Customer Reviews

Lost in Mongolia: Travels in Hollywood and Other Foreign Lands

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

 

 

Tad Friend's gift as a journalist comes through on every page. Each piece in this collection has a fresh and original point of view. And Friend is a pleasure to read. His writing is smart, lucid and thoughtful. And he can be exceptionally funny.

The travel story, Lost in Mongolia, is a gripping, sad journey. White Trash Nation is as hilarious as it is disturbing. And the chapters on Hollywood have forever altered the way I view television.

"In LOST IN MONGOLIA, [Tad Friend] offers a glimpse under the hood of Hollywood's sleek machine."

Friend's first collection suggests that the "New Yorker" staff writer would make a killer cocktail-party guest: His essays and articles range from the sobering (a moving postmortem on River Phoenix's death) to the sublime (America's early-90's acceptance of white-trash culture). And while "Lost" focuses primarily on popular culture (a subject Friend approaches with a mix of fanboy enthusiasm and grown-up skepticism), it takes unexpected detours through the Philippines, Morocco, and, of course, Mongolia itself--where a routine travel story suddenly becomes a moving tribute to a curmudgeonly travel companion. A-.

Someone gave me "Lost in Mongolia" as a gift, assuming that my love for the New Yorker would translate into an appreciation of Mr Friend's work. But Mr. Friend writes in that hipper-than-thou style so fashionable among young journalists these days that, frankly, I loathe. There is a self important smugness to Friend's writing that suggests a certain barrenness of Spirit, no matter how fertile the terrain he visits. As for the celebrity profile--it is a sub-genre characterized by a potent mix of fawning and gotcha sensationalism. If this is the new generation New Yorker writer, color me bereft. I'll stick with older writers for whom the life of the mind has a deeper reasonance.

What a great book. Interested in Hollywood? Travel? Backstabbing in the media world? It's all here, and brilliantly rendered. One of the many wondeful things about Tad Friend's writing is the glorious sense of humor that sparkles on every page. This book is full of Friend's wonderful comedic gift; the reader will laugh and learn in equal measure. I've given this book as a gift a number of times and have garnered nothing but raves. Do yourself a favor and buy a copy today.

This book is poorly written and superficially researched with almost no basis in reality and overhyped and overjuiced. I want my money back!

bad writing. superficial. a waste of time.