Between Panic and Desire has ratings and 37 reviews. chaptered essay on life under the influence of late 20th century American pop and political culture.
Table of contents
- Between Panic and Desire by Dinty W. Moore
- Book Review: Between Panic and Desire by Dinty W. Moore
- Between Panic & Desire
- See a Problem?
We know now, with certainly, that this is no simple little ride that we are on. Then when the narrative straightens a bit and we go on into shared historical events, the familiar is calming. At last, some facts that we know. Then suddenly there is a new twist. Our author combines his personal life with political events of the time and we come out laughing. It happens at the top of the hill when our author floats out the Boomer question: This question is often asked: Our author, as it turned out, was where most Boomer kids were then, in school.
He remembers where he was when he revealed who had done it. It is not a clean and neat process. Like the chapters before, these are not stacked, one on top of the other, as in regular books. Rather, we fall into a cauldron of facts, rise to new heights of awareness, and shoot through feelings and fights to discover new shapes, forms and ways of understanding. Our ability to balance is put to the test.
But as a child, in the early years of television, he studied the characters and scenes of regular programming to learn about life.
On television, fathers were seemingly plentiful, loving and approachable. Each one was perfect. They dressed nicely, acted politely and were always there when needed. What is wrong with this picture? Dinty and the reader are now on this quest together, forging on through this story, we will not be defeated. We follow him as he trudges through feelings of unrest in search of answers. Then, finally we learn that he finds his path, and begins studying, experimenting and writing. His launch into writing began, he recalls, came while on a helicopter ride home from covering the story of a major flood in Johnstown, Pa.
I was a gunner in Vietnam. The trees were filled with evil people trying hard to bring me down. At the beginning of the second section: Paranoia , we are treated to a conversation between the author and a telephone psychic who happens to be a member of a prominent political family. The response is sad, but most likely a freeing moment. Here Dinty provides insights into the study of patterns — recurring links, information, and formations in nature. He focuses on the attributes of the number 9. Nine, we learn, is to be taken seriously.
Between Panic and Desire by Dinty W. Moore
Before we receive our quiz at the end of this section, we learn how the author moved from writing as a journalist, to film making, then grant writing, in the chapter entitled: Our author makes note of his growing desire to write about the thoughts and ideas swimming in his head. He is an esteemed professor and a beloved family man. What happened in between is a fun, funny, thought-provoking and very human story. Dinty Moore, most often associated with a canned food product, is actually a character in the popular comic strip, Bringing Up Father.
By dissecting his character in an autopsy, the author reveals his physical, psychological and emotional states of being. Through details such as his height, weight actually he does not reveal this , hair, heart and more, he provides the reader with clues. It is now up to the reader. The reader must suture the truth together.
But we are not abandoned. Footnotes are provided to help us, providing us with further details and sometimes, the punch line of a joke. Refresh and try again.
Book Review: Between Panic and Desire by Dinty W. Moore
Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Between Panic and Desire by Dinty W. Between Panic and Desire 3. Blending narrative and quizzes, memory and numerology, and imagined interviews and conversations with dead presidents on TV, the book dizzily documents the disorienting experience of growing up in a postmodern world.
Hardcover , pages. Published March 1st by University of Nebraska Press. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Between Panic and Desire , please sign up. Be the first to ask a question about Between Panic and Desire. Lists with This Book.
Between Panic & Desire
Well, dang, I wrote the thing May 10, Sarah rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Moore has written a completely unexpected memoir. This series of linked essays with a quiz thrown in here and there for good measure follows the path of a single life through the cultural touchstones that that shaped all of us who are old enough to remember Nixon, Squeaky Fromme, and Mr. If you're not old enough to remember them, buy this for your father and write something on the inside flap like, "Thanks for not sending me hither and yon looking for a father figure, Dad!
Next time you call home for money, you'll be glad that you did. Sep 13, Ann rated it liked it. I love the idea of writing a generational memoir alongside a personal one, and this book is wonderfully inventive and playful. I also appreciated Moore's willingness to detail his years as a chronic potsmoker, which also means he had took on the long stretch of his young adulthood where not too much happened. Maybe this is why "chronic potsmoker" is not as popular a genre for memoir as "chronic alcoholic" is.
I have more reasons why I should like this more than I did, but rather than listing t I love the idea of writing a generational memoir alongside a personal one, and this book is wonderfully inventive and playful.
- Crossing the Goal: Playbook on the Virtues?
- !
- Nuts And Bolts of Project Management:Right Timing + Right Decision = SUCCESS?
- The Real Thomas Jefferson (American Classic Series).
- Between Panic and Desire.
I have more reasons why I should like this more than I did, but rather than listing them all, I think I'll just tell you some of the reasons why I didn't like it as much as I hoped. The idea of a generational memoir is pretty cool, but unfortunately the generation Moore is a member of is the Boomer. Basically all of the popular culture that was foisted upon the culture at large for the first 40 or so years of my life is their generational memoir.
I couldn't be sicker of them. Although the idea of a memoir that is lighter and less psychological is appealing, in this instance at least it felt kind of unsatisfying. And weirdly, still irritatingly self-absorbed. I don't mean to bash it. It was OK, a quick read, fairly light, frequently funny. It's probably suffering in comparison to So Long, See You Tomorrow, the last thing I finished, which was just totally freakin' awesome, and now that I think about, addresses some of these same themes in a much more subtle and satisfying way.
But on the bright side, no dogs died in this one. Feb 18, Jen Knox rated it really liked it.
I was really impressed with Moore's swift, witty style and his ability-one held by only the best essayists-to reflect his candid analysis of, well everything, without spending a single sentence disclaiming his stance or apologizing for the societal connections he draws. Green Jeans" was an awesome essay, and to this reader, it carried the whole book. Sep 30, Hannah rated it it was amazing. This cultural memoir literally had me laughing out loud slightly awkward. Smart, unusual and deeply poignant without ever feeling cheesy.
And the author was a favorite professor of mine so there's that. Dec 06, Annalee rated it really liked it Shelves: Between Panic and Desire is a blunt, engaging memoir of Dinty W. His autobiography is split into three parts: Panic, Paranoia, and Desire.
In part one, his narrative begins to blur into the narrative of the 60ss American generation, aided by the frequent pop culture and news interjections. The father figure shifts from his actual father, to popular father characters on television, and the Presidents of America.
He finds and pursues desire. My favorite aspect of Dinty W. Frequently, he stops and has a type of quiz section after a series of seemingly fragments of memories and pop culture, which ultimately connects the fragmented ideas he presents into how it applies to him and America. In the third section, one of his father-figures preforms an autopsy of the old Dinty Moore.
He presents his findings twice, expanding on the details of how Moore changed and confronted panic and focused on desire. In another section, he creates a dialogue between himself, a merging of a man who shot himself over the assertions of a TV Screen and a critical writer, a radio talk show host, and a sex obsessed musician, using their own, already stated words.
Oct 15, Matt rated it really liked it.
See a Problem?
A funny and strange book-- the reviews are largely accurate, that this book blends memoir and social history rather deftly. That seems like the kind of thing that lots of books do, but I feel like this one does the personal side a little more fully, that Moore is, more than the observing eye in those other books, a real character here, and a funny one at that. I also liked the frequent interruptions of recognizable other narrative modes-- the quizzes, for example.
I'm teaching this book next seme A funny and strange book-- the reviews are largely accurate, that this book blends memoir and social history rather deftly. I'm teaching this book next semester, so I'll spend more time with it, but I like the sections, the commonality and divergences in their organization, etc. It's a rich book, and I think my students will really like it. I'm not sure this is really a critique as much as it is a note to self, but the book is not cerebral like some other books I could name-- I'm thinking Monson, Bissell, even McPhee.
Not to say Moore isn't smart, just that this book doesn't go there, really. I like to be dazzled, so I kind of missed it, but I don't know if that's a fair criticism, and this book does offer a lot else to like, including a kind of dopily affable mensch at the center. Jan 27, Nita rated it it was amazing Shelves: Between Panic and Desire , Dinty W. The book weaves John F. I really enjoyed the ride.
Jun 06, Jason Dutton rated it liked it. If memory serves, the author calls this book an unconventional memoir, and I suppose that's true; he uses a format I've come to know as a hermit crab essay, or an essay that is sort of hidden within an outer shell that pretends to be something else. For instance, one of Moore's chapters is an autopsy of himself, and another is a list of encyclopedia entries.
- Surviving Street Patrol: The Officers Guide to Safe and Effective Policing?
- Australias Liquid Gold (MItchell Beazley Classic Wine Library).
- US Army, Technical Manual, TM 5-3805-254-34P, TRUCK, DUMP: 20-TON, 6X4, ON-OFF HIGHWAY, 71,000 GVW, ?
- Book Review: Between Panic and Desire by Dinty W. Moore – Coal Hill Review!
- Between Panic and Desire | Dinty W. Moore.
- Introduction to Jewish and Catholic Bioethics: A Comparative Analysis (Moral Traditions series)?
- Rejuvenated Jewels: New Designs for Vintage Treasures;
This works so far as the chapters are entertaining, and Moore does a good job of tying themes into different chapters, but I came away from If memory serves, the author calls this book an unconventional memoir, and I suppose that's true; he uses a format I've come to know as a hermit crab essay, or an essay that is sort of hidden within an outer shell that pretends to be something else.
This works so far as the chapters are entertaining, and Moore does a good job of tying themes into different chapters, but I came away from this book thinking he may well have sacrificed substance for entertainment. That's not necessarily a bad thing; his book is certainly more entertaining than some essays I've read that have much more depth.
I suppose it comes down to what you expect from a memoir, and I was expecting to be engaged more than I was. This book was a nice way to spend a couple hours, much like the television shows Moore keeps mentioning in his book, and much like television shows, the book did more to distract me than change me. Jan 28, Courtney rated it liked it Shelves: A bit uneven, and slightly repetitive, but overall engaging and fun. Moore describes Between Panic and Desire as a "cultural memoir," and this is a very apt term.
While it is primarily about his personal experiences as a lonely, isolated child and directionless, apathetic adult, it also explores how these states of being represent a larger conglomeration of collective emotions. Some pieces might be stronger or more compelling for those who share Moore's generational identity. Even when his writing didn't quite resonate with me, I enjoyed his storytelling style. The exploration of skewed perception was especially nifty. Sep 13, Alison rated it really liked it Shelves: I am so grateful for the story of your name.
My only previous exposure to Dinty and Moore strung together in a moniker was related to canned chili.