Amazon.com: Slackjaw: Jim Knipfel: Books

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Customer Reviews

37 Reviews

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (37 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to defend laughing out loud about blindness, etc....., February 19, 2001

By

Deborah A. Brookhart (Evergreen Park,, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slackjaw (Paperback)

I'm one of those people who love "true medical/Emergency Room/crime/forensic pathology" kinds of stories and am especially fond of sick humor. I read this book during downtime at work and had to stop reading because I kept laughing so hard I was almost crying. When co-workers asked what was so funny, they looked at me strangely when I tried to explain that it was the memoirs of an alcoholic, sometimes-employed man who was facing impending blindness. Go figure!! I recommended it to my equally twisted brother who liked it, as well.

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Grad Student Drunk Goes Blind In An Entertaining Way, July 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Slackjaw (Paperback)

Although I rarely read Knipfel's columns in the New York Press, I read this book in one sitting. As an oft-suicidal drunk I certainly related to much of what Knipfel wrote in this blackly comic memoir. He certainly does seem to be a bad-luck magnet. And I personally don't care if his stories are embellished--what writer doesn't, after all? (To Knipfel's neighbor: he makes it quite clear that he is not entirely blind and often does not use the cane. And he is extremely detailed, both about the retinitis pigmentosa and the brain lesions...WHY would he make that stuff up??) The writing is that of a smart, under-employed dude who prefers living on the dark side. We all know lots of folks like that. My only cavil is that Knipfel would probably feel a lot less depressed if he addressed his alcoholism frontally, but at this point it seems too interwoven into his world view and self-characterization for him to attempt that. (Believe me, I've been there.) Perhaps when he's older and the body stops being able to tolerate it. In any event, I recommend this book highly.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LED BY THE BLIND, March 28, 2001

By

Heather C. Liston (Santa Fe, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slackjaw (Paperback)

Slackjaw By Jim Knipfel

This well-written memoir of career setbacks, divorce, brain tumors, encroaching blindness, and miscellaneous failure is -- well, believe it or not -- it's funny and even warm-hearted. Knipfel has a gift for appreciating the quirky, the smart, and the loveable, whenever they appear in his world of both metaphorical and literal darkness.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Too simple
Knipfel is your classic loser: a drunk who can't keep a girl or keep his cool. Much of this is due to his slow retreat into total blindness and a brain lesion, but the rest is him... Read more

Published 8 months ago by librarianshannon

3.0 out of 5 stars Snarky and Bittersweet
This memoir is funny,clever and engaging. Knipfel is an interesting guy to say the least. If "Slackjaw" hadn't come highly recomended to me, there's no way I would have read a... Read more

Published on July 31, 2006 by Craven Rock

5.0 out of 5 stars Very important book for rehabilitation teachers
The book is most interesting. Knipfel knows how to tell a story; he tells in a sarcastic way the story of his life. Read more

Published on April 30, 2006 by D. Tal

2.0 out of 5 stars Like reading a fifteen-year-old's journal
Jim Knipfel is an idiot, truly. He's the type of person that delivers stories on characters like Werner Herzog and Ed Gein, very self-aggrandising, and, most significant to his... Read more

Published on January 15, 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Inheritor of the Beats?
I like this book. I like Jim Knipfel's writing in general. He's quite good, and seems to be a naturally gifted author who's learned the ropes from his years as a columnist. Read more

Published on November 27, 2003 by James Robert Smith

4.0 out of 5 stars HURRY - BUY SLACKJAW, YOU WON'T REGRET IT
Slackjaw is an entertaining memoir about the author's past. Jim writes with raw honesty and the book has a contagious personal quality that makes it hard to stop reading. Read more

Published on February 11, 2002 by nicolette_

4.0 out of 5 stars won't make oprah's list
Refreshingly untouchy feely in a touchy feely world. I laughed out loud many times throughout this book. Nothing grand and often goes nowhere, but I enjoyed the ride all the same.

Published on July 17, 2000 by zelig22

5.0 out of 5 stars Depressing fun
Knipfel is a legally blind, suicidal, alcoholic, philosophy major who knows how to look at the brighter (or at least the more humorous) side of life. Read more

Published on July 13, 2000 by Kevin

4.0 out of 5 stars All the depression without the self-pity
It's hard for me to pinpoint why I devoured this book almost as soon I picked it up. But I can say that of all the memoirs I've read lately, this was the most riveting. Read more

Published on July 11, 2000 by Sugarfreak

5.0 out of 5 stars slackjaw crazed
this book has meade me realize someone out there has the same humor and thoughts as me.

Published on July 9, 2000 by E. Cisneros

› See all 37 customer reviews...

Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
"SUICIDE HOTLINE?" the chipper young woman on the other end of the phone seemed to ask me when she answered. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Cane Lady, Green Bay, Home Survival, Transit Authority, John Denver, Christmas Eve, Dan Rather, New Year, Blind Man Training, Pain Amplifiers, Staten Island, Steve Lawrence, Houston Street, Social Security, Times Square, Transit Museum, Twenty-third Street, University of Chicago, West Philly

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Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!