Customer Reviews

XXX-Communicated: A Rebel Without A Shul

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This is not a lurid tale about the porn industry, which really is more of the backdrop here. It's an honest, candid story of a man facing many issues of faith that are ignored by most people today. Mr. Ford presents his story honestly and candidly. My only fault with the book is that the writer of autobiography should involve the reader more; here, however, Mr. Ford writes about himself with considerable detachment, so we don't get a sense of what he was feeling or thinking at some pivotal moments. He often uses dry reportage about private moments when a more personal recollection seemed necessary. I look forward to more of Mr. Ford's writing.

So, Mr. Ford is ousted from one temple after another for his refusal to give up his porn gossip website. As it should be. Ford wants to be an Orthodox Jew (probably because in the religion he finds reinforcement for his misogyny and bigotry)and the religious code he embraces forbids this. Where's the drama in that? It's not as if Ford is challenging the religious code. He simply wants to have it both ways, like a petulant child.

If Ford were half the writer/journalist he thinks he is he could easily have turned his back on porn gossip and started writing on any number of subjects and the rabbis would have smiled upon him. But he found a niche for his monosyllabic style of writing on the Internet, where the demand for stylized, intelligent writing is very low indeed.

This is the story of a stubborn, untalented, vainglorious man and it's a self-published book to boot. Doesn't that say it all?