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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vowell's On, December 14, 1999
This review is from: Radio On: A Listener's Diary (Paperback)
"Grouchy" seems to be what a lot of people thought about "Radio On", and there is certainly some of that, and some whining, too. And, I would have liked the book more, I suppose, if Nirvana had meant as much to me as, say, the Clash. But anyone who has ever thought that music is important to them, and who has had the radio as a lifeline to that important thing in their life, will enjoy and understand this book. Ms. Vowell never really defines her project, which was apparently to diary her reflections on American culture by responding to what she hears on the radio, but she does spend a fair amount of time complaining about it. Her complaining is entertaining, however, and witty, which will not surprise anyone who has heard her essays on "This American Life". Sometimes her criticisms did not seem quite fair-- Bob Edwards is not the anti-Rush, and it is a little unrealistic to expect him to be. (Maybe Andrei Codrescu is the anti-Rush). I guess I liked the politics of the thing, and the fact that she really loves and cares about radio. I've been trying to read as much as I can get my hands on about radio this year, and it seems to be a difficult medium to write about (in contrast to film, say). Most good writing about radio ends up being about something else, and it is the something else that I liked about "Radio On". I would recommend it to anyone who cares about radio, or who thinks about American culture.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Refund Requested, May 6, 2006
This review is from: Radio On: A Listener's Diary (Paperback)
I have read all four of Sarah Vowell's books. I believe that is all of them. I thoroughly enjoyed three of them and would strongly recommend them. With for Radio On, her first book, she seems to be in a different place. Radio On is a diary of Sarah listening to the radio. Although the concept is interesting, the result is a lot of very short entries in which there is little opportunity to develop anything. But the real reason I didn't like Radio On is because of Sarah's perspective at that time. She is a very critical person in this book. Nirvana is the greatest band ever, and The Grateful Dead is worthless. Whether it is music, politics, or a variety of other topics, you get the clear impression that her opinion is right and any others are wrong. Radio On is a very mean and negative view of life and our world. The worst case scenario, though, is someone reads Radio On first and doesn't read Sarah Vowell's other books. That would be huge mistake.
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70 of 92 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Radio On : A Reader's Dismay, May 13, 2000
This review is from: Radio On: A Listener's Diary (Paperback)
I got this book because I really love Sarah's essays on the NPR program This American Life. Those are (largely) collected in her book "Take the Cannoli : (Stories from the New World)." If you too have come to Sarah Vowell via This American Life, I must emphasize: "Radio On" is very likely going to disappoint you. The idea for this book is a fantastic one. She keeps a diary largely centered around what the radio is playing at any given time. She sprinkles in liberal doses of real life, thoughts and musings. Unfortunately she seems to view many subjects through a haughty lens of her life as a microcosm of general culture...which it ain't. Sarah has a dismaying habit of aggrandizing or belittling whole swaths of art and entertainment. Nirvanna? Fantastic. The Grateful Dead? Boring noodling. NPR? May have once had a golden age, now worthless garbage. Frequently, she casually dismisses a topic/music style/belief/person as worthless, not worth a thought, and then later rants on and on in defense of her opinion. There seems to be no middle ground: something that deserves a gentle ribbing is utterly skewered, something that deserves light praise is idolized. When she does hear something she deems worthy on NPR, she is quick to turn the radio off before it's spoiled by "snooty diction". Much the same could be said of Radio On: a great idea plus the occasional fabulous insight, spoiled in the presentation by Vowell's "snooty diction." I saw Sarah on David Letterman in support of her much better book Take The Canoli. There was a point where she said something pretty funny and the audience laughed and laughed. As they laughed, she became obviously scornful, as if they had violated some imagined etiquette by thinking she was THAT funny, that they dared interrupt the flow of her coversation with their intrusive laughter. That kind of smugness, that kind of near mean-spiritedness, pervades this book. It renders it almost entirely unreadable.
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