Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Take a Chance, September 7, 2002
Jerzy Kosinski, the author of "Being There," had a long career as a distinguished author. After coming to the United States from his native Poland, Kosinski embarked on a writing career spanning nearly three decades. During this period he wrote nine novels and two collections of essays. The awards he collected over these years are too numerous to list here, but he did win an award for turning "Being There" into a screenplay. In the movie Peter Sellers played the role of Chauncey Gardiner (that's Sellers on the cover of the book, by the way). Jerzy Kosinski died in 1991.If you have seen the film version of this book, you already know what the story is about. Chauncey is a gardener for a wealthy old invalid referred to cryptically as the "Old Man." Poor old Chauncey doesn't have much going on upstairs; he cannot read or write, and his days are spent watching television and working in the garden. The Old Man adopted Chauncey when he was a small child, and maintains an iron grip over his life. Chauncey has never seen the outside world, never interacted with people beyond the gates of the house, or left any trace of himself in the outside world. He's a sort of modern day Robinson Crusoe, isolated on his own private island in the middle of our bustling world. When the Old Man finally succumbs to his illnesses, Chauncey is left to his own devices in a world he has only seen on television. After a slight accident that occurs a few minutes after he leaves his cocoon, Chauncey finds himself quickly moving up in the world. He is "adopted" by Benjamin and EE Rand, a wealthy family. When Chauncey spouts a few vague aphorisms about gardening, the Rands misunderstand him and begin to believe that Chauncey is a brilliant, wealthy industrialist with intelligent insights into the business world. Chauncey's star continues to climb as every person who meets him, from the president to the Soviet ambassador, thinks he's a charming, insightful man. Chauncey appears on television, his quotes begin to pop up in newspapers, and his name is on the lips of everybody who is anybody. The world is going crazy for Chauncey Gardiner, while Chauncey remains blissfully ignorant of his newfound status. A large part of Chauncey's success comes from his good looks and wearing suits he took from the Old Man. If the image makes the man, Chauncey can't help but succeed. The back cover of this edition declares that Kosinski's book is a scathing indictment of the media culture, and there is much to back up that assertion in the book. Chauncey's fascination with television is the only way he can relate to those he meets in the larger world. When meeting people, Chauncey remembers how people act on television, and then he mimics their behavior. Since Chauncey is essentially a blank slate (no one can discover anything about him because he has no background), he resembles one of the images he loves to watch on television. Like a television character, Chauncey has no substance. He lives in the present, with no past and no future. It is up to others to fill in the details of Chauncey's existence, and this is exactly what happens when everyone around him projects their own needs and wants on to Chauncey. A particularly annoying incident in the book concerns a sexual encounter Chauncey has with a partygoer. There is no need for this encounter to take place, and it considerably cheapens the value of the book. Why Kosinski felt this sexual encounter needed to be included is a mystery. Whatever the reason, the addition of this situation dampens the simplicity and innocence of the story. Overall, reading "Being There" is still a treat. The movie is highly recommended as well. Peter Sellers longed to play Chauncey for years, and does an excellent job with the role. If memory serves correctly, this was Peter Sellers's last film role. If you have already seen the film, be sure and read the book as well.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brief, yet entertaining satire, April 1, 2001
A friend recommended Jerzy Kosinski to me, so I thought I'd start with a fairly familiar title, though I have yet to see the movie. "Being There" is quite short, though the story is by no means short on style and quality. Kosinski offers a powerful, unlikely hero in Chance, whose simple philosophies on tending a garden are misinterpreted by people around them as guidance for controlling the national economy. It is amusing to read how all these well-educated, self-important people twist Chance's words to suit their own purposes and beliefs, so much that this simple-minded gardener is, in the course of a few days, one of the most admired men in the nation!I also like Kosinski's take on the media, as presented through Chance's love for television -- he accepts a name change to Chauncey Gardiner (as accidentally heard by EE Rand), thinking that is standard for people on television to do. The scene in particular where Chance is invited on a program to speak is fun to read, as Chance wonders how he will translate physically onscreen. Though this book was written twenty years ago, it still speaks to us today as a good satire on media and American culture, and how we tend to make heroes of people who do not necessarily fit the mold. It would have been interesting to see this work translated today, with the advent of cable television and the Internet.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
AMBIGUOUS HE COMES -- AMBIGUOUS HE GOES, October 26, 2000
Chance. the gardner, "knows not whence he came." His only memories are of his room, his television set, the garden that he tends, the old man who owns the house and garden, and a cook/housekeeper. The sum of all his knowledge comes from what he sees on his television set and what he has learned tending his garden. He doesn't read. He doesn't write. He really doesn't know that there is a world outside of his garden.When the old man dies, Chance is thrown into a world about which he knows nothing. His one advantage coming into that world is that he has the old man's hand-me-down suits which are impeccably tailored and are old enough to have come back into style. By chance, Chance is injured by a chauffeur driven limousine belonging to a very rich and influential man. (Thank goodness for the suit he is wearing! Through no fault of his own, he looks rich and successful.) He gives his name as Chance, the gardner and it is misunderstood as Chauncey Gardiner. His vast experience in things worldly, gained from viewing television, tells him that if someone tells him that is his name then that is his name. Whenever Chance, now Chauncey, enters into a conversation, he speaks of what he knows, the garden. Within a very short time, his replies, such as, "For everything there is a season," in response to a question about the future economic climate, are taken to be the astute observations of a brilliant man. These meaningless utterances, coupled with his total lack of a background, make him into a media idol and, seemingly, the ideal candidate for Vice President of the United States. After all, if he has no background, there's nothing in it for the opposition to attack, and his garden variety, visionary, comments don't have enough substance to be contradicted. As a commentary on the media culture that existed when Kosinski wrote BEING THERE, and which still exists today, I don't think this book can be beat. Further, as a reflection on the ability of the "unwashed masses" to distinguish between hype and substance, it's rather frightening. The book begins with the ambiguity of Chance's origins and ends in an ambiguous scene that leaves Chance's future open to interpretation. I think that this is the only intellectually honest ending possible for BEING THERE. I recommend BEING THERE for Kosinski's commentary on our media driven society and because of the inferred questions it asks us about ourselves.
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