Over at Idolator, Jackin’ Pop editor Michaelangelo Matos writes about how he was ultimately unsatisfied by All Over But the Shouting but also slams the midwest and the Twin Cities in particular for a “kind of self-defeating ironic triumphalism.” [Jodi’s note: Pbbbttt!]
Sarah Askari reviews the book for City Pages and includes this interesting, and now that I think about it, true aside, “Those in search of Westerberg’s humanity might want to turn to Petal Pusher, the recently published memoir by his second wife, Laurie Lindeen. True, she captures an older, sober version—but in more personal detail.”
Eric R. Danton of the Hartford Courant is none-too-thrilled with All Over But the Shouting because he longs for a narrative structure to the book. A few weeks ago, I, Jodi, Queen of the Underground, gave Walsh props for managing to construct a narrative structure through quotes. What say you?
Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times does a roundup of recent rock and roll books and gives a shout out to both All Over But the Shouting and Petal Pusher.
Pitchfork gives a nice rundown of upcoming Jim Walsh events in support of All Over But the Shouting.
Wings for Wheels talks a bit about an upcoming podcast he’s going to do with Jim Walsh and about the song “Achin’ to Be.”
P.S. Don’t forget that Walsh will be on 89.3 The Current’s Local Show at 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 18. Not in the listening area? Check out the Live Stream.
hey Jodi, that link to idolator is wrong. i’m glad you at least mention other views on the book. They’re disheartening to read, but sadly not everyone’s bound to love the book.
Thanks Mimi. I got it fixed now!
I think it’s okay if everyone doesn’t love the book. But in my pig-headedness I just chalk it up to people “not getting it.”
Good to know different views on this book are allowed.
My copy recently arrived; Jim Walsh is a talented writer so I have high hopes for it.
Different views on anything are allowed here. I’ve been censored on other Paul Westerberg message boards for disliking things and that sucks. SUCKS.
You are more than welcome to love and/or hate anything and to say that you love and/or hate something. Just like everyone is more than welcome to argue that point of view with you.
The truth shall win out in the marketplace of free ideas, and all that jazz.
Well, in that case, I will say that I hate Sadly Beautiful. It is trite, boring, and a lyrical cop out for Paul. It’s a lame adult version of of 16 Blues tha’ts over-produced and I dont understand why everybody likes it so much. Wow. That felt good. Thanks.
PS- Happy Town is worse.
PSS- Attitude is worse than both.
PSSS- The baby sampling in Angels Walk ruins an otherwise great song.
PSSSS- When Paul talks at the end of Looking up in Heaven, well, that is also stupid.
thank you jodi. yeah i have heard quite a bit about censorship on other uh PW related site(s). i liked the book but i didnt get it. made me feel like an outsider. Jay: lmao
I finally finished Petal Pusher two weeks ago so I can officially proclaim me hating it. Since I have family & buds who thought it was a waste of money, I went in wanting to like it, but it was a chore to get to the last fucking page. So in answer to Blasty’s question to me a few months back: Yes to Jim Walsh being a superior writer to Laura Lindeen. I find members of this board to be superior writers to Laura Lindeen & this board doesn’t cost a cent. Regarding Pusher:I want my money back. That is all.
Jim,
I’m kind of torn on Petal Pusher. There were parts of it I really liked and found amusing and there were parts of it I really hated.
One of things I’ve learned in my writing classes is that writers make choices and I think Lindeen made a lot of, well, bad choices. Her book comes off as less than honest and some of the self-deprecating stuff doesn’t come off that way.
I can say that after seeing Lindeen read at the Facebook event back in June, I had a better appreciation of Petal Pusher. However, it still makes me mad that some of her choices were made to intentionally mislead the reader, I don’t think that’s fair.
Also, if you care, you can read the review I wrote of Petal Pusher over on Largehearted Boy.
I found this website because of that review;)
So now do you look back on that day as the best day of your life?
Thanks Jodi, I enjoyed your Largehearted Boy review of Petal Pusher more than the actual book. You were very generous in your observations. A musician buddy in NYC has a theory that fans of PW keep a lid on their negative opinions on this book out of respect for Westerberg & I agree. Like you say, Petal Pusher has so much material to work with – Mpls rock scene, personal struggle with disease, Westerberg, family divorce – & in my estimation the writer choked. There is nothing lazy & dull about the subject matter, yet Lindeen’s plodding prose makes it so.
I really liked Petal Pusher. I’m not saying that it was written perfectly, but it had it’s charms.
I think that one of the things that I liked about the book was that she grew up near me, around the same time, and I can really relate to a lot of the things that she wrote about, especially in her youth, and into the eighties. Regional things, like shopping at Fleet Farm, partying at your friends house when their parents were up north hunting, the cream of mushroom cassaroles with the crunchy topping……..things that someone from outside of this area wouldn’t connect with. Things that brought back memories from my youth.
yeah there’s something about both books that i could not connect with. interesting stories though
Blasty, I think you bring up the reason why I found Petal Pusher so frustrating. Lindeen is charming and parts of the book are charming. But she made deliberate choices (the choppy timelines, the slipping into second person to avoid naming names) to mislead the reader. I am not sure why she chose to write a memoir when she didn’t want to be honest.
Of course, Petal Pusher probably would not have had the audience it had if it were a novel by Paul Westerberg’s wife. A memoir by Paul Westerberg’s wife has a lot more commercial appeal.
There’s nothing more I hate in a book (fiction or nonfiction) than when the author is dishonest. I would even go so far as to say that she brought up more questions about the infamous abortion by slipping into the sneaky second-person then she would have if she’d just been honest with us.
Lindeen may be a charming & nice person in real life, but that’s altogether different from being a writer who dazzles the public & unforgiving literary critics. Philip Roth, for example, is a right nasty bastard who can write like nobody’s fuckin’ business. So I enjoy his books, but I don’t have to have dinner with the son of a bitch.
Blasty brings up an interesting point: He relates to the regional things Lindeen writes about since he also lived up north, while Mimi notes she couldn’t connect with it for the same reason & (in my book) this is the author’s fault. I’m not a black kid living in the slums running a crew of cocaine dealers, but I can relate to every word of it in Richard Price’s “Clockers.” Richard Price is a gifted writer; gifted writers create a world in which the reader can live. I got nothing against Laurie Lindeen, just her book.
Thanks for the link. My podcast interview with Jim is now up at http://www.wingsforwheels.net/wordpress/?p=451