Chamblee54

PG found Too Much Money, by Dominick Dunne, at the Chamblee library. It has many of the characters from People Like Us. This was the first novel by Mr. Dunne that PG read, and the twenty year old memory only worked in fits and spells. Just like the people who populate these stories.
Towards the end of TMM, Gus Bailey-Dominick Dunne learns that he has cancer. This sent Mr. Dunne off to another world in 2009. TMM was in an editing stage when Mr. Dunne quit working on it. It is not nearly as polished as the other novels by Mr. Dunne. This doesn’t stop the book from being fun, but one wonders if it might have been a bit better with more work.
The story is set in New York. The players are the very wealthy, and those who cater to them. Many of these people with too much money have very little class. This is always reassuring to the peasants who read these tawdry tales. As always with Mr. Dunne, you can guess what famous person is represented by what cad in this story. Perhaps the initials of the book should be TMI instead of TMM.
One theme of this story is a lawsuit against the author. It seems like the author said something about a notorious congressman that was not true. If only the author had waited a week or two. The notorious congressman was a big story on September 10, 2001. The next day, the congressman was forgotten.
There is a sentence on page 246. It tells a bit about the story, and shows the value of using a comma. The wealthy lady was telling the story of how her walker decided to become an undertaker. “When he was thirteen years old, he waited five hours in line outside the Grant P. Trumbull Funeral Home to see Judy Garland, who had overdosed, in her casket.”
An amazon one star reviewer says “I am so disappointed in this book I have loved Mr Dunne’s work for years but this book has so many sex scenes that it is disgusting and not what I expected!!” Actually, the sex scenes are some of the best ones in TMM. Perhaps they had priority editing, before the grim reaper came to call. There is a scene where the Baroness, known to many as Uncle Charley, seduces the wife of the convict billionaire. It makes you wonder how Mr. Dunne knew so much about such things.
This is not a book to spend money on, unless you just enjoy throwing dollars around. If the local library has a copy, then it is worth your time. You might not respect yourself later, but you will have a good time. Pictures today are from Gwinnett County.

PG found a copy of My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands, the Chelsea Handler book, at a yard sale. The asking price was fifty cents, which was talked down to a quarter. For the comedian daughter of a Jewish used car salesman dealer, this was an outstanding value.
The book is a hoot. The action starts with seven year old Chelsea going in her parents room to photograph them having fun. Miss Handler goes on to adventures with a midget, a black law student, assorted other ethnic types, and a gay gynecologist. The action is served up with one liners, which keep the reader in stitches. Maybe the lady is two pom poms short of a pep rally, but you are having fun.
The supporting cast is almost as funny as Miss Handler. Ketel One is a featured player, as is a roommate called Dumb Dumb. Her gay friend Nathan makes a spectacle at a wedding. Her African friend Shoniqua is loud and clear. Various family members make appearances. Would you buy a used daughter from Daddy? There are well practiced one liners for all the players and scenes.
After a while, the laughs get old, and the story is just a wee bit sad. Miss Handler seems to be chasing a rainbow, instead of looking for another hot man. The one last himbo stud turns out to be a cokehead wet noodle. Maybe, one day, the little girl will grow up. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (the book, not the movie) was on the shelf at the Chamblee library. It is a short little thing, just like the author, Truman Capote. It is a 55 year old book, with the action taking place 70 years ago. It is a fun way to kill time waiting on the train.
The action takes place in New York City, in 1943. This is wartime. A telegram arrives, informing Holly Golightly that her beloved brother has died in action. The narrator, probably based on Truman Capote, is having problems with his draft board. A google search for the military record of Mr. Capote proved, pardon the expression, fruitless. Apparently, Mr. Capote escaped military duty during that conflict. In a war with major need for combat troops, being queer is not a good excuse.
The book is fun to read, even if it does have some issues. The central figure is Holly Golightly, a “cafe society celebrity.” Her zaniness makes for good story telling, but can seem a bit forced. There is an old saying, “Sooner or later you would have to kill her”. None of the men supporting her lifestyle seem to get close enough for that to be an issue.
Mr. Capote is at the peak of his creative powers here. The story is a page turner, with zingy quotes throughout. At some point after finishing this story, Mr. Capote became famous for being famous. A life of TV appearances, society lunch, and substance abuse followed. Were more stories like BAT drowned by the Justerini & Brooks downpour? We will never know.
There is one jaw dropping moment. A side character in BAT is Mag Wildwood, a model who stutters. She elopes with an heir, who many thought was going to marry Miss Golightly. When the marriage is announced, the full name of Mag Wildwood is in the story. Miss Margaret Thatcher Fitzhue Wildwood. This was twenty plus years before the iron lady took over England.
PG has never seen the movie. It seems a bit different from the book. The Capote charactar is given a name, and played by George Peppard. Doc Golightly, the husband of young Holly, is played by Buddy Ebsen. This was in 1961, just before the Beverly Hillbillies. Mickey Rooney plays a Japanese photographer, who lived in the same building as Truman and Holly.
Pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.

Somewhere along the line, the boss decides you have a “negative attitude”. From that point on, you are not allowed to complain. It is almost as if it were a gimmick to keep you in line.
A lady named Barbara Ehrenreich agrees that there is entirely too much positive attitude required of people. She wrote a book, Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America. In one interview, she says “And again, you know, don’t worry about the world. Don’t ask the question about where the cancer comes from. Don’t ask why so many people are not employed, even in good times in our country. And it was the same sort of thing. And that’s when I began to think hey, this kind of operates as a way of quelling discontent, quelling dissent, you know, when you can’t say I’m mad about -whatever. You just have to swallow it and smile.”
Ms. Ehrenreich was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000. She found herself in a pink tsunami of cheerfulness. The pink teddy bears did not do anything for her spirits. The whole culture of happy talk, about a life threatening illness. grossed her out.
At one point, she was given a tote bag. In it were some crayons. I said, “This is really nice, but what’s with the crayons?” And this woman said to me, “Well, that’s in case you want to write down any of your thoughts.” And I said, “I’m a writer. I don’t use crayons.”
The promotional interviews quoted here were conducted in 2009. This was before the Susan G. Komen foundation hired Karen Handel. During the Planned Parenthood meltdown, some unflattering things came out about the SGK foundation. It probably did not help Ms. Ehrenreich’s attitude.
So the book happened. PG has not read it, but has seen a few reviews and interviews. The New York Times has a great review. It says “America’s can-do optimism has hardened into a suffocating culture of positivity that bears little relation to genuine hope or happiness.”
One interview has a stomach churning comment. It should be noted that this is the lady talking, and that there is no confirmation of this. “Yeah. And here’s something that really horrified me that I learned recently and put in the book, is that some breast cancer support groups expel people who go into metastasis and who are clearly going to die. You can’t be in the group because just your presence might bring other people down.” (A google search of the phrase “breast cancer support groups expel people who go into metastasis ” shows little support for this story. Two front page results involve Barbara Ehrenreich interviews. Skepticism should not be limited to positive motivation.)
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.