American Rococo: Essays on the Edge

by Isham Cook

What do seashells, obesity, graffiti, and the American ghetto have in common? Nude hot springs and the Japanese theater? Atheists and family-values conservatives? Why do atheists go on religious pilgrimages? How have schools infantilized our understanding of Shakespeare, and the textbook industry conspired to turn our language's history into agitprop? What is the single most dangerous sexual idea that even the liberated can't handle? Ranging across centuries and continents, Isham Cook's far-flung essays, whether discoursing on the most radical or homespun of topics, are guided by the notion of the -edge.- The edge represents the limits of conventional understanding, the zone beyond stereotypes and groupthink; it is where received ideas are recast in fresh and striking ways.

Genres: Nonfiction, Adult, Contemporary, New Adult, Essays, Short Stories, Cultural

241 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2017

About the author

American essayist and novelist. His writing philosophy is big concept, discriminating, provocative. His influences are Ballard, Beckett, Borges, Dick, Kafka, Hesse, Melville, Mishima, Sade, and all uncompromising authors who bulldoze their way into new territory. Tinkers with comfort zones.

Kirkus Reviews calls his second novel The Kitchens of Canton "poignant...language barriers abound, with dialogue in Cantonese, Italian, and Latin, but Cook isn’t merely interested in verbal language—body language, customs and rituals, and symbols are also on full display. The book also explores Americans’ complicated relationship with sex, juxtaposing it against their seemingly comfortable relationships with weapons and violence. An insightful, unconventional, and risqué view of present-day culture."

His wide-ranging literary tastes mirror his equally eclectic musical tastes—classical (medieval through contemporary), jazz, rock, folk, world (Peking Opera, Balinese Gamelan, Indian ragas). He is a citizen of the world, having lived in the US, Canada, England, Germany, Japan, and (currently since the mid-90s) China, and traveled to many more. Websites:

IshamCook.com

Books2Read:
https://books2read.com/ap/8vq55j/Isha...

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/ent...

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/isham...

Reviews

[Guillermo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A talisman has appeared in twenty-first century America, one with astounding magical powers. Fitting in the palm like a mini crystal ball, it can bring people to life on its screen. To young kids submerged in the dreamy developmental phase of childhood, this glass amulet must seem utterly bewitching and miraculous, a veritable Wonderland of miniature toy stores and colorful games. With parent's permission, it even sends real toys and snacks to one's home."

Ever open up a book and become immediately enraptured with it, to the point where you find yourself reading it at a time you were not planning to read it? Such was the case with this collection of essays. I started reading the above passage from the book's first essay entitled "An American Talisman" and found myself immediately hooked. I have often wondered what an outside observer would think about our fascination with our smart phones, so this essay really spoke to me.

But besides waxing on about a subjects that we are already familiar with and have given thought to, the mark of a great essay collection is to introduce foreign concepts and ideas. This essay collection did a very good job at that. Don't let the title fool you; these essays are not all about Americana or necessarily have anything to do with the U.S. There is an essay about Japanese mixed bathing springs, one about English chamber music, and a Van Gogh piece. There are also more universal topics discussed such as atheism, breasts, and monogamy. It was a quite an interesting kebab.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good collection of essays. My favorite my far was the first story actually. I really liked how the author described the subject (no spoilers!) on the very first page. If you're a fan of interesting essays this would be a great book.

[Khyati Gautam · Rating 5 out of 5]

American Rococo by Isham Cook is a wonderful collection of insightful essays on a variety of topics which touch unseen and unheard aspects. The enlightening prose delves into the bubbling issues and goes on talking about author's understanding of things as well his own experiences.

There is a discussion on American Talisman where the topic of the overuse of smartphones has been intelligibly brought forth. There are points highlighting the Adam Walsh Act and its impact on the American Society. The light has been thrown on the issue of obesity prevalent amongst the Americans. As you go further down the line, you get to know of the luxurious Japanese baths, the author's take on traveling and tourism, the Shakespearean literature and sexuality. The book beautifully slithers down the brink of art, literature, society, religion, music, and sexuality. It breaks free from the norms by adamantly advocating the right. The book ends on a profound note of love. 

The book is a delight to the readers who are seeking stuff to feed their mind. It is a destination for the wanderers who crave to reach a certain level of cognition and intellect. The book travels from the 18th century American to the present one and so, a vagabond has a lot to find in this book. Replete with subtle narration and fluent writing style, the book doesn't bore you. You would not find it preaching or promulgating popular beliefs or reiterating old theories. Rather it is fresh and amazing both in its content as well as expression. I am glad that I picked it up. 

A big shout out to all the serious readers - Do go for this book to taste the American flavor in its fresh and refined form! 

[Arthur Meursault · Rating 3 out of 5]

The works of Isham Cook will be familiar to regular readers of my blog. Isham, by his own account, appears to be an American former-academic now based in China whose range of interests cover everything from massage, coffee and the old canal system of Beijing. I described his collection of short stories The Exact Unknown as “a voice outside the stereotypes” and one of the rare works on China written with “such truth, wit and honesty”. After reading his short stories, I went on to read his other works that I also reviewed for the viewing public. My favourite remains At The Teahouse Cafe: a wonderful collection of thoughts and ruminations on all things China with an insight that could only come from somebody who has been in the country for over two decades. Massage and the Writer took the same idea of having a compilation of related essays, but took the theme of massage rather than China. Again I found it to be insightful, thought-provoking and smoothly written. Finally, I found Isham’s experimental novel Lust and Philosophy to be challenging and intellectually stimulating, though I appear to be more in the minority in that view. Other reviews on Amazon described it as “rape literature” with one reviewer – Lloyd Lofthouse – even claiming “it is obvious that Isham is mentally damaged”.

So it was with great anticipation that I cracked open Isham’s latest work: American Rococo. Like At The Teahouse Cafe this is a collection of essays that have previously been featured on Isham’s blog, but this time he directs his observant eye to American society rather than China’s. Well, at least that is what I was expecting from the book’s title and the first few chapters. The name American Rococo conjured up images of a series of cutting essays on the current situation and trends within the United States – a occidental companion to his China-focused At The Teahouse Cafe. A 21st century equivalent of Dickens’ American Notes. Instead, American Rococo seems to have no overarching theme other than Isham’s own personal interests which is perhaps the greatest weakness of the book. Much more so than his previous work, your mileage will vary considerably depending on how interesting you find that topics that Isham decides to cover.

And what a range a topics there are! The erudite Mr Cook seems to have an encyclopaedic knowledge on religion, Japanese theatre, Elizabethan chamber music and the roots of the English language. When my interests coincided with the author’s I raced through the pages eager to understand his conclusions and memorise any tidbits of information that had previously escaped me. His descriptions of life in South London during Shakespeare’s time were engrossing and I caught myself nodding along to his literary theories on Kafka. In fact, I will be forever mindful of American Rococo for introducing me to the idea that Kafka’s unfinished novels are better novels for the precise fact that they are unfinished. The idea of an unfinished novel that strays outside the narrative and never reaches its final destination had never occured to me as a perfect vehicle for the themes of helplessness and oppressive bureaucracy that Kafka obsesses over.

There is nothing wrong with a series of unrelated essays. As the author highlighted in his correspondence with me, the idea of centering a book of essays around a theme is a fairly recent phenomenon in contemporary publishing. Essays by Montaigne, Bacon, Emerson and others were never thematically unified. The same holds true with fiction. One of my most treasured books is a collection of all of Arthur Conan Doyle’s non-Sherlock short stories. The stories range from tales of colonial derring-do, proto-science fiction, medicine and that dreadful time when Conan Doyle began dabbling in Spiritualism. The whole point is the style, the quality of the writing, and if the essays maintain a singular world view.

However, I am only human – and I’m sure that most of the other readers of American Rococo are too. Quite simply, there were several chapters where I just did not share the same interest as the author. The articles that interested me will be completely different to those that may interest any other reader, but it is inevitable with a myriad of topics that each individual will find their own hits and misses. I had to skim-read through the (to me) long, dry and boring essays on the intricacies of lute craftsmanship in the Middle Ages or rather scholarly paragraphs on clause differences between old English and Danish that should remain in the debating halls of a university English Language department. There is also a tendency within the author to slip occasionally into the dry style of academic writing. It is obvious that Isham – self-publishing under his own Magic Theatre label and not beholden to the whims of big media – writes primarily for himself rather than for a defined audience. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this as genius stems from the individual rather than committee, but it does mean that appreciation of his writing depends greatly on your own interest in his chosen topics.

Review over? Is that all? Well, if American Rococo was just a collection of essays on music and literature, I would probably draw the review to a conclusion right now. Yet amidst the ink spilled on Philip Glass and Beowulf, there are other essays which are more focused on Isham’s personal philosophy rather than dissections of music and literature. It is these essays that provoked my strongest reactions to the book, and not always in a positive way.

A picture forms of Isham Cook after reading even just two or three sentences from any of his books. Libertine, sexually open, promiscuous, obsessive… in fact the author himself did a decent job of outlining some of these qualities in his semi-autobiographical novel Lust and Philosophy. Isham regularly recounts his joy in delving into the fleshy pleasures of life. He delights in the excessive, the sensuous and the extravagant. The title of the book American Rococo takes its name from the titular essay where Isham expands on his love of American excessiveness. To him, the rolling curves of the obese are beautiful, not disgusting. The inflated gibberish of street graffiti eye-catching rather than an eye-sore. Isham is a true child of his generation. In several chapters he promotes the wonders and delights of drug use and free love. His embrace of free love, wild extravagance, LSD trips and happy communal living seems firmly rooted in the 1960s and 70s which is when I presume Isham went through his formative years.

This utopian vision is repeated time and time again with an evangelical fervour worthy of the Christians and modern Atheists that he dissects in his chapter on modern atheism. To the libertine author, it is not enough that atheists have discarded traditional conservative beliefs when they still cling to “outdated” concepts like monogamy. To Isham, monogamy is a religion that in his position of Prophet must be destroyed and replaced with free love if we are ever to move forward as a species.

I use the word “Prophet” deliberately. I’m an advocate of Fourth Turning theory and when reading American Rococo found it very much to fit within the thinking of what The Fourth Turning described as a “Prophet” mentality. To those unfamiliar with The Fourth Turning, it was a landmark work written in the late 1990s by William Strauss and Neil Howe where they linked historical change to generational change that repeats itself in a never-ending cycle. Within their theory, certain time periods correspond almost to the seasons of the year: typically history is a cycle of Crisis (war, famine, revolution), a “High” (the post-war peace when society operates on shared principals and vision), Awakening (when a younger generation who are unaware of the horrors of war begin to rebel against the conformity of a peaceful but uniform society), Unravelling (when society begins to break down, institutions are attacked and become weak, individualism is strong) and back to Crisis. The mood and values of the generations born within those different times correspond accordingly.

With his mantra of free love and LSD for all, Isham epitomises the “Prophet” mindset of those born within the “awakening” time of the 60s and 70s. The Prophet sees it upon themselves to destroy the old establishment and create a new society based on new values. You can see this in the mentality of most baby boomers and their unparalleled success of completely transforming society in their image over the last sixty or so years. In his final essay – Advanced Love – Isham describes how he has stood at the front of the classroom in the image of the Prophet exhorting his students to embrace polyamory and communal living as his so-called most “advanced” form of love. Reading this part I wondered if Isham realised he came across just as evangelical as those Christian teachers who arrive in China and try to surreptitiously convert their students over to Jesus by sprinkling Bible quotes into their lesson plan.

I agree with a lot of what Isham Cook has to say. I also enjoy freedom and liberty and actually agree with almost all of his conclusions on the progression of society… it is the results that I disagree with. As a member of a younger generation than Isham’s, I have seen the end destination of many of his utopian beliefs. For his “American Rococo”, generations afterwards must suffer an “American Hangover”. After the Prophets have completed their great task of destroying the old, there is nothing left for the following generation but to wander through the ruins like nomads.

During the writing of this review, I exchanged some emails with Isham about his views on polyamory. In one email he writes:

"[On polyamory]… this word is not to be confused with polygamy, polygyny or polyandry. I have no interest in traditional polygyny, still practiced by some Mormons in the US, in parts of Africa and the Middle East, etc. — the keeping of more than one wife, not always with their full consent. That’s a kind of slavery and is deplorable and sexist. Polyamory is simply the freedom to let people choose how they wish to organize a family and under what terms. This could be triads (2 males/1 female or 2 females/1 male), dual couples, or group or communal families. Children could be raised in common or raised exclusively by their biological parents. Sexual sharing may be allowed or not. There are no top-down rules. Each family unit decides their own rules and what kind of relationships they are willing to entertain with others. Ideally, there is no oppression, coercion, brainwashing or cult-like behaviour."

I’m actually familiar with polyamory and aware of the distinctions between polyamory, polygamy and polyandry. However, I do not share Isham’s rosy view of its benefits. In my opinion, polyamory cannot and does not work in practice because of basic human nature. Both genders are naturally promiscuous but in different ways. Whereas a male will wish to copulate with as many different females as possible (since sperm is plentiful in comparison to eggs), females are more likely to gravitate towards the higher status males, even if that means sharing access and child paternity with the alpha male with other women in a kind of quasi concubinage. This is called hypergamy, and there are very good biological reasons why it exists. If you were a cavewoman in more primitive times it made sense to bear the children of the male with access to the most resources. One astonishing statistic is that before the dawn of civilisation, seventeen women reproduced for every one man.

Hence, it is my belief that the nature of hypergamy means that the ideal of polyamory will always devolve into the more nightmarish reality of polygamy. Isham writes (emphasis mine): “Ideally, there is no oppression, coercion, brainwashing or cult-like behaviour.” For me, that is the killer. The ideal may be freedom, but look at any social circle, structure, organisation or company that you have encountered in real life. The inevitable result is always hierarchy and power plays. If the group is lucky it just dissolves when the members gradually exit, if not the end result is normally conflict.

Destroying traditional family structures doesn’t result in a hippy communal paradise; it results in atomised and rootless individuals and a society drowning in anomie (the same atomised individuals that Isham describes in his essay on Airbnb hosts). Taking responsibility from biological parents for their children’s’ upbringing doesn’t result in everybody helping each other out at the top of Plato’s ladder of love; it results in broken homes and state intervention. Isham argues for a polyamorous society; my rebuttal would be to look at polyamorous societies throughout history and really see how successful they are. They went extinct. I can agree that monogamy is a kind of religion and a kind of female enslavement, but it’s equally a kind of male enslavement. It’s the promise of a wife to call one’s own and the chance to spread one’s genes into the next generation that is the basis of all true civilisation. Polyamory does not end in a loving free-for-all; female hypergamy ensures that it results in a small number of alpha males with large concubines and armies of disenfranchised men underneath. That’s not utopia, that’s a slave society. At times I wondered how much Isham really understands about the nature of women, despite the considerable amount of time he devotes to them. To put it in even blunter and cruder terms, there was more than one moment when I wanted to throw the book into the bin and I caught myself muttering “it was people like you who fucked up the world.”

(Note: if any reader wishes to read something which also discusses polyamory but comes to similar negative conclusions as the ones I have raised here, I would recommend any of Michel Houellebecq’s books)

If the preceding paragraph sounds angry and disdainful – you’re right. I did experience those feelings constantly throughout the essays where Isham expands on his utopian vision. However, let’s not let my opposition to Isham’s views colour a potential reader’s opinion of American Rococo. There is much to like here and I would still recommend it to anybody interested in good writing and intellectual debate. Just look at the passion it has invoked in me while writing the above paragraphs. As I noted in one of my previous reviews of Isham’s books, the role of a true teacher is to provoke reactions within his students and guide them into thoughts and viewpoints that they may not have considered before. In this, Isham succeeds once again. The two or three essays discussing his polyamorist ideal have probably given me more to ponder than anything else I’ve read this year.

So, go and read American Rococo. You’ll learn a few things that you didn’t know before on a wide range of topics that may even engage a new found passion within you. It will also challenge your notions of freedom and independence. I disagreed with nearly everything Isham had to say, but I had a great time doing so. Unlimited freedom has consequences. Unlimited freedom has a price. In the case of American Rococo, that price is about $10 if you buy direct from Amazon.

[Luis Humberto Molinar Márquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

[English review + Reseña en Español]

American Rococo: Essays On the Edge, by Isham Cook. Published by Magic Theater Books, 2017. 240 pages. Genre: Non Fiction / Essay.

American Rococo is a compendium of essays written around diverse topics:
1) Smart phones, teenage sexuality and the circular punishment industry in America.
2) The unfolding, baroque and uninhibited beauty of the American.
3) The search for mixed thermal baths in Japan.
4) Ferrabosco, Marenzio, Dowland, etc: from the madrigal to the English consort.
5) The changing landscape of contemporary classical music: Philip Glass - originality, popularity and genius; Tab Dun — cross-cultural bridges and innovative instrumentation vs. intercontinental musical transliteration.
6) The reasons for travel: from pragmatic travel to symbolic travel.
7) International lodging options: hotel/motel/hostel vs “free” accommodation (Servus/Couchsurfing) vs paid B&B accommodation (AirBnB).
8) Female bust and etiquette.
9) Theater, violence, sex and syphilis in the England of Shakespeare.
10) Literary Fiction: texture, text and context.
11) Brief history of the English language.
12) State, Religion, Family and atheism.
13) Advanced love.

Each chapter of this book is an individual essay on a specific topic. In each of them, Isham Cook manages, in a creative and entertaining way, to fragment the different faces of a coin to finally reach the point of his dissertation and show, with impeccable clarity and fluidity, his position regarding the object of analysis. The language is always clear and the author offers the explanations and references necessary to take the reader by the hand through a trip that is, at the same time, a small and pleasant class on each subject and an invitation to research and contrast individually.

After reading two of his essays books, I confess that I like very much the style of Isham Cook. One does not need to agree with all of his opinions to appreciate the validity of Cook’s approach to each topic and his stylistic mastery. I find in the essays on music, English language, literature and theater, valuable approaches with enough notes to delve into them, if desired. Personally, I loved the first and the last two chapters: in the first, I found a just and necessary apology about the beauty of obesity; in the last two there is a positive approach to militant atheism, consensual polygamy and a type of love that goes way beyond conventionalism. This is definitely a very good book.

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American Rococo: Essays On the Edge, por Isham Cook. Publicada por Magic Theater Books, 2017. 240 páginas. Género: No Ficción / Ensayo.

American Rococo es un compendio de ensayos redactados en torno a temas diversos:
1) Teléfonos inteligentes, sexualidad adolescente y la industria circular del castigo en América.
2) La belleza desenvolvente, barroca y desinhibida de lo americano.
3) La búsqueda de los baños termales mixtos en Japón.
4) Ferrabosco, Marenzio, Dowland, etc: del madrigal al consorte inglés.
5) El cambiante paisaje de la música clásica contemporánea: Philip Glass —originalidad, popularidad y genio; Tab Dun —puentes transculturales e instrumentaciones innovadoras vs transliteración musical intercontinental.
6) Los motivos del viaje: del viaje pragmático al viaje simbólico.
7) Las opciones internacionales de hospedaje: hotel/motel/hostal vs hospedaje “gratuito” (Servus/Couchsurfing) vs hospedaje B&B de pago (AirBnB).
8) El busto femenino y la etiqueta.
9) Teatro, violencia, sexo y sífilis en la Inglaterra de Shakespeare.
10) Ficción Literaria: textura, texto y contexto.
11) Breve historia del idioma inglés.
12) Estado, Religión, Familia y ateísmo.
13) El amor avanzado.

Cada capítulo de este libro es un ensayo individual sobre un tema específico. En cada uno de ellos, Isham Cook logra, de manera creativa y amena, desmenuzar las distintas caras de una moneda para finalmente llegar al punto de su disertación y mostrar, con claridad y fluidez impecables, su postura respecto al objeto de análisis. El lenguaje es siempre claro y el autor ofrece las explicaciones y referencias necesarias para llevar de la mano al lector a través de un viaje que es, al mismo tiempo, una pequeña y agradable clase sobre cada tema y una invitación a la investigación y contrastación individual.

Después de leer dos libros de ensayos suyos, confieso que el estilo de Isham Cook me gusta mucho. No es necesario que estar de acuerdo con todos sus puntos de vista para apreciar la validez de su enfoque sobre cada tema, y su maestría estilística. Encuentro en los ensayos sobre música, lengua inglesa, literatura y teatro en la época isabelina, acercamientos valiosos con las notas suficientes para poder ahondar en ellos, si así se desea. Personalmente, me encantaron el primero y los dos últimos capítulos: en el primero, encontré una justa y necesaria apología sobre la belleza de lo obeso; en los últimos dos un aproximamiento positivo al ateísmo militante, la poligamia consensuada y a un tipo de amor más allá de los convencionalismos. Definitivamente un muy buen libro.

[J Earl · Rating 1 out of 5]

American Rococo from Isham Cook is, well, about all I can say is that it is indeed a collection of essays. Essays, as compared with fiction and even informative nonfiction, are most prone to over or under appreciation depending largely on how the reader hears the writer's voice. For me, and this is true of the other works of his I have read, find his tone to be camouflage for an admittedly wide but not very deep understanding of what he writes about. Trump speaks on topics far and wide also yet no one in their right mind would accuse him of having any depth. The same holds true here, just without the unrepentant offensiveness of Trump. There isn't really any malice here, just not much meat either. Again, many essayists can get away with less meat by writing their opinions clearly as opinions. Cook pretends he is writing facts and valid analogies when, largely, he is just blustering.

So, I obviously find his voice both lacking and annoying. While I will stand behind what I wrote above I also know that many will find some substance in the essays simply because they hear his voice different from the way I do. If you have never read Cook and for some reason you want to (I don't mean that negatively, I just mean that perhaps someone recommended him so you want to read him) I don't think this is a particularly bad book to start with. The things he touches on that are more narrative and less pseudo-intellectual posturing are quite interesting. If they cause you to consider them independent of the essay then you will have gained something. If you're a fan or at least have liked his other work then I see nothing in this volume that would likely cause you to dislike it, so I would recommend this to you as well. If you have not liked his previous work or you have no compelling reason to read this then I would suggest reading almost anything else available, especially if you want to be mentally stimulated and challenged to (re)consider ideas or events.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Jasmine Stanford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received the book for free from the author/Booktasters Non Fiction on Twitter for an honest review.

What can I say about these essays? They are the the perfect blend of facts and experience. I think my favourite essay was American Talisman, looking into smartphone usage and how disastrous it can be if not used wisely. I found his views on texting/sexting particularly interesting and simultaneously horrifying, as the mother of a pre-teen girl, who wants a smartphone. It has definitely given me food for thought in how I approach her getting a phone and how I will teach her about security and consequences. In actual fact every essay seemed to be of the same vein, sparking curiosity for unknown topics and a rethink of topics I was familiar with. Cook takes your hand, guiding you to delve into the depths of the topics and yet still leaving you to garner your own conclusion. From the aforementioned smartphones, to Shakespeare, to hot springs and even Walmart, he presents stark reality while exposing the hidden beauty and complexity of things we don't really give a second thought. Cooks voice really spoke to me, it felt like an older uncle telling you a story while peppering in life lessons, which made for a very relaxing read, despite the weight of some of the topics discussed. Overall I would give this collection of essays a 4.5/5 and I look forward to joining Cook on other forays into society.

[Mary June · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, especially the essays on the language, literature, and the arts. I might be biased in my review because, for the most part, I share the views of the author: I believe in polyamory, atheism (the pun intended), the importance of travel for any aspiring artist, the brokenness of the American culture, and the significance of sex.

The writing was impeccable, the essays were structured beautifully, and the flow of words and thoughts was exquisite. However, I didn't like some parts of the book that were concerned with Asian culture and living in China. Maybe because I spent a couple of years living there and I could not find the common ground and share the same sentiment with the author, sometimes I even thought he might require therapy for having spent so much time in foreign countries. Some of his attempts (like those of attending mixed-gender baths in Japan) did sound a little ridiculous and gross, not that I am against a mixed bath per se, I'm totally into it, but the pursuit was a little 'de trop'.

Overall, I loved the book. The music, literature, and language chapters were my favorite.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: received for free in exchange for an honest review. The essays the begin this collection start strong and actually with edge but this soon drops just a few essays in. Not only do they quickly begin to come off as simply lists of information with no depth of analysis, but the author's thoughts of the subject become easily anticipated.

The essays that start this collection actually possess some "edge". These were a breeze to read because the author does have a way of sparking intrigue in the subject. But, unfortunately, the reader is left with a desperate feeling of wanting and needing more; these essays end too quickly. The essays that are longer feel dry in comparison to the shorter ones with which this collection begins.

The author does write on a myriad of topics, but in just about each chapter I was left with that feeling of wanting more: either more content and analysis or more edge.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars.
Rococo may be defined as “ornate or florid in speech, literary style, etc.”. The author begins by going into the Byzantine scrolls and nuances of law as it applies to child “sex offenders”, the rolls of adipose on obese Wal-Mart people, the history of music, etiquette, Shakespeare, and Kafka among others. My favorite was his discourse on the history of the English language or “Anglish.” Some travelogue is included about the merits and drawbacks of Airbnb, mixed gender bathhouses in Japan, the Camino de Santiago, etc. Some humor both dark and light

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

American Rococo: Essays on the Edge by Isham Cook will leave you tense. You might need a Swedish massage after reading but in a good way. Cook allows you to join him on a ride where you jump from essay to essay making connections through his personal experiences & history in general. Those connections are the glue that keeps you stuck in Cook's Web. Cook writes for the reader as well as himself which I found intriguing. Take the time to read this rollercoaster or you might miss the whole point.

[Venky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Isham Cook’s “American Rococo” is a peculiar pastiche, nay smorgasboard of essays covering a myriad of topics ranging from the relevant to the ribald. Bold in places, brusque at times and bewildering in the remaining, Mr. Cook’s collection of essays represent a sheer maze the likes of which even Lewis Carroll would have found it challenging to conceptualise. However, as a reader, I would need to admit that the feeling I got once done with the book was one of confusion and dissatisfaction. While there cannot be even a semblance of doubt about the thought provoking nature of the content, Mr. Cook surely could have done more to convey his freewheeling thoughts in a more cohesive manner. While it would be absolutely insurmountable and an exercise in futility to comment on each and every essay comprising the book, I have chosen the following (out of a total of 13) to provide a flavor of the contours that the essays take:

The book begins with an essay titled “An American Talisman”. Mr. Cook begins with great passion and fervor, plunging into a sardonic paean to the one ubiquitous gadget without which the world these days seems a nullity – the smartphone. While there are shades of the masterly Jonathan Franzen in the opening passages, these quickly dissipate when Mr. Cook digresses far and wide into the perils of employing smartphones to peddle pornography and to exchange nude pictures. Romeo Laws the Adam Walsh Act all get a mention as do the penalties for sexual ‘offenders’ as laid down under draconian and antediluvian laws. The reader gets lost in a mish mash of American laws against sex offenders and Mr. Cook’s own views on the subject.

I personally found “Theatrics of Japanese Noh, Kabuki and the Mixed-bathing Onsen” to be one of the more appealing essays in the book. The author and his Chinese girlfriend set out on a mission to sample the mixed-bath onsens in Japan, made famous by many authors of acclaim and repute. Failed attempts and flabbergasting transport systems later, they finally manage to find themselves in one mixed-bathing onsen where much to the author’s chagrin, the male populace in the pool outnumber the feminine population by an undesirably large margin. Mr. Cook uses this essay to reveal in a frank, forthright and fascinating manner his own sexual orientation.

A comprehensive and exhaustive understanding of the nuances, intricacies and tenets of classical music is an indispensable de rigueur if one has to appreciate the essays “John Dowland and the Lost English Consort School of Chamber Music” and “Philip Glass and Tan Dun”. These back-to-back works are technical convolutions and musical obscurities going beyond the ken of a layman.

My favourite essay in the book is the one titled “Why Airbnb Ain’t my Cup of Tea”. In this highly readable and interesting essay, Mr. Cook compares and contrasts his experience of being hosted by Airbnb hosts vis-à-vis the hosts whom Mr. Cook meets courtesy, Servas, a progenitor to Airbnb. An inexplicable reluctance to mingle with the guests, a tendency to display an arm’s length relationship even when the host prefers to mingle with the guests and a strict drawing of lines within the physical boundaries of the house, transgressing which is deemed to be as severe an offense as trespass are all what irks Mr. Cook about Airbnb, thereby exacerbating his resolve never to use their services in future.

The most incredulous, risqué and inappropriate (although the latter terminology might be too harsh) essay in the collection is the one appropriately titled “The Breast Etiquette-Project”. A quasi-perverse fantasy fueled by a fevered imagination forms the backbone of this particular work. Mr. Cook suggests that as a remedial mechanism to both thwarting the ide fixe of every man to gaze unashamedly towards the breasts of a woman and also for satiating the pride which a busty woman might nurse regarding her assets, a form of greeting be promulgated whereby a woman upon meeting a man, just takes off her top, displays her breasts to the person meeting her before covering herself and resuming the normal course of human etiquette. Suffice it to say that this proposition does not pass any kind of muster, at least in my book.

On the whole, Mr. Cook’s collection is reflective of a research that is meticulous, an imagination that is more than just fertile and convictions that are candid and not veiled in double speak or inveigled by diplomacy. However, where “American Rococo” falls short is by leaving the reader confused and confounded in swathes on account of digressions that are diametrically and tangentially opposed to the core topics under discussion.

Although Mr. Cook flatters to deceive, he sure plants the seeds of provocation in the mind of the reader.

[Emmanuelfr15 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cook brings an interesting array of writings in this book, but he commits too many penalties. He indeed employs interesting analogies, anecdotes, and good quality of references to back it up, but one's feelings tend to go from enthusiasm to tiredness. I must exclaim that Cook's essay on Moroccan art and American's weight are fun and innovative, but again, he drags the topic too long. His essay on Atheism shows early promise, but once again goes sideways in many aspects and it feels that Cooks wants to cramp too many themes. This book could have been better with at least 50 pages less and shorter essays.

[John Plowright · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are three things that one looks for in an essayist: good writing, deep thinking and range.

American novelist and essayist Isham Cook scores quite well in all three respects. His latest book, ‘American Rococo: Essays on the Edge’ is nothing if not eclectic, containing reflections on subjects ranging from the smartphone to Noh theatre, from John Dowland to Philip Glass and from Airbnb to atheists. Several essays are, however, connected by an interest in the human body, covering topics including sexually transmitted disease in Shakespearean London, Japanese konyoku onsen (nude mixed-bathing hot springs), and the features of People of Walmart. Indeed, in the essay which gives the book its title, Cook finds a “peculiarly American … rococo beauty” in the fleshy swirls of the morbidly obese.

This is characteristic of Cook’s willingness to shock and provoke. Sometimes this can work well. Any American teenager tempted to sext would certainly refrain from doing so after reading Cook’s account of how American sex laws (notably the Adam Walsh Child Act of 2006) actually work.
On the other hand, Cook can easily tip into preachiness (condemning monogamy in ‘My Problem with Atheists’) or even downright silliness (‘The Brest Etiquette Project’).

In the end, whilst many are likely to be impressed by Cook’s scholarship (for example in challenging the standard account of the development of the English language) at least as many are likely to be alienated by what they take to be his libertarian, or even libertine, views.