What do you think?
Rate this book
Maschio bianco etero
Kennedy Marr è un donnaiolo, un egocentrico, un narciso. Un uomo baciato dal successo, uno di quei bastardi a cui la vita ha servito le carte migliori. E ha scoperto che Hollywood è un posto formidabile per praticare gli eccessi. Nulla al mondo lo convincerebbe a lasciare la California per tornare nello sprofondo inglese. Ma non ha fatto i conti con l'Agenzia delle entrate. Così, quando inopinatamente viene insignito di un prestigioso - e ricco - premio letterario è costretto ad accettare. Anche se ciò significa passare un anno in un college inglese a insegnare scrittura creativa a dei pivelli senza talento. E soprattutto ritrovarsi faccia a faccia coi fantasmi del passato. Dopo lo strepitoso Gesù Cristo protagonista di A volte ritorno, John Niven inventa un altro personaggio iperbolico e irresistibile, un uomo capace di fare a pezzi per sempre la reputazione del maschio contemporaneo.
376 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
152 people are currently reading
3374 people want to read
About the author
John Niven
30 books871 followersBorn in Irvine, Ayrshire, Niven read English Literature at Glasgow University, graduating in 1991 with First Class honours. For the next ten years, he worked for a variety of record companies, including London Records and Independiente. He left the music industry to write full time in 2002 and published his debut novella Music from Big Pink in 2005 (Continuum Press). The novella was optioned for the screen by CC Films with a script has been written by English playwright Jez Butterworth. Niven's breakthrough novel Kill Your Friends is a satire of the music business, based on his brief career in A&R, during which he passed up the chance to sign Coldplay and Muse. The novel was published by William Heinemann in 2008 and achieved much acclaim, with Word magazine describing it as "possibly the best British Novel since Trainspotting". It has been translated into seven languages and was a bestseller in Britain and Germany. Niven has since published The Amateurs (2009), The Second Coming (2011), Cold Hands (2012) and Straight White Male (2013).
He also writes original screenplays with writing partner Nick Ball, the younger brother of British TV presenter Zoë Ball. His journalistic contributions to newspapers and magazines include a monthly column for Q magazine, entitled "London Kills Me". In 2009 Niven wrote a controversial article for The Independent newspaper where he attacked the media's largely complacent coverage of Michael Jackson's death.
Niven lives in Buckinghamshire with his fiancee and infant daughter. He has a teenage son from a previous marriage.
He also writes original screenplays with writing partner Nick Ball, the younger brother of British TV presenter Zoë Ball. His journalistic contributions to newspapers and magazines include a monthly column for Q magazine, entitled "London Kills Me". In 2009 Niven wrote a controversial article for The Independent newspaper where he attacked the media's largely complacent coverage of Michael Jackson's death.
Niven lives in Buckinghamshire with his fiancee and infant daughter. He has a teenage son from a previous marriage.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 319 reviews
August 12, 2013
Imagine you’re having a nice drink in a bar. Then an utterly wasted middle-aged man staggers over to you, purple nose with cracked veins, face so red it looks about to explode at a moment’s notice, reeking of alcohol. He sits next to you heavily and proceeds to tell you details of his life you don’t want to know in an extremely loud voice, details that comprise his sex life and his drug and alcohol intake, all of which he is very proud of. Then imagine, as you try to leave, that you can’t and that you and this drunk are now tethered together for the rest of the evening, which means you have to endure his tedious drivel for a few more hours before you’re free. Now imagine that drunk is this book.
John Niven’s latest novel “Straight White Male” is the story of Kennedy Marr, a bestselling novelist who has become a highly paid screenwriter and script doctor living in Los Angeles. Middle-aged and single, Kennedy is enjoying his sybaritic Hollywood lifestyle, sleeping with many beautiful women, ingesting copious amounts of alcohol and drugs, and getting paid large amounts of money for minimal writing effort. And then he receives his tax bill. It seems he owes the IRS $1 million - money that he doesn’t have. But when he is awarded a prestigious literary honour for his novels back in Britain, he learns that if he accepts the award he will receive £500,000 tax free with a catch: he must teach for a full school year at the university.
Straight White Male (SWM) pretends to be a satire about Hollywood and academia and fails miserably on both. First of all, these aren’t exactly the hardest subjects to lampoon - Hollywood is such a bizarre and ridiculous place to start with that a satire feels pointless and that a simple non-fictional look at how studios work would yield more amusing results. And academia has been satirised by David Lodge and Malcolm Bradbury so successfully that there isn’t much more to make fun of - as SWM shows.
The Hollywood targets are easy and unsurprising - vain, superficial starlets, handsome leading men who’re secretly gay, bloviating self-important producers and directors, every single one of them utterly pretentious. On the academic side we have snobbish literary teachers writing esoteric long-winded essays about an insignificant detail in an obscure novel. What does Niven have to say about Hollywood? A ludicrously wealthy playground full of childish personalities without an ounce of artistic integrity. About academia? Full of boring people taking the joy out of art and reducing creativity to a series of clinical exercises that don’t work. In other words, he has nothing to say that hasn’t been said before, better.
The real point of the book is to act as a soapbox for Niven to play wish fulfilment via Kennedy. Kennedy Marr is a middle-aged novelist who also makes a lot of money screenwriting. This apparently makes him James Bond, minus the licence to kill. Everywhere he goes women are throwing themselves at him. He can’t go to the toilet without some young twentysomething following him, ready to throw off her small dress and slop around in the stalls with him. He’s constantly boozing, doing drugs, but always manages to appear ravishing to women despite the damage such a lifestyle would do especially to a 40-something who does no exercise. Occasionally he tosses off a few words, gets handed wads of cash, and he saunters off to continue his manboy activities.
Far more annoying than the poor characterisation of Kennedy - or anyone - is the flimsy plot. Normally there is conflict in a story to give it some drama, and to make said conflicts more interesting, there has to be stakes. This book contains a few obstacles, some conflict, for Kennedy to overcome, which he does far too easily, but minus the stakes. Because no matter what happens in this story, everything always works out for Kennedy. Money problems that screenplay work won’t solve? No matter, somehow an institution in England is willing to pay you huge sums of money to show up at their university! Headbutt a rich businessman on a flight to the UK? No matter because charges won’t be pressed and the headlines make you, and the university, more famous! Curse out the star of the movie? Without lifting a finger, all will be forgiven and your status will be further enhanced for “being real”! There are supposed problems at the start of the book where Kennedy is behind on several scripts, which Niven attempts to make seem an impossible task, but when push comes to shove, Kennedy writes them all in a couple of paragraphs! There are more examples of non-conflict being resolved in an impossibly simple way, especially the ending, but I won’t spoil those here. Suffice it to say, Kennedy gets what he wants very, very easily whether he tries or not. With no real problems for our protagonist, and no real story, all that’s left is Niven’s snide and tiresome remarks about whatever’s on his mind to fill out the rest of the nearly 400 page novel - and unfortunately Niven has nothing interesting to say.
The novel makes some awkward gear changes as it shifts from Kennedy’s adult holiday and laughalong at Hollywood/academia, to “real” life. It’s as if Niven realised Kennedy was completely unlikable or maybe too much of a caricature even for a supposed satire and attempted to make him sympathetic by showing his family’s problems. There’s his dead junkie sister Gerry whom we learn about through flashbacks and Kennedy’s guilt at his lavish ways compared to the poverty that his sister resided in, and his lack of intervention that led to her premature death in her early 30s. There’s his dying mother whom he can’t bring himself to visit while his understanding social worker brother Patrick looks after her as she wastes away, pining for her Kennedy. It’s such a badly misjudged inclusion in this novel that spends so long celebrating Kennedy for his “bad-boy” behaviour that any attempt at humanity falls completely flat.
But the ending to the novel is spectacularly awful. After failing to establish a legitimate love interest in one of Kennedy’s students but going for the heartbroken angle for his protagonist anyway, Niven then has Kennedy learn some bad news leading to a decision to off himself. He wanders the streets of London, reciting poetry to himself, wallowing in nostalgia. This sickeningly sentimental and self-indulgent sequence goes on for 30 pages - and it’s utterly unbearable to read! Just when you’re wishing that he’d just kill himself already, he launches into another rose-tinted memory that the reader has to suffer through to get to the next tedious memory. And the ending itself... well, it’s a slap in the face to anyone thinking that this is a book for grown-ups.
“Straight White Male” is a satire absolutely devoid of anything to say and spends a long time saying it. It’s a boring novel full of lazy writing, cliches, stereotypical characters, and a smirking attitude that believes will cause readers to overlook everything else. Like the dinosaur on the cover, here’s hoping childish stories about overprivileged, self-entitled manbabies become extinct, and Niven actually makes an effort for his next novel.
John Niven’s latest novel “Straight White Male” is the story of Kennedy Marr, a bestselling novelist who has become a highly paid screenwriter and script doctor living in Los Angeles. Middle-aged and single, Kennedy is enjoying his sybaritic Hollywood lifestyle, sleeping with many beautiful women, ingesting copious amounts of alcohol and drugs, and getting paid large amounts of money for minimal writing effort. And then he receives his tax bill. It seems he owes the IRS $1 million - money that he doesn’t have. But when he is awarded a prestigious literary honour for his novels back in Britain, he learns that if he accepts the award he will receive £500,000 tax free with a catch: he must teach for a full school year at the university.
Straight White Male (SWM) pretends to be a satire about Hollywood and academia and fails miserably on both. First of all, these aren’t exactly the hardest subjects to lampoon - Hollywood is such a bizarre and ridiculous place to start with that a satire feels pointless and that a simple non-fictional look at how studios work would yield more amusing results. And academia has been satirised by David Lodge and Malcolm Bradbury so successfully that there isn’t much more to make fun of - as SWM shows.
The Hollywood targets are easy and unsurprising - vain, superficial starlets, handsome leading men who’re secretly gay, bloviating self-important producers and directors, every single one of them utterly pretentious. On the academic side we have snobbish literary teachers writing esoteric long-winded essays about an insignificant detail in an obscure novel. What does Niven have to say about Hollywood? A ludicrously wealthy playground full of childish personalities without an ounce of artistic integrity. About academia? Full of boring people taking the joy out of art and reducing creativity to a series of clinical exercises that don’t work. In other words, he has nothing to say that hasn’t been said before, better.
The real point of the book is to act as a soapbox for Niven to play wish fulfilment via Kennedy. Kennedy Marr is a middle-aged novelist who also makes a lot of money screenwriting. This apparently makes him James Bond, minus the licence to kill. Everywhere he goes women are throwing themselves at him. He can’t go to the toilet without some young twentysomething following him, ready to throw off her small dress and slop around in the stalls with him. He’s constantly boozing, doing drugs, but always manages to appear ravishing to women despite the damage such a lifestyle would do especially to a 40-something who does no exercise. Occasionally he tosses off a few words, gets handed wads of cash, and he saunters off to continue his manboy activities.
Far more annoying than the poor characterisation of Kennedy - or anyone - is the flimsy plot. Normally there is conflict in a story to give it some drama, and to make said conflicts more interesting, there has to be stakes. This book contains a few obstacles, some conflict, for Kennedy to overcome, which he does far too easily, but minus the stakes. Because no matter what happens in this story, everything always works out for Kennedy. Money problems that screenplay work won’t solve? No matter, somehow an institution in England is willing to pay you huge sums of money to show up at their university! Headbutt a rich businessman on a flight to the UK? No matter because charges won’t be pressed and the headlines make you, and the university, more famous! Curse out the star of the movie? Without lifting a finger, all will be forgiven and your status will be further enhanced for “being real”! There are supposed problems at the start of the book where Kennedy is behind on several scripts, which Niven attempts to make seem an impossible task, but when push comes to shove, Kennedy writes them all in a couple of paragraphs! There are more examples of non-conflict being resolved in an impossibly simple way, especially the ending, but I won’t spoil those here. Suffice it to say, Kennedy gets what he wants very, very easily whether he tries or not. With no real problems for our protagonist, and no real story, all that’s left is Niven’s snide and tiresome remarks about whatever’s on his mind to fill out the rest of the nearly 400 page novel - and unfortunately Niven has nothing interesting to say.
The novel makes some awkward gear changes as it shifts from Kennedy’s adult holiday and laughalong at Hollywood/academia, to “real” life. It’s as if Niven realised Kennedy was completely unlikable or maybe too much of a caricature even for a supposed satire and attempted to make him sympathetic by showing his family’s problems. There’s his dead junkie sister Gerry whom we learn about through flashbacks and Kennedy’s guilt at his lavish ways compared to the poverty that his sister resided in, and his lack of intervention that led to her premature death in her early 30s. There’s his dying mother whom he can’t bring himself to visit while his understanding social worker brother Patrick looks after her as she wastes away, pining for her Kennedy. It’s such a badly misjudged inclusion in this novel that spends so long celebrating Kennedy for his “bad-boy” behaviour that any attempt at humanity falls completely flat.
But the ending to the novel is spectacularly awful. After failing to establish a legitimate love interest in one of Kennedy’s students but going for the heartbroken angle for his protagonist anyway, Niven then has Kennedy learn some bad news leading to a decision to off himself. He wanders the streets of London, reciting poetry to himself, wallowing in nostalgia. This sickeningly sentimental and self-indulgent sequence goes on for 30 pages - and it’s utterly unbearable to read! Just when you’re wishing that he’d just kill himself already, he launches into another rose-tinted memory that the reader has to suffer through to get to the next tedious memory. And the ending itself... well, it’s a slap in the face to anyone thinking that this is a book for grown-ups.
“Straight White Male” is a satire absolutely devoid of anything to say and spends a long time saying it. It’s a boring novel full of lazy writing, cliches, stereotypical characters, and a smirking attitude that believes will cause readers to overlook everything else. Like the dinosaur on the cover, here’s hoping childish stories about overprivileged, self-entitled manbabies become extinct, and Niven actually makes an effort for his next novel.
Read
December 24, 2022Divertente, cinico, sorprendente. Nonostante la comicità esilarante – che ricorda la scrittura di Aleksander Hemon - il finale è riuscito persino a commuovermi.
Niven si diverte a smontare e rimontare pregiudizi e categorie sociali con uno sprezzo e una verve invidiabili. Sbruffone e provocatorio come da titolo, il protagonista incarna lo stereotipo del MBE più odioso e narcisista. Ma è uno scrittore che sa il fatto suo. La struttura del libro è quella di una sceneggiatura cinematografica – con cui il protagonista inglese d’origine si è arricchito a Hollywood - per poi convertirsi in un sorta di balordo flusso di coscienza letterario sul finale. Consigliato a chi ama i dialoghi a cascata e i libri scorrevolissimi che potrebbero tirarvi fuori dal blocco del lettore.
Niven si diverte a smontare e rimontare pregiudizi e categorie sociali con uno sprezzo e una verve invidiabili. Sbruffone e provocatorio come da titolo, il protagonista incarna lo stereotipo del MBE più odioso e narcisista. Ma è uno scrittore che sa il fatto suo. La struttura del libro è quella di una sceneggiatura cinematografica – con cui il protagonista inglese d’origine si è arricchito a Hollywood - per poi convertirsi in un sorta di balordo flusso di coscienza letterario sul finale. Consigliato a chi ama i dialoghi a cascata e i libri scorrevolissimi che potrebbero tirarvi fuori dal blocco del lettore.
August 24, 2020
Videorecensione: https://youtu.be/rXx_PKK6X98
September 4, 2013
John Niven is an expert at writing deplorable, hedonistic main characters (except, well, Jesus). Kennedy here is no exception, ignoring his family and obligations in order to snort, drink, and fuck his way through the entirety of Hollywood. He's smart, a bit sadistic, and certainly lacking in self-awareness. When the tides turn against him--and they do--they do so slowly, events conspiring in such a delicious manner because you want Kennedy to be a better person and don't mind relishing in a bit of his pain. The funny turns serious, and you may find yourself wiping at your eyes because it's just allergies, really, fucking allergies. Sometimes authors writing about writers can be tedious; this is not the case here. Bravo.
November 17, 2013
This is a book whose beauty lies in creating a character who is totally, almost unbelievably terrible as a human (really, an absolute platinum-lined shitball) and yet somehow sympathetic. Kennedy Marr is rude, self-absorbed, unreliable and from the opening chapter clearly on a fast track to self-destruction, but you know what? I really liked him. And that's not because I am also a shitball, honestly, it's because Niven's writing is clever and funny and honest. Mostly though it is funny - laugh out loud on the bus funny.
Fan's of the US TV show Californication will know the territory here well: successful, charming but deeply flawed writer makes it big in Hollywood and has trouble keep himself on the straight and narrow. In fact he seems to have abandoned any attempt to stay on the highway at all and has gone off road in a massive diesel powered four by four, ploughing up the grass verge and driving over bunny rabbits as he goes. There are drugs, sex, fights, preposterous behaviour in upscale environments (I think this may have been the part the just made Marr so likeable despite his many, many faults)and bad decision after bad decision. Hollywood and the writing trade come in for some sharply observed abuse (Niven clearly more than a little familiar with this world) and the story builds pace nicely to it's denouement. There are touches of genuine pathos as Marr begins to recognise that his trail of destruction has created some real casualties, most notably his teenage daughter, and the end, when it comes has a nice little twist.
I am delighted to have come across Niven and have already torn through Kill Your Friends. Now the central character in that one makes Kennedy Marr seem like a goddam monk!
Fan's of the US TV show Californication will know the territory here well: successful, charming but deeply flawed writer makes it big in Hollywood and has trouble keep himself on the straight and narrow. In fact he seems to have abandoned any attempt to stay on the highway at all and has gone off road in a massive diesel powered four by four, ploughing up the grass verge and driving over bunny rabbits as he goes. There are drugs, sex, fights, preposterous behaviour in upscale environments (I think this may have been the part the just made Marr so likeable despite his many, many faults)and bad decision after bad decision. Hollywood and the writing trade come in for some sharply observed abuse (Niven clearly more than a little familiar with this world) and the story builds pace nicely to it's denouement. There are touches of genuine pathos as Marr begins to recognise that his trail of destruction has created some real casualties, most notably his teenage daughter, and the end, when it comes has a nice little twist.
I am delighted to have come across Niven and have already torn through Kill Your Friends. Now the central character in that one makes Kennedy Marr seem like a goddam monk!
July 10, 2018
Prendi il peggior Welsh. Copialo.
Niven vorrebbe forse scrivere un'arguta critica agli scrittori prestati al cinema, all'edonismo sfrenato, all'ipersessualità, alle debolezze "del maschio contemporaneo" (doverosa citazione dalla quarta di copertina). Forse. In realtà riscrive un sunto dei peggiori libri di Irvine Welsh - che sapeva scandalizzare divertendo e divertire scandalizzando, nonostante le ultime prove un po' sottotono.
Il protagonista, il talentuoso (non si capisce come e perché) Kennedy Marr, ha in definitiva un unico desiderio: fare sempre e comunque quello che gli andava senza mai pagarne le conseguenze. Fondamentalmente è proprio quello che fa.
Caro Niven, mi hai già gabbato due volte. La terza non ci sarà.
...ipse dixit...
E per migliorare l'umore, l'inimitabile Iguana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQvUB...
Niven vorrebbe forse scrivere un'arguta critica agli scrittori prestati al cinema, all'edonismo sfrenato, all'ipersessualità, alle debolezze "del maschio contemporaneo" (doverosa citazione dalla quarta di copertina). Forse. In realtà riscrive un sunto dei peggiori libri di Irvine Welsh - che sapeva scandalizzare divertendo e divertire scandalizzando, nonostante le ultime prove un po' sottotono.
Il protagonista, il talentuoso (non si capisce come e perché) Kennedy Marr, ha in definitiva un unico desiderio: fare sempre e comunque quello che gli andava senza mai pagarne le conseguenze. Fondamentalmente è proprio quello che fa.
Caro Niven, mi hai già gabbato due volte. La terza non ci sarà.
[si parla di aspiranti scrittori/sceneggiatori] La sincerità, il novantanove per cento delle volte, era: «Ti prego, non scrivere mai più una sola riga». Era: «Non hai un briciolo di talento. Piantala e costruisci qualche modellino aeronautico, frequenta una scuola di cucina, costruisci Torri Eiffel con i fiammiferi, qualsiasi altra cazzo di cosa»
...ipse dixit...
E per migliorare l'umore, l'inimitabile Iguana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQvUB...
May 25, 2016
What an incredible book. A beautifully written, clever, funny and deeply disturbing book that will grab hold and stay with you.
Niven is as funny as ever but this novel has a distinctly grown up feel about it compared to his others (Cold Hands aside). What starts out as entertaining quickly gets dark, and then very dark. Yet within even the rawest moments, there are still moments of pure comedic genius and you can't help but laugh despite everything that is happening. Equally there are moments of complete horror that just stay with you. I don't want to give anything away because this is one of those books you just have to pick up and read… don't bother with the blurb, just throw yourself into it.
Niven is as funny as ever but this novel has a distinctly grown up feel about it compared to his others (Cold Hands aside). What starts out as entertaining quickly gets dark, and then very dark. Yet within even the rawest moments, there are still moments of pure comedic genius and you can't help but laugh despite everything that is happening. Equally there are moments of complete horror that just stay with you. I don't want to give anything away because this is one of those books you just have to pick up and read… don't bother with the blurb, just throw yourself into it.
August 16, 2014
This is not going to be for everyone and the first 50 pages or so are tough to get through until you realize where the author is going. But stick with it and then wow. A great story and absolutely stunning writing. Bring on more Niven!
January 10, 2017
Kennedy Marr, erstwhile bestselling author, is a successful Hollywood screenwriter. Lazy, offensive and narcissistic, he is an alcoholic and a compulsive womaniser - barmaids, starlets, TV producers and most memorably his wife's best friend at his own wedding. He is not choosy.
An unlikely set of events sends him back to a university in England - lured there by a massive tax free payment - to be a visiting professor of creative writing for a year. To complicate matters his ex wife is a lecturer there too.
Oh, and by the way his mother is dying.
This book is acerbic, profane, disgusting, funny - we see Marr stagger from bar to bar and woman to woman, getting into fights and on to the front pages of the tabloids. Not a role model for his 16 year old daughter.
I liked the pace of the book, its references to music and films from my youth and its many laugh out loud moments - my favourite being a passage where a drunken Marr calculates that in the past thirty years he had spent over a thousand hours challenging himself, during which time he could have written a couple of books.
There are a few sad moments too, and some fleeting glimpses of past tragedy.
Worth a read
An unlikely set of events sends him back to a university in England - lured there by a massive tax free payment - to be a visiting professor of creative writing for a year. To complicate matters his ex wife is a lecturer there too.
Oh, and by the way his mother is dying.
This book is acerbic, profane, disgusting, funny - we see Marr stagger from bar to bar and woman to woman, getting into fights and on to the front pages of the tabloids. Not a role model for his 16 year old daughter.
I liked the pace of the book, its references to music and films from my youth and its many laugh out loud moments - my favourite being a passage where a drunken Marr calculates that in the past thirty years he had spent over a thousand hours challenging himself, during which time he could have written a couple of books.
There are a few sad moments too, and some fleeting glimpses of past tragedy.
Worth a read
October 6, 2014
Review also found at http://kristineandterri.blogspot.ca/2...
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher Grove Press via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. The expected publication date is October 7, 2014.
This story provided quite the food for thought for me. The character of Kennedy was perhaps the most unlikeable, self indulgent, self centered, egotistical & narcissistic character I have ever read. I simply hated him. The problem is he was meant to be and this is where I struggled. Alas what is one to do? Carry on with an open mind and read the story.
There were moments of humour throughout the story. One example that comes to mind is the fight on the plane. I also highly enjoyed the moments where Kennedy went head to head with Drummond and literally got in his head. If he was more of a likeable character I would have been cheering him on as he "one upped" him.
There were also moments of sadness when Kennedy is remembering his sister. This gives a complex view in to the many layers of Kennedy beyond just the repulsive womanizing jerk he is. Also the scenes with his mother are touching and show just how damaged he is.
I believe this is a story about redemption however I have to admit I am not really sure it occurs. In Kennedy, Niven created a character that was so far gone and self absorbed that I almost didn't want redemption. I wanted him to succumb to his self destructive ways.
This is not going to be a story for everyone. There is a lot of excessive profanity and sexual content/references. I for one found it to be too much however I can also see how some may enjoy the humour buried in the pages. It is always difficult to decide how you feel about a book when the main character is purposefully written to be so obnoxious. While I can appreciate some aspects to the book it really wasn't for me. That being said I urge others to form their own opinions on this work as it really is all about personal taste
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher Grove Press via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. The expected publication date is October 7, 2014.
This story provided quite the food for thought for me. The character of Kennedy was perhaps the most unlikeable, self indulgent, self centered, egotistical & narcissistic character I have ever read. I simply hated him. The problem is he was meant to be and this is where I struggled. Alas what is one to do? Carry on with an open mind and read the story.
There were moments of humour throughout the story. One example that comes to mind is the fight on the plane. I also highly enjoyed the moments where Kennedy went head to head with Drummond and literally got in his head. If he was more of a likeable character I would have been cheering him on as he "one upped" him.
There were also moments of sadness when Kennedy is remembering his sister. This gives a complex view in to the many layers of Kennedy beyond just the repulsive womanizing jerk he is. Also the scenes with his mother are touching and show just how damaged he is.
I believe this is a story about redemption however I have to admit I am not really sure it occurs. In Kennedy, Niven created a character that was so far gone and self absorbed that I almost didn't want redemption. I wanted him to succumb to his self destructive ways.
This is not going to be a story for everyone. There is a lot of excessive profanity and sexual content/references. I for one found it to be too much however I can also see how some may enjoy the humour buried in the pages. It is always difficult to decide how you feel about a book when the main character is purposefully written to be so obnoxious. While I can appreciate some aspects to the book it really wasn't for me. That being said I urge others to form their own opinions on this work as it really is all about personal taste
May 25, 2018
La mia più vecchia amica mi ha confessato che il 16 giugno parte per N.Y. Ha imposto però una visita a Boston alle altre due compagne di viaggio. Per respirare un po’ d’aria di vecchia Europa. Si sa dei pregiudizi di noi allattati alle mammelle della cultura …
Così ho continuato a leggere questo libro da cesso (che non sempre coincide con un cesso di libro, ma non è questo il caso) nella speranza che il ritorno nella vecchia Europa del protagonista scrittore di successo, sceneggiatore di grido, sciupafemmine seriale e onanista incallito ( nel senso letterale del termine) cambiasse un po’ il registro di questa brutta copia di Alex Portnoy, e capace di rendere Patrick Bateman un originale personaggio di un talentuoso scrittore.
È inutile dire che questo fantoccio irlandese- di nome fa Kennedy per non sbagliare - rimane tale e quale a Los Angeles e a Londra, avendo pure la faccia tosta di citare a braccio “i suoi colleghi” irlandesi: Yeats e Joyce.
Così ho continuato a leggere questo libro da cesso (che non sempre coincide con un cesso di libro, ma non è questo il caso) nella speranza che il ritorno nella vecchia Europa del protagonista scrittore di successo, sceneggiatore di grido, sciupafemmine seriale e onanista incallito ( nel senso letterale del termine) cambiasse un po’ il registro di questa brutta copia di Alex Portnoy, e capace di rendere Patrick Bateman un originale personaggio di un talentuoso scrittore.
È inutile dire che questo fantoccio irlandese- di nome fa Kennedy per non sbagliare - rimane tale e quale a Los Angeles e a Londra, avendo pure la faccia tosta di citare a braccio “i suoi colleghi” irlandesi: Yeats e Joyce.
August 22, 2013
Gave this five stars simply because I enjoyed it so much. I laughed and chortled all the way through. Irish screenwriter Kennedy Marr lives the high life in Hollywood – rich, extravagant, boozed, drugged and sex up to the eyeballs. He's a rogue, but he's also clever, educated, funny and brilliant company. He leaps off the page and seems like a great guy to meet in a bar. He is, however, having doubts about his life – his many betrayals of his wives and girlfriends, mother, brother and sister. He's been selfish and thoughtless and he knows it.
Will he change, will he kill himself, or will the growth on his penis claim him?
A rich ride that fizzes along with outrageous humour and wonderful writing.
Will he change, will he kill himself, or will the growth on his penis claim him?
A rich ride that fizzes along with outrageous humour and wonderful writing.
June 10, 2024
È stata una scoperta questa lettura
molto sorprendente, ti fa odiare e amare allo stesso tempo il protagonista
cinico e divertente, verso la fine i pianti e la tristezza e anche pena nei confronti di kennedy marr ( il protagonista ) 🥲
molto sorprendente, ti fa odiare e amare allo stesso tempo il protagonista
cinico e divertente, verso la fine i pianti e la tristezza e anche pena nei confronti di kennedy marr ( il protagonista ) 🥲
February 28, 2023
Più profondo, nei temi e nei passaggi in cui Niven mette in bocca al protagonista notevoli riflessioni su cosa sia il lavoro dello scrittore, di quel che mi aspettavo; credevo sarebbe stato un romanzo molto basato sull'umorismo e sui classici stereotipi del titolo, invece spesso si parte da scene assurde e ridicole, ma si finisce a declamare Yeats o a parlare della poetica di Joyce o del maschilismo nella società contemporanea. Non sono soddisfatta in pieno perché per i miei gusti è troppo volgare, che la cosa sia voluta o meno mi infastidisce davvero molto leggere parolacce in ogni pagina. Valido, comunque.
October 10, 2014
How do you succeed in creating a difficult central character, indeed a quite obnoxious one, and yet persuade your readers to fall in love with him. John Niven provides a textbook example in this scintillating, very funny and ultimately surprisingly moving satire, the story of a Falstaffian Irish screenwriter, mired in his own deep flaws.
Kennedy Marr is no pale genius blushing unseen. He fully admits that he's sold out, promising himself that he'll tell philistine producers where to go, but constantly taking the money instead. And even if he's hard-drinking, dysfunctional and a disaster with money and personal relationships, he's good at his job.
Now, however, having spent even more money than the large amounts he's earned, he is forced to take a commission which involves ruining the edit of one of the best movies he's ever seen, while teaching in a university alongside his scathingly estranged ex-wife.
So how on earth does Niven get us to care about, even love, this horrendous car-crash of a man? His techniques are instructive for all writers.
One, he gives Marr a full armoury of strengths. Marr is witty, acute, intelligent, a better observer of people than any of the others around him and his own worst critic. And he's brave. He says and does the kind of things we dream of saying and doing, but don't dare. And we always admire that.
Two, Niven ensures Marr is in pain. He may be difficult and self-centred, but he truly suffers. Most of all, he realises that we all die. Worse, we die whether we are good at our jobs or bad, whether we are perfect husbands and fathers, or complete failures. There is no escape.
Three, the other characters pale by comparison - from his acerbic intellectual wife to his ghastly but strangely charismatic Hollywood producer, to the jealous rival professor whose single highbrow novel sounds like hell on paper.
Four, all the characters and settings are rounded and credible, even when being sent up. Just when you think Niven has pushed his luck too far, he veers away from the cliff edge and keeps it real.
What you gradually realise (spoiler alert) is that Niven has broken the cardinal rule of character - Marr has no journey. As a reader, you are waiting for the moment when things get so bad that he's forced to face his flaws.
The running joke of this big shaggy-dog yarn is that he never does. Every time Marr is about to fail, something good happens to him. He's like the cartoon character who is always being killed and yet always lives. He's incorrigible. And we start to love him for it.
Of course, if you don't get the joke, then you may grow impatient with the story. Once you twig, however, you find you're just enjoying the roller-coaster ride. Waiting to see just how close Marr can come to disaster and yet still come up smiling, preferably in a five-star restaurant with a glass in his hand.
It's a risky book for that reason, but great fun. I've wanted to read John Niven for some time now, since I heard he's one of the rare British writers working with satire. Now I have, I'm going to be reading - and learning - more.
Kennedy Marr is no pale genius blushing unseen. He fully admits that he's sold out, promising himself that he'll tell philistine producers where to go, but constantly taking the money instead. And even if he's hard-drinking, dysfunctional and a disaster with money and personal relationships, he's good at his job.
Now, however, having spent even more money than the large amounts he's earned, he is forced to take a commission which involves ruining the edit of one of the best movies he's ever seen, while teaching in a university alongside his scathingly estranged ex-wife.
So how on earth does Niven get us to care about, even love, this horrendous car-crash of a man? His techniques are instructive for all writers.
One, he gives Marr a full armoury of strengths. Marr is witty, acute, intelligent, a better observer of people than any of the others around him and his own worst critic. And he's brave. He says and does the kind of things we dream of saying and doing, but don't dare. And we always admire that.
Two, Niven ensures Marr is in pain. He may be difficult and self-centred, but he truly suffers. Most of all, he realises that we all die. Worse, we die whether we are good at our jobs or bad, whether we are perfect husbands and fathers, or complete failures. There is no escape.
Three, the other characters pale by comparison - from his acerbic intellectual wife to his ghastly but strangely charismatic Hollywood producer, to the jealous rival professor whose single highbrow novel sounds like hell on paper.
Four, all the characters and settings are rounded and credible, even when being sent up. Just when you think Niven has pushed his luck too far, he veers away from the cliff edge and keeps it real.
What you gradually realise (spoiler alert) is that Niven has broken the cardinal rule of character - Marr has no journey. As a reader, you are waiting for the moment when things get so bad that he's forced to face his flaws.
The running joke of this big shaggy-dog yarn is that he never does. Every time Marr is about to fail, something good happens to him. He's like the cartoon character who is always being killed and yet always lives. He's incorrigible. And we start to love him for it.
Of course, if you don't get the joke, then you may grow impatient with the story. Once you twig, however, you find you're just enjoying the roller-coaster ride. Waiting to see just how close Marr can come to disaster and yet still come up smiling, preferably in a five-star restaurant with a glass in his hand.
It's a risky book for that reason, but great fun. I've wanted to read John Niven for some time now, since I heard he's one of the rare British writers working with satire. Now I have, I'm going to be reading - and learning - more.
March 5, 2014
Straight White Male starts out like a sort of angry young man lad-fiction novel. The premise of the mid 40's, successful in work but not in life sexual predator, being forced by circumstances back in to the more mundane. It starts that way, but really all Niven (who I am increasingly becoming sure is a genuinely gifted writer) does all of this to wrong foot his readership.
Kennedy Marr, the aforementioned philanderer, is a deeply tormented man. His family has fallen apart, he can't seem to care about anyone much and while he is making (and spending) obscene amounts of money, he is doing so by disavowing his own beliefs; not morality, for he has none, but more in terms of artistic credibility.
Straight White Male, to give it a bit of a Marxist slant, is a novelised exposition of the affect that wealth and capitalism have on the power and fidelity of art. We see John Niven portray Marr as a genuinely intelligent man. Marr is a man of biting intellect, a literary soul with troubled and existential thoughts who quotes high literature from a range of eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century authors. He thinks in literary terms, turning every scenario in to verse, or prose, or the foundation of some work or other. What we also see is how, once popular, Marr's creative vision and integrity are corrupted by that very same success. Rather than produce work of quality, he rehashes screenplays and lives off the generous checks and studio benefits. Marr appears to sacrifice his creative soul and lives the hedonistic lifestyle as a result. All of this changes through the novel as we see Marr's reflections on his family, on his relatives, on the mistakes that he has made and the decisions that have affected those around him. We see Marr become, if not reformed, more reflective. He returns to the artistic light and veers away from the production of carbon-copy Hollywood fayre. As an exposition on the corrupting influence of money, of power and of success, this is an excellent novel, but there's something else bubbling just below the surface. There's a whole lot of pain here.
Niven is a tortured soul, I think. He lost his brother to suicide and he has used the pain of his parting to craft a novel here. It felt at times as if the book was a sort of creative outlet for the author and a way to let off steam. It shows because the work is real, the pain is really there and I can't help but admire the man for producing something so finely crafted as a result of his struggle. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this book is the way that Niven addresses such pain with a biting, wry and often hilarious commentary. I nearly cried with laughter on several occasions, often accompanied by a great deal of guilt at the subject matter, or Niven's language.
I honestly can't offer a criticism off his book. Perhaps it's not for those offended by foul language, but this is a new favourite of mine, and between Straight While Male, Kill Your Friends and The Second Coming, John Niven is a new, and firm, favourite author of mine. Well done, sir.
Kennedy Marr, the aforementioned philanderer, is a deeply tormented man. His family has fallen apart, he can't seem to care about anyone much and while he is making (and spending) obscene amounts of money, he is doing so by disavowing his own beliefs; not morality, for he has none, but more in terms of artistic credibility.
Straight White Male, to give it a bit of a Marxist slant, is a novelised exposition of the affect that wealth and capitalism have on the power and fidelity of art. We see John Niven portray Marr as a genuinely intelligent man. Marr is a man of biting intellect, a literary soul with troubled and existential thoughts who quotes high literature from a range of eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century authors. He thinks in literary terms, turning every scenario in to verse, or prose, or the foundation of some work or other. What we also see is how, once popular, Marr's creative vision and integrity are corrupted by that very same success. Rather than produce work of quality, he rehashes screenplays and lives off the generous checks and studio benefits. Marr appears to sacrifice his creative soul and lives the hedonistic lifestyle as a result. All of this changes through the novel as we see Marr's reflections on his family, on his relatives, on the mistakes that he has made and the decisions that have affected those around him. We see Marr become, if not reformed, more reflective. He returns to the artistic light and veers away from the production of carbon-copy Hollywood fayre. As an exposition on the corrupting influence of money, of power and of success, this is an excellent novel, but there's something else bubbling just below the surface. There's a whole lot of pain here.
Niven is a tortured soul, I think. He lost his brother to suicide and he has used the pain of his parting to craft a novel here. It felt at times as if the book was a sort of creative outlet for the author and a way to let off steam. It shows because the work is real, the pain is really there and I can't help but admire the man for producing something so finely crafted as a result of his struggle. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this book is the way that Niven addresses such pain with a biting, wry and often hilarious commentary. I nearly cried with laughter on several occasions, often accompanied by a great deal of guilt at the subject matter, or Niven's language.
I honestly can't offer a criticism off his book. Perhaps it's not for those offended by foul language, but this is a new favourite of mine, and between Straight While Male, Kill Your Friends and The Second Coming, John Niven is a new, and firm, favourite author of mine. Well done, sir.
August 13, 2014
Wow...I have to say that this is an incredibly human book. More than any book I've read in a long time, maybe ever. And the humanity is most found in the little things, and those little moments are so precious and so real, so pertinent.
Beyond that, I think it's really cool that the author was able to make the over-arching story speak to me. As if, yeah right, a mid-western farm/professor's wife is really going to identify with this main character and his circumstances...I thought I would really dislike this main character but instead he was so blunderingly real in the little ways that his bigger picture still somehow works. I think it is serious art to make this happen.
I received this book via a Goodreads giveaway and what a great find. I haven't read anything else by this author but I will!
Beyond that, I think it's really cool that the author was able to make the over-arching story speak to me. As if, yeah right, a mid-western farm/professor's wife is really going to identify with this main character and his circumstances...I thought I would really dislike this main character but instead he was so blunderingly real in the little ways that his bigger picture still somehow works. I think it is serious art to make this happen.
I received this book via a Goodreads giveaway and what a great find. I haven't read anything else by this author but I will!
October 11, 2015
Many moons ago I read Kill Your Friends and I loved it. Earlier this year I started to catch up on the other books John Niven has written, and almost all of them are very enjoyable, and here’s another one to add to that list.
I was unsure about this book for the first third or so, however it improves as it goes along as it effectively satirises the American film industry, publishing, English academia, and, the biggest cliche of all, the middle-aged novelist trying to come to terms with his own mortality. By the end, I'd concluded it was touching, funny, quietly profound and eminently readable. And that, as you will probably agree, is a winning combination.
4/5
I was unsure about this book for the first third or so, however it improves as it goes along as it effectively satirises the American film industry, publishing, English academia, and, the biggest cliche of all, the middle-aged novelist trying to come to terms with his own mortality. By the end, I'd concluded it was touching, funny, quietly profound and eminently readable. And that, as you will probably agree, is a winning combination.
4/5
June 26, 2016
An ageing, inexplicably successful, narcissistic shit begins to feel intense pity for himself. No amount of quoting Yeats and James Joyce could make this character likeable or believable as a talented writer or human being. Impossible to care about his fate.
June 17, 2020
Un bagno di vita e arte contemporanea, tra i mostri sacri della letteratura anglofona del Novecento e i fuochi fatui di Hollywood. Amore, sesso, ossessioni compulsive e affetti si mescolano in un vortice di emozioni vitalistiche di un superomismo alimentato da un fiume di denaro nel dare vita ad un bel personaggio, che si può odiare o amare, ma a cui difficilmente si riesce a rimanere indifferenti.
November 22, 2024
Dopo aver letto diversi spezzoni dei libri di Niven, questa è la prima volta che leggo una sua opera nella sua interezza. Niven non è uno scrittore che può piacere a tutti: il suo stile non è letterario ma molto cinematografico, ironico e spesso volontariamente di cattivo gusto. Soprattutto nella prima metà del libro, America, l'umorismo verso premi e incontri letterari è spietato, scene come quella della presentazione del libro di una poetessa femminista di cui il protagonista non sa nulla se non che è attratto da lei rappresentano il culmine dell'ipocrisia nel mondo letterario. Kennedy Marr, il nostro Maschio Bianco Etero, è uno scrittore di successo che, nonostante non tocchi penna da cinque anni, riesce a mantenere il suo status da benestante grazie a ritocchi su sceneggiature cinematografiche. Misogino, donnaiolo, fa grande abuso di alcool e droghe e vive, come direbbe Vasco, una "vita spericolata". Vita spericolata che, a un certo punto, viene messa in pericolo dal Fisco che bussa alla porta. Così, pur di non abbandonare il suo stile di vita agiato, Kennedy accetta quella che per lui è un'umiliazione enorme: un premio letterario che lo riporterà in Inghilterra, dove i suoi ricordi più cupi lo attendono a braccia aperte.
Il libro è diviso in due parti non solo a livello di costruzione, ma anche su un livello "umano": in America Kennedy Marr è solo eccessi e strafottenza, in Inghilterra si scopre una componente più profonda e dolorosa. In Inghilterra la vita lo costringe ad affrontare il passato da cui è sempre fuggito, prima in aereo trasferendosi a Los Angeles, poi a furia di Martini e Bloody Mary. La consapevolezza degli affetti abbandonati e maltrattati torna a pesare sulle sue spalle, come ha ucciso l'amore abbandonando coloro che gli hanno riservato un affetto non meritato: la madre in fin di vita, il fratello minore Patrick, la ex moglie Millie, la figlia Robin e, soprattutto, la sorellina morta suicida, Geraldine. Il ricordo di Geraldine, dai primi abusi verbali da lei subiti e fino ai suoi ultimi giorni, lo perseguita con una gravità che va in crescendo, fino al momento ultimo in cui Kennedy decide di voler tentare la stessa strada scelta da lei. Quello che comincia come un romanzo di leggerezza assume sfumature sempre più cupe, fino al culmine in un finale che lascia con il fiato sospeso.
Anche nei momenti più scuri la prosa non abbandona il sottile umorismo che lega l'intero libro, la voce del protagonista è coerente: anche nei momenti peggiori non abbandona cinismo, i suoi amati Maschi Bianchi Morti e una voce repulsiva ma affascinante.
Le critiche che non riesco a togliermi dalla testa sono due: il suicidio di Geraldine e l'alcolismo. Di per sé non ho alcun problema con nessuno dei due temi, ma il modo in cui sono stati trattati in determinati punti non mi ha soddisfatto appieno. Il suicidio di Geraldine viene raccontato sempre attraverso le lenti di qualcuno che non si è mai sforzato per arrivare a una conclusione che vada oltre il banalissimo "è colpa mia" e "si è uccisa perché non riusciva a pagare le bollette". Anche no. Geraldine Marr viene descritta come una dipendente da sostanze stupefacenti e alcool, senza un lavoro e molto probabilmente affetta da depressione grave: comprendo che sulle pagine abbiamo solo le opinioni di Kennedy l’alcolizzato e quelle della madre, che hanno una visione molto ristretta di ciò che è accaduto (dicasi anche: provano sensi di colpa perché "avrebbero dovuto fare di più" ma mai si elabora cosa sia questo di più né quali potessero essere le emozioni e i sentimenti che Geraldine provava), ma è una semplificazione a dir poco esagerata. Per l'alcolismo sarò brevissima: Kennedy Marr si scolava almeno tre litri d'alcol al giorno. Verso la fine viene ricoverato e a un certo punto si accorge di sentirsi "in forma" e ricollega questa botta di salute alla mancata assunzione di alcolici. Va bene che mancavano cinque facciate alla fine del romanzo, ma liquidare così in fretta un problema grave come l'alcolismo non mi è sembrato degno del resto del libro.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2014
No-one writes like John Niven.
This could be filed under a straight forward lad lit. It's over the top but as funny as anything that is out there.
But there is so much more to the book than that.
Our hero - Kennedy Marr - is in his mid forties. He is a successful author. Well, at least he used to be. He last wrote a book several years ago, having now sold his soul to the Hollywood machine.
He is also cartoonish in his over-the topness. The book opens with what you expect from Niven. An hilarious set piece of the most excessive piece of self abuse committed to page. And that could be the tone for the rest of the book. It would certainly serve as a very funny distraction.
We then lead more about Marr. He is raging against middle age in everyway possible. Drink, drugs, sex. The lot. He has a daughter and at least one ex-wife (it may have been two - some of the detail gets lost) and he is the most selfish man known to literature.
He has a financial crisis with the tax man and is forced to come back to England to work for a year in a university. This is to gain the prize money for a coveted literature prize. This sets the book for him having to face his family (mother is dying, sister is already dead, brother is the exact opposite) and his ex wife and daughter.
Oh - and there is something medically wrong with the part of his anatomy that has suffered the next amount of abuse after his liver.
The book works superbly. The theme is a constant rage against death, which can only be cheated by living well. Marr lives far too well, but you get the point.
There are entire passages of the book that just fly by - including a breathless last 40 pages where Marr makes a decision as a result of . The book simply cannot be put down at this point.
This book is hilarious, has a message and although initially, I didn't like the end to much, on reflection it works.
Best for a while.
This could be filed under a straight forward lad lit. It's over the top but as funny as anything that is out there.
But there is so much more to the book than that.
Our hero - Kennedy Marr - is in his mid forties. He is a successful author. Well, at least he used to be. He last wrote a book several years ago, having now sold his soul to the Hollywood machine.
He is also cartoonish in his over-the topness. The book opens with what you expect from Niven. An hilarious set piece of the most excessive piece of self abuse committed to page. And that could be the tone for the rest of the book. It would certainly serve as a very funny distraction.
We then lead more about Marr. He is raging against middle age in everyway possible. Drink, drugs, sex. The lot. He has a daughter and at least one ex-wife (it may have been two - some of the detail gets lost) and he is the most selfish man known to literature.
He has a financial crisis with the tax man and is forced to come back to England to work for a year in a university. This is to gain the prize money for a coveted literature prize. This sets the book for him having to face his family (mother is dying, sister is already dead, brother is the exact opposite) and his ex wife and daughter.
Oh - and there is something medically wrong with the part of his anatomy that has suffered the next amount of abuse after his liver.
The book works superbly. The theme is a constant rage against death, which can only be cheated by living well. Marr lives far too well, but you get the point.
There are entire passages of the book that just fly by - including a breathless last 40 pages where Marr makes a decision as a result of . The book simply cannot be put down at this point.
This book is hilarious, has a message and although initially, I didn't like the end to much, on reflection it works.
Best for a while.
April 9, 2021
One thing is for sure: “Straight White Male” is definitely a politically incorrect novel. The protagonist is a selfish writer in his forties who is past his best but still very wealthy. He spends his money mainly for exclusive food, is an alcohol addict, starts brawlings when drunk, and his biggest hobby is casual sex with younger women. Nobody is important to him and he postpones the long due visit to his dying mother. So, not very likeable at all. Nevertheless, John Niven seems to sympathise with his protagonist, who, inevitably, has feelings too and whines about his failed marriages, his neglected child and his long dead sister.
The problem is: The protagonist is unable to change and drowns in self-pity. All he does is uncorking the next bottle of Whiskey and hunting down the next sex adventure. Women seem to be enthusiastic about this guy who is publicly pissing his pants – must be the money. Or the genius. Niven leaves no doubt about it that his hero is a most talented author, proving it by letting him cite pseudo-emotional poems. You may notice it: I didn’t like the book. My problem: Niven pretends to install an ironic gap between himself and the protagonist, but in the end, the latter is just perfect as he is and on the last pages he is everybody’s darling again.
So if you are a middle-aged guy who thinks of himself as the coolest and most irresistible man on earth, you definitely should read this book. If you are interested in the nuances of a character, you should avoid the novel. That’s a pity as Niven is a skilled author and surely knows how to write about the tragic sides of life. But at least the title doesn’t lie – the biggest part of the book is penis-centric slapstick.
The problem is: The protagonist is unable to change and drowns in self-pity. All he does is uncorking the next bottle of Whiskey and hunting down the next sex adventure. Women seem to be enthusiastic about this guy who is publicly pissing his pants – must be the money. Or the genius. Niven leaves no doubt about it that his hero is a most talented author, proving it by letting him cite pseudo-emotional poems. You may notice it: I didn’t like the book. My problem: Niven pretends to install an ironic gap between himself and the protagonist, but in the end, the latter is just perfect as he is and on the last pages he is everybody’s darling again.
So if you are a middle-aged guy who thinks of himself as the coolest and most irresistible man on earth, you definitely should read this book. If you are interested in the nuances of a character, you should avoid the novel. That’s a pity as Niven is a skilled author and surely knows how to write about the tragic sides of life. But at least the title doesn’t lie – the biggest part of the book is penis-centric slapstick.
August 28, 2023
Kennedy è uno scrittore, è ricco, è strafottente, ma soprattutto è un uomo alfa, è bianco ed è etero: un privilegiato. Le prime 120 pagine sono insopportabili, racchiudono gli stereotipi dell'arrivismo americano, dell'assenza di valori, di chi se ne frega di ciò che è fuori da sé. Ma poi Kennedy si sposta in Inghilterra e qualcosa cambia. Sul finale diventa persino toccante ma nel complesso purtroppo non mi è piaciuto molto.
December 8, 2014
Uno dei migliori libri che io abbia mai letto in vita mia. Sono ancora arrabbiata perché... Beh, è finito.
La vita di Kennedy Marr è un'iperbole di errori e riflessioni, con risposte a domande che tutti ci siamo posti almeno una volta.
Diretto, schietto, volgare e falsamente superficiale, questo libro è da divorare.
La vita di Kennedy Marr è un'iperbole di errori e riflessioni, con risposte a domande che tutti ci siamo posti almeno una volta.
Diretto, schietto, volgare e falsamente superficiale, questo libro è da divorare.
May 20, 2018
2.5
Ho trovato il solito americano che vuole scrivere sugli eccessi degli americani, e a parte un guizzo sul finale che mi ha piacevolmente sorpresa, ho letto un romanzo mediocre. Non solo il protagonista è superficiale, ma è proprio scritto superficialmente; abbozzato.
Sinceramente? Non lo consiglierei.
Ho trovato il solito americano che vuole scrivere sugli eccessi degli americani, e a parte un guizzo sul finale che mi ha piacevolmente sorpresa, ho letto un romanzo mediocre. Non solo il protagonista è superficiale, ma è proprio scritto superficialmente; abbozzato.
Sinceramente? Non lo consiglierei.
May 20, 2014
Unfunny and lethally self indulgent, Straight White Male took about a hundred pages too long to get Kennedy to the UK and then failed to deliver any collegiate, fish out of water humour. Pointless, legless and a bore, much like Kennedy Marr.
October 13, 2015
Amazing! I laughed through the first half and cried through the second. Niven's characterisation is verging on perfect!
May 12, 2014
Worst book that I read to the very end, just because it was a present.
November 21, 2022
E' la mia seconda esperienza con un romanzo di Niven dopo "A volte ritorno" e nuovamente sono stato molto entusiasta di questo libro, che consiglio.
Riassumendo (forse troppo) la trama, si parla di uno scrittore inglese, Kennedy Marr, diventato famoso e ricco in giovane età, che, grazie al successo ed i tanti quattrini fatti, è diventato il tipico donnaiolo, egocentrico e narciso. All'inizio lo troviamo sui quaranta che, trasferitosi in California, vive di diritti e scrivendo sceneggiature per film milionari hollywoodiani e che passa con gran facilità da una sbronza ad una cena in un ristorante stellato, al letto di una delle tante donne più o meno famose che frequenta. Nel corso della vicenda, soprattutto nella seconda parte del romanzo, avremo modo per alcune vicende di conoscere meglio il passato di Kennedy, le sue due ex mogli, il fratello e l'anziana mamma ed infine anche la figlia. Proprio per questo tuffo nel suo passato, anche grazie alla scrittura che cattura di Niven, il lettore arriva ad essere empatico verso il protagonista ed, in un certo senso a capirlo, comprenderlo. Io ho adorato di questo romanzo l'elogio del lavoro dello scrivere, il ruolo che la scrittura, in prosa o poesia, ha nella vita di uno scrittore; ho apprezzato la malinconia ed i rimpianti di Kennedy quando pensa alla mamma o alla sorella morta o quando capisce che, anche immaginando di cambiare, di ricostruire il rapporto con la figlia rimane la consapevolezza e l'amarezza che gli anni passati non potranno più tornare e che quello che è perso lo è per sempre.
Insomma un libro leggero, che si legge velocemente, ma che fa pensare, per certi versi profondo.
Ultima nota di colore: ma ci ho visto solo io qualche punto in comune con la serie televisiva Californication? Io per capire chi aveva preso spunto da chi sono andato anche a vedere le date di pubblicazione delle due...ed ahimè è venuta prima di qualche anno la serie tv...Niven avrà preso qualche spunto?
Riassumendo (forse troppo) la trama, si parla di uno scrittore inglese, Kennedy Marr, diventato famoso e ricco in giovane età, che, grazie al successo ed i tanti quattrini fatti, è diventato il tipico donnaiolo, egocentrico e narciso. All'inizio lo troviamo sui quaranta che, trasferitosi in California, vive di diritti e scrivendo sceneggiature per film milionari hollywoodiani e che passa con gran facilità da una sbronza ad una cena in un ristorante stellato, al letto di una delle tante donne più o meno famose che frequenta. Nel corso della vicenda, soprattutto nella seconda parte del romanzo, avremo modo per alcune vicende di conoscere meglio il passato di Kennedy, le sue due ex mogli, il fratello e l'anziana mamma ed infine anche la figlia. Proprio per questo tuffo nel suo passato, anche grazie alla scrittura che cattura di Niven, il lettore arriva ad essere empatico verso il protagonista ed, in un certo senso a capirlo, comprenderlo. Io ho adorato di questo romanzo l'elogio del lavoro dello scrivere, il ruolo che la scrittura, in prosa o poesia, ha nella vita di uno scrittore; ho apprezzato la malinconia ed i rimpianti di Kennedy quando pensa alla mamma o alla sorella morta o quando capisce che, anche immaginando di cambiare, di ricostruire il rapporto con la figlia rimane la consapevolezza e l'amarezza che gli anni passati non potranno più tornare e che quello che è perso lo è per sempre.
Insomma un libro leggero, che si legge velocemente, ma che fa pensare, per certi versi profondo.
Ultima nota di colore: ma ci ho visto solo io qualche punto in comune con la serie televisiva Californication? Io per capire chi aveva preso spunto da chi sono andato anche a vedere le date di pubblicazione delle due...ed ahimè è venuta prima di qualche anno la serie tv...Niven avrà preso qualche spunto?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 319 reviews