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Leaning With Intent to Fall
This book is dedicated to everyone who’s ever dropped everything to go to New Orleans, everyone who’s eaten out of dumpsters and everyone who’s ever been arrested for assaulting a cheeseburger or leaning with intent to fall. Nonfiction.
"Ethan Clark is a punk rock treasure. His absorbing tales are wild and funny, told with deep honesty and sensitivity." --Davy Rothbart, This American Life
"Ethan Clark is a punk rock treasure. His absorbing tales are wild and funny, told with deep honesty and sensitivity." --Davy Rothbart, This American Life
- GenresNonfiction
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 21, 2007
Read this book before you come to New Orleans to try and fix what you think got broken by the hurricane: then maybe you can understand how it's always been broken, and the parts of it that we kind of like that way.
(by kind of like I mean love, and not necessarily in a way that's good for us)
(by kind of like I mean love, and not necessarily in a way that's good for us)
March 2, 2009
Cops in New Orleans have a reputation for arresting you for anything. One of those apocryphal charges is "leaning with intent to fall," from which the book gets its name. Clark delivers a memoir in the form of a series of short stories in which certain events often overlap, but are used for different purposes. It's nonlinear storytelling, but still quite easy to follow. His tales of living in punk flophouses, breaking into abandoned spaces, working odd jobs and an aborted attempt at hitchhiking not only kept me amused, but made me feel connected to his life and his friends. And it made me wonder what the hell I'm doing with my life. Where are my stories? Inspiration through desperation? My great-great-grandfather had stories about growing up on a reservation and getting hell out as soon as he could. My great-grandfather had stories about turning around and going back home when a black cat crossed his path and having two families at opposite ends of the parish. My grandfather has stories about moving from Arkansas to Louisiana in a covered wagon, about sharecropping on strawberry farms, about being the youngest tugboat engineer on the Intracoastal Canal and about taking a tugboat from New Orleans to Guam hoping to catch up with his brother, who was fighting in WWII. My father has stories of working on a ranch and riding cattle and how he preferred them to horses, of calling breaks for his construction crew so one of the guys could get out his guitar and sing and play for a while.
Their stories and Ethan's stories make me ask "What will my stories be? What will I risk to attain a little greatness or a little adventure?"
I read the entire book last night, and as I was coming home to start on it there was a train coming by the house. At the front were some shiny, new, graffiti-free tankers, followed by the usual line of boxcars. I wondered if anyone was in them. I wondered about all the stories and lives behind the art scrawled across them. And as I lay on the futon reading I could hear the foghorns on the tugboats, barges and ships in the river. I wondered about my own wanderlust.
I've always been a play-it-safe kind of guy, and the stories Ethan tells about his own life cast him as someone who jumps back and forth across the line between safety and risk. I want to learn from him.
The book is far from perfect. There's a classism pervading it, with him writing off groups of people (and the band Pantera) as "redneck" (a word that pisses me off when used derisively) or "corporate drones." The punk smugness and superiority never fails to get under my skin a bit. It's repeated throughout the book, but it's worth it to get Ethan's writing. He's got an immediacy and realness to his stories. His dialogue feels natural. And the guy is just plain funny when he wants to be. It's a good book. I recommend it.
Their stories and Ethan's stories make me ask "What will my stories be? What will I risk to attain a little greatness or a little adventure?"
I read the entire book last night, and as I was coming home to start on it there was a train coming by the house. At the front were some shiny, new, graffiti-free tankers, followed by the usual line of boxcars. I wondered if anyone was in them. I wondered about all the stories and lives behind the art scrawled across them. And as I lay on the futon reading I could hear the foghorns on the tugboats, barges and ships in the river. I wondered about my own wanderlust.
I've always been a play-it-safe kind of guy, and the stories Ethan tells about his own life cast him as someone who jumps back and forth across the line between safety and risk. I want to learn from him.
The book is far from perfect. There's a classism pervading it, with him writing off groups of people (and the band Pantera) as "redneck" (a word that pisses me off when used derisively) or "corporate drones." The punk smugness and superiority never fails to get under my skin a bit. It's repeated throughout the book, but it's worth it to get Ethan's writing. He's got an immediacy and realness to his stories. His dialogue feels natural. And the guy is just plain funny when he wants to be. It's a good book. I recommend it.
February 12, 2009
Ethan lived a punk lifestyle for years, wandering from job to job and house to house amidst a wild array of colorful friends and foes. He chronicles many stories from his life here, in this short volume.
He's a wonderful storyteller, and I frequently found myself literally laughing out loud at his tales (which I'm not wont to do with books). He lived for several years in New Orleans, and the stories he tells capture the spirit of the city and its hold on people quite well. Sometimes, the stories wander a little too long in the "And this one time, we all got drunk, and..." vein for my taste. Also, as I came to appreciate Ethan and his ideals and hopes, and identify with him, the chaotic nature of his life was sometimes a bit emotionally tiring. But overall, he inspired me to think about freedom and authenticity in my own life, and how to have more of it... and he spins a very fun yarn.
He's a wonderful storyteller, and I frequently found myself literally laughing out loud at his tales (which I'm not wont to do with books). He lived for several years in New Orleans, and the stories he tells capture the spirit of the city and its hold on people quite well. Sometimes, the stories wander a little too long in the "And this one time, we all got drunk, and..." vein for my taste. Also, as I came to appreciate Ethan and his ideals and hopes, and identify with him, the chaotic nature of his life was sometimes a bit emotionally tiring. But overall, he inspired me to think about freedom and authenticity in my own life, and how to have more of it... and he spins a very fun yarn.
September 4, 2025
Leaning with Intent to Fall sounds like something one does to wake up from a bad dream, and to someone like me, living through these excerpts from Ethan would certainly make me see how far I could lean.
On multiple occasions I kept going "I would never hang out with these people" but this short memoir has more life in it that most people in their 20s will probably experience. Even though punk, both as a movement and as a form of personal expression, has likely changed a lot since this was written, I think everyone should piss off the police from time to time.
On multiple occasions I kept going "I would never hang out with these people" but this short memoir has more life in it that most people in their 20s will probably experience. Even though punk, both as a movement and as a form of personal expression, has likely changed a lot since this was written, I think everyone should piss off the police from time to time.
October 5, 2007
Loved this! It had me dreaming about New Orleans and Asheville. Ethan writes a zine called "Chihuahua and Pitbull." This is a collection of writing about his adventures in New Orleans, and his travels to and fro, working with circus' and selling fireworks. Throwing parties on rooftops and running from the cops. Just like reading a zine, but this does have a fluid continuity that follows a timeine from 1999-2007. I love reading good punk zine writing and this is just that. I wish I could write such good evocative sentences! Loved it!
ps. "Leaning With Intent to Fall" is something that the New Orleans Police had on the books as a bookable offense. I think about that on a daily basis now.
ps. "Leaning With Intent to Fall" is something that the New Orleans Police had on the books as a bookable offense. I think about that on a daily basis now.
March 1, 2011
This book got under my skin. It made me remember and miraculously miss sleeping on the side of the road, in crack houses, beaches and blackberry bushes. The abandoned buildings of my own narrative ran next to his and waved. The beers of my younger years hung out with hazy morning memories steering bicycle wheels towards records and curtains. This book made me wish I had more party parades and reckless abandon now. It made me want to raise high the youth beams (carpenters), run from cops and ring doorbells late at night just to wake people up. And just like our own memories we can't believe or forget Ethan brings up the ones that stick out more than once almost to see if we've been paying attention and somehow I didn't mind. It's like we've been at the same bar drinking.
September 14, 2007
Ethan's new book is a really engrossing read. Nothing that happens is too fantastic. Ethan lives the life of any traveling punk kid you've ever met, hitchhiking, bike delivery, all that good stuff. What makes this stand out is the way he tells his tales. It's got that friend telling you a story quality that i really enjoy in a memoir. It's not over-romanticized, and it doesn't have 15 different versions of the same story about scamming a bus. Also, it's pretty gutsy to write a memoir when you're 24. Plus the book is on Garrett County Press who I think are really cool! So read it already!
March 21, 2013
When I was 14 I ran away from home with Ethan (the author), So i may be partial to him, but all in all I thought this was a great memoir, and a very quick read. If you have ever traveled or squatted than you should read this book. Ethan is extremly talented (with both art and writing) and I can't wait to see what else he will put out. This is a fast paced memoir about living in New Orleans, post hurricane Katrina; it is the story of underground New Orleans, with the beat and smells that only New Orleans can offer. Check it out, two thumbs up, and a shot of whiskey.
Want to read
August 4, 2008As soon as i saw this title on bookslut.com, it harkened me back immediately to the old "napoleonic laws" back in the quarter. Other bogus charges trumped up against squatters in NOLA back in the late/mid 90's included "impersonation of a human being" "assault with a cheesburger" and "obstruction of the sidewalk". Definitely worth the treck to stroller-cursed, baby-haunted lincoln square to The Book Cellar to get my hands on a copy.
March 19, 2017
The zine he used to make was one of my favourites... This book reads like a summarizing of odd happenings. It's a rather short list of happenings with minimal description of what is going on, how the people look like, etc. Ethan doesn't write down a lot of thoughts, describings, introspect,.. A pity, since there are so many shenanigans, and odd things in his surroundings to write about.
March 21, 2013
This memoir will make you miss traveling and drinking too much....ahhhh the good old days!!!!!!! (hey ethan- at least you didn't end up sleeping in an alley in this memoir, maybe you should write about philly next!)
May 31, 2008
Really cool little book about the underground punk scene, living in new orleans, and the weirdest coming of age story you'll find.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews