Customer Reviews

Native State: A Memoir

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I'm quickly approaching the end of this book and already saddened by that fact. This has got to be one of the best books I've ever read. I'm principally a fan of non-fiction and this memoir has really touched me. If you fancy yourself as musical, nostalgic, cosmopolitan, idealist or perhaps, simply human in the least bit, you will undoubtedly find yourself attached to this book. Maybe I relate to it more than others will but the wanderlust, the music, the cast of shadowy figures, the distance (figurative and literal) between self and family all tug at my heart with a true, visceral immediacy. I found it extremely thought-provoking and wisdom-imparting. With jazz in my ears, misadventure on my mind, and a bittersweetness in my heart, I will be reading this one again and again.

Tony Cohan, an incredibly gifted writer - his account of finding a new life in Mexico, 'On Mexican Time', is a superior contribution to the genre of literary travel memoir - has written a sort of early prequel to that book, a fascinating and heartrending story of one man's search for a meaningful life. This is played out in retrospect as he watches his father die in present day Los Angeles. He takes us back to his boyhood in the shadow of a belittling and domineering man, who shaped him for all that was to come. Young Cohan was an accomplished jazz drummer playing with greats like Dexter Gordon in Copenhagen - and pre-Ringo Beatles in Hamburg! - but he gave this up to follow a trickier path of self-expression as a writer. This led him through the early days of the counterculture that began in the late 1950s and flowered into the sex,drugs, rock and roll, Buddhism of the 60s. Cohan hung out with Paul Bowles in Morocco, Jim Morrison in LA, Burroughs in Paris. But this is much more than a name-dropping memoir. It's the paradigm voyage of a generation, and Cohan is its very best, most moving explicator. A great and moving book.

Tony Cohan's attempt to cope with the father who dominated his life has produced this splendid tale of escape into adventures literary, musical, and romantic in lands far and near. Mr. Cohan's abundant talents enabled him to find acceptance among musical and literary figures whose names will surely inspire threads of memory for readers of a certain age, say 60 and older. The memoir thus opens many more windows than would the ramblings of a less gifted protagonist.

The writing is more than equal to the images it is called on to create, and the influence of Mr. Cohan's father is delineated touchingly and understandably as it evolves from early days in New York and Hollywood up to the day of the elder Mr. Cohan's death.

This is a favorite for me - a retrospecitve on real life adventures of a man experiencing life with reckless abandon, yet searching for something - meaning, fulfillment, legacy...

Tony Cohan bares his sole, show his flaws, character strengths and character failings. No glossing over the facts, just tells it like it was. Easy to relate to for those with a sense of wanderlust. His failings are our failings. We experience his adventures as if we were there.

A really good read if you like biographies, adventure, character studies...

Cohan's "On Mexican Time" was also a very good book.

I purchased this book based on the author's experiences with many artists that have touched my life. I found this to be a slow read and not particularly thought inducing. Perhaps someday as my father is aging I will re-read it and find a new appreciation for it, but until then I would suggest avoiding this one.