top five books. i really like kozinski.

He fucks around and finds out. Literally the definition of being in the right place at the right time.

Being There was a quick and interesting parody of tv culture and the superficial nature of the relationship of the medium and the audience. Chance woos and wows people with his good looks (Halo Effects) and simple metaphors of gardening of complex problems. Funny and absurdist at times in its ability to play with double entendre and miscommunication.

I'm happy to say that watching the movie first didn't ruin it for me (though I did "hear" Chance speaking in Peter Seller's voice). Magically absurd with no magic.

This book will roll and whirl around you, approximating the feeling of floating just ever so slightly off the ground. It's story of a man who is believed to be more and less than he is, one Chauncey Gardner, who is in fact never anything but himself. I can think of no more exquisitely expressed use of dramatic irony, and the ending of the book, one of literature's best, is perfectly reflected within an equally brilliant film. One of the only instances where you can legitimately say the movie was as good as the book.

It was a somewhat interesting premise. Because the book club I am in was reading this, I did read the book. However, there were pages in two sections I skipped. I am not interested in reading about sex scenes. This book had two which I skipped. For this reason, I gave the book one star.

Can't quite articulate why I enjoyed this book so much. 4/5 for mere entertainment factor and saying so much in so few pages. It's the type of book I'd enjoy writing papers about or annotating wildly along the edges. I suppose one could infer multiple themes from the book and expound on them in depth, but it was such a delightfully short read that you end up parking the themes for later or leave them asymptotically to brew in your imagination.

Good short read, though arguably a bit forgettable -- though entertaining, to say the least! Will pick up Kosinski again for sure. :)

i read this whole book one night in a bout if insomnia. i really enjoyed it.

I actually saw the film some years ago and found it quite interesting, so at least the story must be good.

But the book didn't manage to catch me, even though it was a thrill to listen to Dustin Hofmann, maybe a classic case of "Newer see the film before reading the book"