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Even More Remarkable Names
Immaculate Conception Finkelstein, Bosco Moo, and Vernal Equinox Grossnickel are among the hilariously unlikely but real names of real people brought together in a work accented with the drawings of Pierre Le-Tan
63 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
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About the author
John Train
46 books33 followersJohn Pell Coster Train was an American investment advisor and writer. He was a founding editor of The Paris Review.
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May 14, 2019
In a nutshell, John Train's Even More Remarkable Names—the sequel (of sorts) to Remarkable Names of Real People—is much like the first volume in the "series": Charming and whimsical, yet ephemeral and fluffy. However, the bad first; while, like in Remarkable Names of Real People, Pierre Le-Tan's cartoons complement the text of Even More Remarkable Names, the foreword by veteran critic Brendan Gill is . . . not at all amusing. From an unpleasant "joke" about sexual assault, to one at the expense of Irish people, Gill's attempts at humor don't fly in 2019, and I doubt they flew in 1979, even in the New Yorker, where Gill apparently originated (or spawned), either. Yes, I recognize that they're of a Certain Type of humor, but Gill's foreword seriously detracts from the rest of the book.
That said, Train's contributions are themselves excellent and . . . remarkable, overall. From Train's early-ish reference to "Florida Man" in the preface, to the contributions from, among others, no less than Warren Buffett, George Plimpton, and Sen. Claiborne Pell, Even More Remarkable Names essentially doubles down on the funny stuff from the previous volume. I recognize that finding some ethnic names amusing is rather problematic, to say the least, but if only because of Train's contributions from his "correspondents", there felt like fewer of such examples in this volume; Train's editorial touch is likewise entertaining, including but not limited to his characterization of 18th- and 19th-century Wesleyan minister Cornelius Whur as a "Trashy Poet". (Such editorialisms are akin to Train's remark in True Remarkable Occurrences that sometime in the late 18th century there were only two cars in the entire state of Ohio, and that "They collided". [I'm paraphrasing.])
In general, aside from Gill's unfortunate additions to this volume, an overall worthwhile effort, from a collector of "remarkabilia".
That said, Train's contributions are themselves excellent and . . . remarkable, overall. From Train's early-ish reference to "Florida Man" in the preface, to the contributions from, among others, no less than Warren Buffett, George Plimpton, and Sen. Claiborne Pell, Even More Remarkable Names essentially doubles down on the funny stuff from the previous volume. I recognize that finding some ethnic names amusing is rather problematic, to say the least, but if only because of Train's contributions from his "correspondents", there felt like fewer of such examples in this volume; Train's editorial touch is likewise entertaining, including but not limited to his characterization of 18th- and 19th-century Wesleyan minister Cornelius Whur as a "Trashy Poet". (Such editorialisms are akin to Train's remark in True Remarkable Occurrences that sometime in the late 18th century there were only two cars in the entire state of Ohio, and that "They collided". [I'm paraphrasing.])
In general, aside from Gill's unfortunate additions to this volume, an overall worthwhile effort, from a collector of "remarkabilia".
Displaying 1 of 1 review