Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin

July 4, 2011
Humorist Trillin (A Heckuva Job; Deciding the Next Decider) entertains with this collection of his song lyrics, comic verse, and more than 130 of the brief essays he originally wrote for the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Nation, and his syndicated King Features column. His acerbic wit is evident in 50 poems, such as "Condoleezza Rice" ("So to serve her guy, she will testify to a lie she hopes you'll buy"), and his Barbra Streisandâstyled song for Sarah Palin ("On a Clear Day, I See Vladivostok"). Jesting about everyday life, Trillin can get very close to the truth, as indicated by his 2006 shoe bomber comments in which he predicted the 2009 underwear bomber: "If someone is arrested one of these days and is immediately, because of his MO, referred to in the press as the Underwear Bomber, you'll know I was onto something." He divides the material into sections, such as food, sports, holidays, New York ("I live in Greenwich Village, where people from the suburbs come on weekends to test their car alarms"), technology ("Everyone knows that the only people in an American family who understand electronic devices are the children"), language and literature ("The average shelf life of a book is somewhere between milk and yogurt"). Trillin dances around a subject, examines it from different angles, and often finds fun in the commonplace throughout this huge and hilarious comedic compendium.

July 15, 2011

Some of the best pieces of the esteemed humorist's long career.

Trillin (Trillin on Texas, 2011, etc.) is best known for his writing on food and politics, and there's a feast of both in this collection of four decades of work. In "Missing Links," an essay on the Cajun dish boudin, he reveals a deep knowledge of regional cuisine while delivering wry takes on his culinary obsessiveness. In "Eating With the Pilgrims," he condemns bland Thanksgiving fare and lobbies for spaghetti carbonara as a replacement dish. As for politics, the book includes plenty of his light verse on legislators, mostly skewering Republicans. On Tom Delay: "Corruption's in his DNA. / It dominates his résumé." On John Boehner: "Can anything be said for Speaker Boehner? / Yes. Others in the party are insaner." But Trillin has held a range of interests throughout his career, and the book makes room for his critiques of high finance, satirical pieces about Jewish culture and self-deprecating pieces on his failures as a househusband: "A man who has a cross-indexed list of what's in his basement is not a little too well-organized, he's hateful." His late wife Alice, the subject of his 2007 memoir, About Alice, makes regular appearances in the book, often as a forbearing housewife. Trillin is a topical humorist, which means many jokes haven't aged well—why was Dick Lugar worth making fun of back in 1995? But the tone is always bright and genial, and gags about car alarms and corruption are deathless.

More support, if any were needed, that Trillin is a leading humorist, even if some dust clings to a few of the essays and poems.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 1, 2011

There's no such thing as "quite enough" of Trillin, which this collection should prove by offering highlights of his best work. Worth considering even if you have all his other books.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2011
A Yale-educated midwesterner with a long career as a writer and particularly keen eyes and good ears for regional quirks, Trillin has a treasury of essays to offer. This collection covers 40 years of observations that have appeared in the New Yorker, the Nation, the New York Times, and various books. It begins with biographical reflections on nicknames, dubious talents, and hometown remembrances of Kansas City. It goes on to skewer the media with a 1983 perspective on the revamped Vanity Fair and insider observations on the New Yorker. In a section devoted to 20 years of politics, Trillin offers short poems to a gallery of political figures that includes Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, and Donald Trump. Trillin's family observations include a loving tribute to his wife, Alice, who died in 2001, and recollections of how fatherhood changed him as a person and a writer. Trillin fans will love this long look back over his career. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: This collection of preeminent humorist Calvin Trillin's essays is slated to receive national review and media attention.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)