Customer Reviews

Plato's Garage

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

 

 

I am not a big reader, so the agent of this book told me to start with a brief section on page 134 (called "Breakdown #2). I was blown away. Campbell, the author, is HIV-positive, but totally enlightened and enlightening. He's hilarious, but also warm and honest and accepting. MUST READ for anyone HIV-pos or anyone who knows anyone HIV-pos.

A lovely book that does a satisfying job of blurring the lines between memoir, journalism, and quirky meditation. Expresses the ineluctable emotion we all feel for our cars, past and present that we sometimes mistake for materialism.

For the non-car obsessed a facinating, introspective journey. For those who's cars are a bodily extension, a must-read. The first chapter, 'Sun, Fun, Stay, Play' really captures all the searing pain of growing up in Bakersfield, inside and outside of your cruising car.

As a reader who is obsessed with books, orchids, and technology -- it is not hard to imagine how one can be obsessed about cars. In fact, at a younger age I would have categorized myself as such, until I read this book. Now I know what it really means to be "obsessed!"

Campbell uses these essays to enlighten, tease, rant and mostly entertain. It is a thoroughly American journey that runs the spectrum from Angst to Zen. Highly recommended.

Writer Rob Campbell gives us a personal look at the important place in our lives that our cars occupy. Who doesn't think back to the car we drove in high school, what car our first boyfriend took us to the prom in, what car we bought after getting that first great job; we choose cars as an expression of ourselves as much as the clothes we choose or the foods we eat. The writer's examination of the connection between self and self-expression are fascinating, and all too true.