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The Full Catastrophe
The world is too much with Terence Bander, a once larger-than-life Hollywood icon, who worries his best years are behind him, and that the very stuff of those years (his kids, his ex-wives, his agent, the downward course of his no longer legendary career) is conspiring against him.
The world is not nearly enough with Alex Pimletz, a going-nowhere obituary writer for the Boston Record-Transcript, who worries his life has passed him by, and that he will never be caught in the same currents that move everyone else.
Bander, on an impulse, guides his car off a cliff along the Maine coast, hoping to emerge from his presumed death a richer man with no money or prospects but at least a bottomless serving of possibility. Pimletz, on a whim, is hired to complete the "fallen" icon's memoirs, and the assignment emerges as his first piece of possibility in a long while.
The Full Catastrophe, the darkly funny second novel from New York Times best-selling author Daniel Paisner, mines the rich territory between hope and despair, fame and infamy, whim and recklessness. In the hands of one of the more prominent "ghost-writers" in publishing, The Full Catastrophe offers pointed note-and-comment on the merchandising of our movie stars, politicians and business leaders, and the vagaries of our popular culture.
308 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
5 people are currently reading
254 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Paisner
88 books32 followersDANIEL PAISNER is one of the busiest collaborators in publishing. He has written over 70 books, on topics ranging from business and sports to politics and popular culture, including 17 New York Times best-sellers.
He is the host of the popular podcast "AS TOLD TO: The Ghostwriting Podcast," featuring long-form, free-wheeling conversations with some of publishing's top ghostwriters/collaborators - a production of the Writers Bone Podcast Network and available wherever podcasts gather.
He is also the author of the novel, "Balloon Dog," just published by Koehler Books. A darkly comic tale of longing and legacy, "Balloon Dog" tells the story of a brazen art heist gone wrong and prompts readers to consider what it means to leave a mark and what it takes to be swept up in the same currents that move almost everyone else.
Paisner's work has been profiled in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, ESPN: The Magazine and on National Public Radio. (In a recent New York Magazine article on how to write someone else's memoir, he was referred to as the "most prolific living ghost" - a title that may or may not have been meant as a back-handed compliment.)
He is co-author of best-selling books with tennis champion Serena Williams; NFL great Ray Lewis; Emmy Award-winning baseball analyst and former All-Star pitcher Ron Darling; MSNBC News personality Mika Brzezinski; the late New York City mayor Ed Koch; and, Academy Award-winning actors Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg and Anthony Quinn, among others.
Recent books include "Blue: The Color of Noise," with ground-breaking deejay Steve Aoki; "It's Up to Us," with former Ohio governor John Kasich; and "Powershift," with FUBU founder and "Shark Tank co-star Daymond John.
He has also collaborated on books with former world champion longboard surfer Izzy Paskowitz; bail bondsman Ira Judelson; legendary high school basketball coach Bob Hurley; and, the late Gilbert Gottfried, the brilliantly potty-mouthed comedian.
Over the years, Paisner has worked with dozens of "ordinary" individuals with extraordinary stories to tell, including Krystyna Chiger, whose chronicle of her family's horrific ordeal in a Polish sewer during the German occupation, "The Girl in the Green Sweater," makes an important contribution to the literature of the Holocaust. The story is the basis for the Academy Award-nominated film, "In Darkness," from director Agnieszka Holland.
Perhaps his most notable collaboration has been the best-selling account of a New York City firefighter's epic tour of duty at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, "Last Man Down," written with FDNY Battalion Commander Richard Picciotto. The book was #1 on the London Times best-seller list and remained a top ten seller in the U.K. for over six months; it reached the #1 spot on the Amazon.com.uk "Hot 100" list.
Paisner has also written several books of his own, including "The Ball: Mark McGwire's 70th Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream," which was hailed by Amazon editors as one of the best sports books of the year. If you want to really make him happy, consider reading one of his previous novels: "Obit", "Mourning Wood," and "A Single Happened Thing." They're pretty good. "Balloon Dog" might just be his best yet, but if you'd like to build up to it and read them all in the order they were written, that would make him happy as well.
For more information, visit his website: www.danielpaisner.com.
And to learn more about the art and craft of ghostwriting, visit his podcast website: www.astoldtopodcast.com.
He is the host of the popular podcast "AS TOLD TO: The Ghostwriting Podcast," featuring long-form, free-wheeling conversations with some of publishing's top ghostwriters/collaborators - a production of the Writers Bone Podcast Network and available wherever podcasts gather.
He is also the author of the novel, "Balloon Dog," just published by Koehler Books. A darkly comic tale of longing and legacy, "Balloon Dog" tells the story of a brazen art heist gone wrong and prompts readers to consider what it means to leave a mark and what it takes to be swept up in the same currents that move almost everyone else.
Paisner's work has been profiled in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, ESPN: The Magazine and on National Public Radio. (In a recent New York Magazine article on how to write someone else's memoir, he was referred to as the "most prolific living ghost" - a title that may or may not have been meant as a back-handed compliment.)
He is co-author of best-selling books with tennis champion Serena Williams; NFL great Ray Lewis; Emmy Award-winning baseball analyst and former All-Star pitcher Ron Darling; MSNBC News personality Mika Brzezinski; the late New York City mayor Ed Koch; and, Academy Award-winning actors Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg and Anthony Quinn, among others.
Recent books include "Blue: The Color of Noise," with ground-breaking deejay Steve Aoki; "It's Up to Us," with former Ohio governor John Kasich; and "Powershift," with FUBU founder and "Shark Tank co-star Daymond John.
He has also collaborated on books with former world champion longboard surfer Izzy Paskowitz; bail bondsman Ira Judelson; legendary high school basketball coach Bob Hurley; and, the late Gilbert Gottfried, the brilliantly potty-mouthed comedian.
Over the years, Paisner has worked with dozens of "ordinary" individuals with extraordinary stories to tell, including Krystyna Chiger, whose chronicle of her family's horrific ordeal in a Polish sewer during the German occupation, "The Girl in the Green Sweater," makes an important contribution to the literature of the Holocaust. The story is the basis for the Academy Award-nominated film, "In Darkness," from director Agnieszka Holland.
Perhaps his most notable collaboration has been the best-selling account of a New York City firefighter's epic tour of duty at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, "Last Man Down," written with FDNY Battalion Commander Richard Picciotto. The book was #1 on the London Times best-seller list and remained a top ten seller in the U.K. for over six months; it reached the #1 spot on the Amazon.com.uk "Hot 100" list.
Paisner has also written several books of his own, including "The Ball: Mark McGwire's 70th Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream," which was hailed by Amazon editors as one of the best sports books of the year. If you want to really make him happy, consider reading one of his previous novels: "Obit", "Mourning Wood," and "A Single Happened Thing." They're pretty good. "Balloon Dog" might just be his best yet, but if you'd like to build up to it and read them all in the order they were written, that would make him happy as well.
For more information, visit his website: www.danielpaisner.com.
And to learn more about the art and craft of ghostwriting, visit his podcast website: www.astoldtopodcast.com.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 4, 2023
The Ball is a very good small book surrounding the acquisition and sale of Mark McGwire’s record setting-70th home run ball. It covers a lot of territory, from the physical structure of the ball, now and historically, to information on where it was made, to the mud used to coat baseballs, and why. We learn much about the collectibles world. Paisner explains the secret information that was printed on the final batch of baseballs used while McGwire was setting the home run record. There is a cast of characters here far beyond the ball’s recipient. One entrepreneur wanted to cut the ball up and sell the pieces. We learn that MLB used extraction teams to remove from the crowd any catcher of potentially lucrative baseballs. It is a fascinating tale, enjoyable and informative, despite the taint that the steroids scandal has cast over the era.
Daniel Paisner-from Linked in
Paisner is a ghost writer with an impressive list of credits. It is nice that he can get top billing for his work for a change. Check out his website for a taste of his delightful sense of humor.
Daniel Paisner-from Linked in
Paisner is a ghost writer with an impressive list of credits. It is nice that he can get top billing for his work for a change. Check out his website for a taste of his delightful sense of humor.
February 15, 2018
I received this via Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for my honest review. All my opinions are my own.
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This was a great book, I'm not a huge fan of baseball and shots aren't always my cup of tea. When I first started to read the book I was a little sceptical and was looking for a book to read till I found another one.
But I found that I was pulled into the story and it was about a man and his family and what happened to his family when his wife couldn't accept that he had seen a ghost. I couldn't put it down. It was written so well and I was drawn into the story. A must read :)
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This was a great book, I'm not a huge fan of baseball and shots aren't always my cup of tea. When I first started to read the book I was a little sceptical and was looking for a book to read till I found another one.
But I found that I was pulled into the story and it was about a man and his family and what happened to his family when his wife couldn't accept that he had seen a ghost. I couldn't put it down. It was written so well and I was drawn into the story. A must read :)
March 27, 2008
This book was awesome. It really made me appreciate George E. Pataki. I was impressed at his recollection and his reminiscence on many aspects of his life. I really enjoyed reading about his experiences in Peekskill, and I wish that I could have read about his tenure as governor of New York State.
I definitely recommend this book!
I definitely recommend this book!
September 20, 2019
Good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2019
Full disclosure: I'm not a baseball fan. I haven't thought much about the sport since my teenage years when I played softball in the local "Missy League" and used to hang out at the stadium of the Minor League Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barrons (now called the RailRiders), mostly for the sake of meeting boys. However, I know enough about it to understand the excitement and tension of the game that the author adeptly described. And, I do love learning about new things when I read. Now I know more about the history of the game of baseball, including the various different rules and standards in play in the late 1800's.
Where I think this book fell just short of hitting it out of the park (one and only baseball pun in this review, I promise!) was how the narrator kept hammering away at the "I am so ordinary" theme. I understood it in the beginning, where it served the purpose of creating a contrast between his normal life and the very other-than-normal events that happened to him. But after that, I felt it became too overused and pedantic.
I loved the author's treatment of the character Iona. She stood out as a character with depth and intelligence beyond her years, while still being a fun teenage girl. And her father, the protagonist, was in constant respectful awe of her. That was refreshing and lovely. I just stopped myself from using a metaphor about it being like the the scent of freshly mowed outfield grass. You see? No more baseball puns, just like I promised.
The writing itself was quite good. His voice was well established early on and had a good momentum as it carried through both everyday life, the baseball moments, and the possibly supernatural events. When Iona's essays were featured, they had their own distinctly different feel and tone and yet there was enough of an underlying similarity that they were believably the work of the narrator's daughter. I also enjoyed the author's treatment of the concept of the passage of time. He was able to tap into the rhythm of a baseball game, the innings, the time spent at bat, the time that a ball spent careening from a bat to a glove, and used it to stitch connections with the passage of time in the daily life of a family, in the changes in a marriage, in the growing up of a daughter.
It was a good read overall! I would recommend it to my baseball fan friends and those who enjoy family themes as well.
Where I think this book fell just short of hitting it out of the park (one and only baseball pun in this review, I promise!) was how the narrator kept hammering away at the "I am so ordinary" theme. I understood it in the beginning, where it served the purpose of creating a contrast between his normal life and the very other-than-normal events that happened to him. But after that, I felt it became too overused and pedantic.
I loved the author's treatment of the character Iona. She stood out as a character with depth and intelligence beyond her years, while still being a fun teenage girl. And her father, the protagonist, was in constant respectful awe of her. That was refreshing and lovely. I just stopped myself from using a metaphor about it being like the the scent of freshly mowed outfield grass. You see? No more baseball puns, just like I promised.
The writing itself was quite good. His voice was well established early on and had a good momentum as it carried through both everyday life, the baseball moments, and the possibly supernatural events. When Iona's essays were featured, they had their own distinctly different feel and tone and yet there was enough of an underlying similarity that they were believably the work of the narrator's daughter. I also enjoyed the author's treatment of the concept of the passage of time. He was able to tap into the rhythm of a baseball game, the innings, the time spent at bat, the time that a ball spent careening from a bat to a glove, and used it to stitch connections with the passage of time in the daily life of a family, in the changes in a marriage, in the growing up of a daughter.
It was a good read overall! I would recommend it to my baseball fan friends and those who enjoy family themes as well.
July 15, 2016
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaways.
This goes from being a bit of paranormal mystery to more of an examination of aging and family relationships with a lot about the history of baseball mixed in.
It has quirky, neurotic first person narration with little dialogue, so that does make it a denser read, but it is often quite funny and pays off. I did skim through a lot of the baseball stuff. If you’re interested in the history of baseball, that probably would help you enjoy all of the aspects of this book a bit more.
I did wish there had been a bit more of Dunlap, the baseball player from the past, maybe just because I liked the character and became a bit attached. I enjoyed the way the story shifted from Felb’s midlife crisis to his daughter Iona’s coming of age. I also liked Felb’s voice and found it to be a different and fun read overall.
This goes from being a bit of paranormal mystery to more of an examination of aging and family relationships with a lot about the history of baseball mixed in.
It has quirky, neurotic first person narration with little dialogue, so that does make it a denser read, but it is often quite funny and pays off. I did skim through a lot of the baseball stuff. If you’re interested in the history of baseball, that probably would help you enjoy all of the aspects of this book a bit more.
I did wish there had been a bit more of Dunlap, the baseball player from the past, maybe just because I liked the character and became a bit attached. I enjoyed the way the story shifted from Felb’s midlife crisis to his daughter Iona’s coming of age. I also liked Felb’s voice and found it to be a different and fun read overall.
May 1, 2016
A Single Happened Thing both is and is not a baseball book.
It’s really a book about growing up and getting older, as Felb considers his own successes and perceived mediocrities while watching his oldest daughter come into her own both on and off the field. It’s also about how people deal with an inexplicable phenomenon, and how their different ways of dealing-with-it pull them together and apart.
Plus baseball. You’ll probably learn a few things whether you’re a big baseball fan or not. :)
The story is funny and poignant by turns. There is a self-deprecating tone that pervades Felb’s account (he plays both main character and narrator), and plenty of situational humor that had me laughing out loud.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this. Recommended.
It’s really a book about growing up and getting older, as Felb considers his own successes and perceived mediocrities while watching his oldest daughter come into her own both on and off the field. It’s also about how people deal with an inexplicable phenomenon, and how their different ways of dealing-with-it pull them together and apart.
Plus baseball. You’ll probably learn a few things whether you’re a big baseball fan or not. :)
The story is funny and poignant by turns. There is a self-deprecating tone that pervades Felb’s account (he plays both main character and narrator), and plenty of situational humor that had me laughing out loud.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this. Recommended.
February 18, 2017
The main character, Axel Pimletz, works for a local newspaper in Boston writing obituaries. He's kind of a slimy guy as he spends a lot of his downtime calling sex hotlines and doing other unsavory things. He gets himself wrapped up in a murder mystery and eventually helps to connect it to another murder which then allows him to help prevent another one from happening. And that's pretty much the end of the story.
This book was terrible. The plot was very boring and unimpressive. I hated the way the writer was constantly clarifying when the main character was thinking or speaking as if it wasn't obvious 99.9% of the time. I would definitely not recommend.
This book was terrible. The plot was very boring and unimpressive. I hated the way the writer was constantly clarifying when the main character was thinking or speaking as if it wasn't obvious 99.9% of the time. I would definitely not recommend.
July 14, 2016
This is a book that involves a lot of baseball recollections and history. That's what attracted me when I read about it on Self-Aware. The stuff about the interpersonal reactions in his family got a bit too much, and the resolution was weak, but I'm glad I read it, and would recommend it to anyone who has strong interests in baseball - particularly pre-1900 and Mets fans (which are exclusive sets.)
May 12, 2012
This was a Christmas gift because I like reading obituaries. I love how much you can find out about someone's life in just a few paragraphs. Some were sad, some were sweet. I think this book would be enjoyed more by people who live in the area the author covered (part of Colorado).
May 10, 2016
Great story about a father dealing with the supernatural while trying to get his family to understand... Great story about a father and daughter and trying to make sense of what happened to him. If you love baseball this is a book for you!
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September 26, 2019Good
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews