I was very disappointed in this audio book. I bought it expecting a performance by Carlin. Though I find him less and less amusing as the years go by, I thought it might be interesting to see what he had to say at the end of his life. What I got was a sort of biography put together by Tony Hendra using notes, recordings, and recollections collected over several years with which he was supposed to help Carlin write an autobiography. The book is read by Carlin's brother, Patrick.
Summing it all up, Carlin seems to have had a very high opinion of himself, and a very low opinion of nearly everyone else except people who shared his political views 100%.
I was born a year after Carlin, so we shared many of the same experiences, including time in the Air Force - although Carlin goofed off for whatever time the Air Force put up with him, and I made a 21 year career of it.
Since we were about the same age, we were exposed to many of the same events in the history of the last seventy years (WW2, Korea, Vietnam, rock and roll, the sexual revolution, flower children, etc.), and the same political leaders (FDR, HST, Ike, JFK, MLK, RFK, LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and the Bushes) we certainly reacted differently to them. Over the years he became a radical liberal, while I became a moderate conservative.
I was so disgusted with the entire presentation that under normal circumstances I would have quit listening after the first cd; as it happens, I was driving from Texas to Wisconsin, and listened to a lot of it on the Kansas Turnpike, not the world's most scenic stretch of highway. I turned it off twice, vowing to listen to some music instead, but got so sleepy I turned it back on. It annoyed me enough to kept me awake for many miles. Thanks, George.
Summing it all up, Carlin seems to have had a very high opinion of himself, and a very low opinion of nearly everyone else except people who shared his political views 100%.
I was born a year after Carlin, so we shared many of the same experiences, including time in the Air Force - although Carlin goofed off for whatever time the Air Force put up with him, and I made a 21 year career of it.
Since we were about the same age, we were exposed to many of the same events in the history of the last seventy years (WW2, Korea, Vietnam, rock and roll, the sexual revolution, flower children, etc.), and the same political leaders (FDR, HST, Ike, JFK, MLK, RFK, LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and the Bushes) we certainly reacted differently to them. Over the years he became a radical liberal, while I became a moderate conservative.
I was so disgusted with the entire presentation that under normal circumstances I would have quit listening after the first cd; as it happens, I was driving from Texas to Wisconsin, and listened to a lot of it on the Kansas Turnpike, not the world's most scenic stretch of highway. I turned it off twice, vowing to listen to some music instead, but got so sleepy I turned it back on. It annoyed me enough to kept me awake for many miles. Thanks, George.
Although I didn't really care for George Carlin's life story, I must admit that he had a wonderful command of the English language. Carlin flexes his literary muscle and makes his story sing. I admired that part of the book; he was able to convey the difficulties of growing up in his family without trying to elicit pity, for himself or his situation. I had hoped this was some of Carlin's humor, and though it is there, it wasn't what I was expecting.
Carlin was working on this memoir before his death and his good friend, Tony Hendra, and (George's daughter) Kelly completed the work. George Carlin shines through, so they did an excellent job of telling his story without interjecting their own voice. One of the unique things I found about George Carlin was his social conscience. He felt it was his role to show (Americans particularly) what we are doing is stupid or wrong or whatever. He just happened to use humor as his method of teaching.
Carlin was working on this memoir before his death and his good friend, Tony Hendra, and (George's daughter) Kelly completed the work. George Carlin shines through, so they did an excellent job of telling his story without interjecting their own voice. One of the unique things I found about George Carlin was his social conscience. He felt it was his role to show (Americans particularly) what we are doing is stupid or wrong or whatever. He just happened to use humor as his method of teaching.
