Monday, December 31, 2012

The Empty Glass


I've finally finished reading The Empty Glass by J.I. Baker....  It's taken me two weeks to wade through the writing style. I was fascinated with the central theme of Marilyn Monroe's death and the questionable rulings on it and the book didn't disappoint when bringing up some of the shadier sides of politics and Hollywood at that time in history. There was so much to work with and yet the book left you feeling like you wanted more or that there was more to the story. I guess the biggest let down in the book was the character development. Too many lose ends and no one really stood out as a real character other than Ben Fitzgerald (and really you never understood why he was really even alive). Maybe it's the dismal circumstances he's in. Maybe it's his dismal choices. Maybe it's his dismal outlook on the dismal world and it's dismal occupants. Sorry, I digress, but in reality you do feel like doing yourself in by the end of the book. Pass the Nembutals. And that might just be what the author was trying to convey.


One small bit of the book that I found very interesting was the way they used tabloid radio (the TMZ of the time) to circulate lies and half truths to the public. Brain washing ala the entertainment media at it's inception.
Film Noir - love that description. Bleakness - check. Twisting plot - check. Dismal characters with dismal lives - check. Baker really did hit on those absolutes of the genre.

This book would probably make a really good movie. Visually you could bounce around from scene to scene and hopefully not lose your viewers as the story unfolds.

I'm checking this one off of my to-do list just in time to start a new and fresh 2013 list.

Happy New Year's!
And May Your Year Be Filled with Peace!

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