Customer Reviews

Sam Shepard

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If you are looking for an inside view of the mind and man of Sam Shepard, this book really is not for you. Granted the author had a daunting task, revealing the life of perhaps one of the most private men around. The thing is, I bought the book to find out about Sam Shepard. Instead, I get a glancing blow of his life and work. Certain facts and sentences are repeated four of five times, as if the editor had fallen asleep at the wheel on this one. Shewey tells us that Shepard's life influenced his work, he tells us that his past influences his present, that Shepard's life has a direct influence on what he puts on paper. That is the thing... he TELLS us, he doesn't SHOW us. If you are truly looking for an inside view of the great playwright, check out "Hawk Moon" or even "Cruising Paradise". Those books, written by Shepard, will show you the man, his life, and work. Shewey's book makes you read points over and over and leaves you looking for hidden pages at the end of the book. I literally stared at the last page and asked "Is this it?" I never like reviewing an author's work, because I feel as though I really don't have the right- yet as a reader, I left this book feeling extremely unsatisfied.

This is a book which can be read rather quickly simply because there isn't much there. As a biography, it presents very little information that cannot be found in magazine articles and interviews. Nor is its analysis of Shepard's plays very helpful. One hopes that a literary biography will cast new light both on an individual's work via an investigation of his/her life and on an individual's life via an exploration of his/her work. This book, unfortunately, comes up short on both counts.