed by this edited transcript from a couple of conversations between the two writers. Given the great potential of such gifted writers, this book seems little more than mutual admiration; it's short on substance or gravity and provides little insight to those of us who may be interested in the art of writing. I would have probably felt far better about this if it had been, instead, a magazine piece. But at this price I expected more substance.

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut is good! Well almost anything. I was attracted to this gem featuring two authors of different generations conversing about the meaning of writing in their lives. I expected an enlightening tome that would set my mind to thinking and provide me with new insight.

Neither happened. Vonnegut and Stringer are good writers but these interviews just didn't come off well in print. A question is raised as to what the two writers had in common. Stringer gave some good points but Vonnegut rambled on into the wild blue yonder. Of the two, Stringer appeared to stay focused on the questions and provided the reader with insight as to how writing impacted on his life and freed him from his own internal demons.

As a collector's item in your Vonnegut library, yes, do indeed purchase it. If you want something more in depth with Vonnegut and Stringer read their works. This text just doesn't get to the heart of their writing world.

This is a wisp of a book. At less than 80 pages, I read it in one evening in the time it took me to eat a few tapas and down two pints of beer. By the time the check arrived, I was already writing down my thoughts inside the back cover.

But what an enjoyable wisp it is!

Almost everyone I know is a fan of Kurt Vonnegut, and so the colorful and curmudgeonly wisdom he brings to the table here is no surprise. But who is this Lee Stringer guy? By the end, I began to think of him as a superior version of James Frey (author of the badly written pseudo memoir "A Million Little Pieces") with the main difference that Mr. Stringer (1) writes well and (2) his tales about life on Skid Row are true. Actually, now that I think of it, that's kind of like saying I'm like Shakespeare except that he (1) writes a lot better and (2) he's been dead for almost 400 years.

Anyway, back to the book: I admit that Like Shaking Hands With God doesn't offer a great price-per-word ratio (it's slim and relatively expensive) but it does offer a great deal of wisdom on its handful of pages. Based on two conversations between two friends with a lot of respect for each other, these guys are smart, they know how to express themselves, and they've been around the block a few times.

The book bills itself as "a conversation about writing" and it is that. But it's more of a conversation about being, but a kind of being that involves writing. For a lot of avid readers, that's a perfect fit.

I was able to finish this short book in a few hours at my job. When I was in high school first looking for colleges to attend, the only thing I was certain of was that I wanted to write. Of course life managed to get in the way of that dream, however, after reading this 80 page conversation I feel more inspired to pick up where I left my dream. I was expecting more out of the conversation, but hearing these two incredible authors speak back and forth makes you want to read more and more of their material. I suppose I find it nice to see a personally attached to writers. I would completely recommend this book to anyone who reads their work, and has an hour or two extra.

In this slight volume (only 46 actual pages of transcribed talk), Vonnegut, the novelist, and Stringer, who wrote a book of memoir essays, carry on an enthusiastic conversation about why and how they write. This seems one of those brief dips into the psyche of very good authors that can be so motivating to all of us at various stages of our careers, no matter what we write or aspire to write. Vonnegut and Stringer are both passsionate about their work. The latter tells of how he realized he could write by describing his first extended flow experience, when he decided to use his pencil, which he otherwise normally used as a drug implement (to push screens into his pipe) to write. After five hours of nonstop focus, he realized this was something, besides seeking drug highs, that he could really do well. They both talk about the primary importance of answering the big questions for themselves in their writing, and how publishing the results is almost an afterthought. Reminding us that even nonfiction authors write to find out where we're going, Stringer says, "I had a lot of fun trying to figure out how I was going to fill up these pages, and then, convinced that I'm not going to figure it out, bingo! something happens. It's like shaking hands with God." There may not be a lot to read here, but it's on target and REAL.

Susan K. Perry, author of the bestselling WRITING IN FLOW

I liked the conversational tone of it- and it really is a very enjoyable short and easy read. The second part of the book isn't as good as the first. If you like Vonnegut, you'll dig this. Lots of ideas to chew on.

I'm a fan of Kurt Vonnegut. Some of his thought is too far-out for me, but will always be considered. He may be able to see further than I...my all-time-favourite of his is "Galapagos". Received in good condition.

_Like Shaking Hands With God_ is not worth the money of you have read the other works by Vonnegut he wrote since 1980 that spells out his personal philosophy on life, the universe and everything. However, I stand by my assertion that if someone were to publish Vonnegut's collected grocery lists, I would buy that book.

This book, comes close. It is short and spare and lacking in depth -- 80 pages of widely spaced larger type font. I am now vaguely interested in the writings of Lee Stringer now, but not enough that I plan on following up on finding more
about his work.

The transcript of two conversations between writers Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer. Helpful to those who are considering writing or those who are required to study writing. What is offered? Some wisdom, a few prods, some encouragement--and the imperative: write nothing insincere.

Every English major has one writer who is responsible for their journey into the field. I have two: Muriel Spark and Kurt Vonnegut. I am not the kind of guy who walks around pretending to be a writer; I am no writer. I do, however, love to read about what makes writers tick, what inspires them to write. This is one of the reasons I picked up this tiny book--I hoped it would give me some insight. I didn't. The conversations, at times, are interesting. But it wasn't worth the cash I shelled out for the 79 pages. If this had of appeared in a magazine, I would have read it and not whined. If this had appeared in a magazine, I wouldn't have wasted over 10 bucks.