Customer Reviews

Remote: Reflections on Life in the Shadow of Celebrity

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This is a wonderful and at times wonderous book. Some terrific passages about our celebrity driven culture and our "remoteness." Some of the book is hilarious, some it is sad. I especially liked the section about the allure of women in glasses. Brillant. The passage about David "NYPD Blue" Milch is powerful. Autobiography or allegory or both, this book is unlike anything you have read or will read. It deserves another life back in print.

In "Remote", David Shields tells his own story through the printed and recorded parts of America. One of Shields' central themes is the difference between life and virtual-life: major events in his memory are linked directly to some form of media. His story is based on "almost fame," or as a frequent title explains, "the nimbus of her fame makes a nullity of us all." The idea of media remoteness is explored in amazingly honest detail, often with humor and a delicious taste of irony at the ridiculous. Through his obsession with "the filmed familiar," Oprah, America's Funniest Home Videos, and anecdotes too numerous to mention, Mr. Shields' essays capture the confusion and separateness that America feels at the power of its entertainment industry. This book is a must for anyone who claims to be media-savvy or enjoys a concise, entertaining and intelligent autobiography. There isn't much that this book doesn't cover, but much more impressive is the advice that it manages to suggest. As Mr. Shields' observations add another dimension to your understanding of this world, you'll find yourself underlining and circling while smiling drily.

This book will be of interest to those who notice the little things in life, the things that are hard to miss but always get looked over. Saying what people want to say but may be too afraid to, Shields' book is bold and truthful about the world. The minute detail that instances of his own past and the cultural past of America that are investigated in this book are thought-provoking. A book that anyone could relate to, "Remote" points out the absurdity of everyday life. The everyday things that we all notice but don't quite register are here in this American critique. A book for anyone who has a family, is American, is a subject of humanity will relate to and revel in this insightful quest for resolution, and feel comfort in the fact that we are not alone.