Customer Reviews

A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles

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Originally, I picked this book out to read more about Thomas Hoving, as I had recently completed his 'King of the Confessors' and, as an appreciative receptor of McPhee's writings on geological history ('Basin and Range', 'In Suspect Terrain', et cetera), I hoped to find the same sort of insight in his biographies. I was completely unfamiliar with the other subjects of the 'other Profiles' - they were merely an added bonus.

Nor was I to be disappointed. McPhee's portraits, whether of eccentric and unusual landscapes or of interestingly striated and deformed personalities, are fascinating. Aside from the humanised portrait of Hoving (who from his own writing appears to be something of an intellectual leviathan with the boundless energy of a cheetah after one too many coffees), there are the portraits of Euell Gibbons, a forager for the edible delicacies of the vacant yards and open spaces of wildernesses both urban and rural (who, amusingly, is described as 'the late' Euell Gibbons, which immediately led me to wonder, perhaps uncharitably, whether he had succumbed to one of his experimental foods); Robert Twynam, the Man Who Grew the Grass at Wimbledon (capitalisation my own) - an account which one might expect to be as interesting as, well, watching the grass grow, but really turns into a manner of deft psycho-horticulturo-sporting commentary; Temple Fielding, traveller and hotel connoisseur extraordinaire, who's favourite hotels became the basis for the ratings of an entire guidebook industry; and Carol Brewster, who's entry into the Sudanese civil service is a tale of intrigue and interest in a strife-torn corner of Africa.

These five biographical sketches, drawn with McPhee's effortless, almost conversational prose, are held together by one primary common thread: their subjects are intensely interesting men, pursuing occupations that, for various assorted reasons, are also intensely interesting. It is a book that grips and enthralls strangely, for it is not what one would expect to be a gripping, enthralling book. That, I believe, is its secret.

I can't imagine anyone not finding favourable comments for any of John McPhee's books - for once, popularity in a modern author is entirely justified. McPhee is a lucid, amusing, and thoroughly fascinating guide, no matter the subject which he has chosen about which to write. By all means, read 'A Roomful of Hovings', or, for that matter, any of his books, if your fellow-travellers on this beknighted little planet hold any interest at all for you. John McPhee is a fine a guide as one could ask.

It is difficult to say who you admire more by the time you're through reading this book: the author or the engaging personalities he profiles so brilliantly. The title essay is a really engaging study of the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and readers will get caught up in the movement of it almost despite themselves. McPhee so wonderfully elucidates every aspect of a problem that he can explain the most complex events and progressions with enviable ease. The essay "A Forager" is also a brilliant exercise in detail and narrative, and reads, like much of McPhee's work, easily, vibrantly. This book is really a classic of non-fiction, and McPhee is a master of the form.

What can you say about McPhee? Goes down like find scotch, makes any subject a pleasure to read. This book is just a collection of biographical snippets, each very enjoyable in their own way. A perfect airline read.