Customer Reviews

Paper Trails: True Stories of Confusion, Mindless Violence, and Forbidden Desires, a Surprising Number of Which Are Not About Marriage

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4 star:		(1)
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Four FASCINATING Stars! National Book Award-winning writer Pete Dexter wrote kaleidoscopic newspaper columns and magazine articles on his observations of life, love, marriage, death, and everything in between in preceding decades. These 82 vignettes are unique and engrossing, coming from multiple sources Iike Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Redbook, Inside Sports, Philadelphia Daily News, and the Sacramento Bee, focusing on many locations around the country. Although somewhat dated, this book proves the timeless phrase "The more things change, the more they remain the same": case in point, Dexter's 'O. J. Simpson vs the press' viewpoint is right on the money, as O. J. once again regretably rises to the attention of the world.

In the great tradition of writers like Jimmy Breslin, Mr Dexter writes with a keen eye, sardonic wit, and a gift for detail and opinion in rough-edged, highly-descriptive, and presumptive prose. The stories keep coming, letting the reader sometimes read between the lines and fill in missing details: here's how he describes how he rushed from Florida to Philadelphia in mid-winter to accept a much-needed new job: "I arrived three days later with one pair of boots, no coat, running as close to empty as I've ever been", a whale of a winter image in 21 words. You fill in the rest; unshaven, dirty laundry in the back seat? The book is loaded with these.

The specific stories are varied: a salute to a TV newsman murdered on his knees in a foreign country (no, not that newsman and not that country!), the escapades of two friends nicknamed Low Gear and Minus (no kidding!), a mother cat in a dangerous world, a beer throwing contest (seriously!), police stories, courtroom stories, stereotypical views on race but with an underlying fairness and fondness for all men, a paper bag that should have been left alone, murders that could and should have been avoided, an old boxer one should stay away from, and the Brian Spencer-involved murder case that he peels back like an onion. The stories run from the truly interesting to the mundane, but things are never boring based on the grittiness and uniqueness of Mr Dexter's vignettes of life. It may take a couple of stories to get your bearings, but by then he's pulled you into his world. Definitely Recommended!! Four INCISIVE Stars!

(Note: this review is based on an eBook digital download in secure eReader format.)

Dexter is truly one of America's greatest writers ... this collection is impossible to put down. If the first piece doesn't grab your heart, you don't have one. This is every bit as good as his novels ... and those are masterpieces.

I remember Pete from his time at the Philadelphia Daily News. It truly was a different era. We still have columnists, but Pete was something special. Many of the columns collected here have the power to break your heart. Those that do not will make you laugh, or perhaps think. If you suppose that you can peg Dexter as a typical left wing demagogue then you must read his thoughts on the LA riots, and O.J. Simpson. This is a man who is dedicated to the notion of equality, and will brook no excuses for bad behavior. This book is like eating popcorn if you were eating popcorn that was extremely filling and had super nutritive qualities.

Pete Dexter writes about people who rarely make it into print and stories that rarely are told. There hasn't been a story yet that didn't make me stop and contemplate; I'm amazed at his skill in poignantly sketching a person and telling a story. Everyone is either caught in unbelievable circumstances or caught in a web made from a series of mind-boggling choices. No good can come of this -- yet Dexter makes you feel something special with each masterful, self-deprecating portrait.

Highly recommended.

(And best of luck to Mrs. Dexter.)

I really, really enjoyed this book. Very interesting stories. Only I should have saved it for a long flight in two weeks...

only one complaint- the SOB needs to stop editing and give us all of it. he weeded through, he says, mountains of stuff to make this selection. he selected what i guess was his best. i don't care. my heart cries. he's cheating us. his worst surely blows the doors off of anyone else's writing. i want the stuff that for some writerly motive wasn't good enough for him. it'll be good enough for me. i love this guy. when i grow up (i'm 41) i want to BE him, without the punches. i read more than you do, most likely. and he is without a doubt my favorite writer, bar none. reading this book is like eating one potato chip. i'm lucky- i discovered dexter late (thanks to that HBO travesty, it should be noted) and thus could gobble his other novels without waiting. but his output does not satisfy my craving. sean@seandix.com

PAPER TRAILS is a collection of essays. Some are hilarious, some are sad, some are outrageous, and all of them are thought provoking. The essays cover a wide range of subjects, from kittens to tractors to mentrual pads to evil boys who abuse dogs. There's something in the book for every taste. The writing is sublime.

It's a page flipper and difficult to put down.

those who can draw pictures with words make me envious
a talent not many possess

in my view there're 3 groupings for writers
1 scribes
2 wordsmiths and
3 artists who just happen to use alphabetic characters as their palette

the first gets the point across okay
the second impresses you with skill
but the third does more the third 'creates'

creates a picture that at once pulls you into the page
and takes your mind to another place too

this collection of stories - most all just 2 to 3 pages long - does that

and there is one in this book that is in my opinion the single finest short story
i've ever read
it is a book in 2 and a half pages

dexter tells the story of a construction worker at a job site
it takes 3 - 4 minutes to read
but left me stunned
and imagining all the parts of the story left off the page
but very much 'in the picture'
that dexter painted with words

there are others almost as powerful
some humorous some heart-wrenching
but all from humanity's outskirts
out past the borderline where big hopes unravel into busted dreams

guys like dexter have a way of writing - voice - that just carries weight
you can believe they've spent a night or two in motels out there
ones on the wrong side of that divide

the words on the page ring true
because this type of storyteller is not trying to impress you - or anybody else
some people just have 'it' the ability to project authenticity
without even trying to
except of course they're not projecting anything
that's the beauty of it

if you're like me it's difficult not to envy those in possession of that character trait
it's something very valuable if not priceless
you can't give it away
and you can't take it either
it's either there or it ain't

with pete dexter it's there alright

to show i'm not completely in thrall tho
i can't say all of these stories meet greatness and this type of format does tend
to lend to some skipping past others
but overall

if art is what makes you think about
what it is you are seeing or listening to
'paper trails' is no different than the canvas on the wall at a gallery
that makes you stop - and 'look'
or
music coming out of a speaker that makes you stop - and 'listen'

what dexter does with words makes you stop - and 'wonder'

wonder about the 'stuff' in life
i mean what life means
how cold it can be sometimes
or hard
or just cruelly random

but also the beauty in it - a raw-edged authentic beauty
that people and places and animals
force you to see in it - life - in a way that makes you wiser than you were

not everybody wins at life tho
that's just the way it goes bub
no poolside umbrella drinks at club hard luck
just a sixpack in the alley and a cold front blowin' in

the only thing you get to do is turn your collar up
and walk against an icy wind
hoping to find some place to come in from
before your soul freezes shut
good luck with that amigo and no kidding either
neither is dexter

still his way with a pen finds the humor in it somehow
tho not necessarily laughter
resigned chuckle being a more apt description i think
y'know the laugh you laugh when somethin' really ain't funny
but it sure as hell is reality

it's these frozen souls still out there
wandering the land of busted dreams that dexter tells us about
they have stories too
it is the rare writer - artist - who can capture them so right
dexter does

and to repeat in closing
the construction worker story is a literary - artistic - masterpiece

This is a must have book for Dexter fans as well as those unfamiliar with his work. Consisting of newspaper columns written before his international acclaim as a novelist (Paris Trout, Deadwood, Train, etc.), Pete writes with a rare combination of poignancy, wit, and down home talk: a modern day Mark Twain to my mind. Because the stories can be read in under four minutes, I often read them during the commercials of TV sporting events. Too often, I found myself going on to the next story at the expense of the next inning. Great stuff indeed.

I recogized much of the material here from personal experience. The characters might seem cartoonish to someone who hadn't shared the experience, but these are people who actually exist. Treat yourself to an unvarnished view of America and Americans. I couldn't put this down.