Reviews for Irwin Shaw

The average rating for Irwin Shaw based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-07-31 00:00:00 Todd Browm I liked "Rich Man, Poor Man" and a couple of short stories by Irwin Shaw. So, I read this biography of Shaw by Schnayerson, unsure as to whether Shaw belonged in the pantheon of great American writers. Schnayerson made me much more aware of the range of Shaw, who hobnobbed with the glitterati of the time and went head to head with the tough writers of that era like Hemingway, who admitted to Irwin's superior skill at boxing. for example. You can tell that Shaw worked hard at his craft and having been a newspaper reporter, like his sparring partner, he could work in tight spaces. In a way, he reminds me of another contemporary of his--Sloan Wilson, who wrote what he knew, slogged on, and gave us fine entertainment. I might re-read this biography; but I will definitely go into my library and pull out a novel or short stories by Irwin Shaw.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-02-04 00:00:00 Wally Majors This book is weirdly targeted... I found it in the YA biography section, but it's not really "for the young." It's for adults interested in young adult lit. It's part memoir, part reflection on how YA writing has changed over the course of Peck's long career, and part analysis of his own oeuvre. Turns out Peck is a bit of a curmudgeon! In this volume he really lets out all the "those kids and their cars and their malls and their email and their disrespect for authority" rants he's been holding in. You've got to respect the guy - he's in his 80s but he still goes out and visits schools and works deeply not to moralize at kids, but to wrap up his lessons in compelling, timely fiction. Also, I'd known that he grew up in central IL as my dad did, and had naturally been drawn to his books set there. But I'm glad I read this because it turns out the setting is actually the smallll town of Cerro Gordo - his father's hometown as well as my own grandmother's! I doublechecked with my dad and he was all "Oh sure, there were some Pecks there. One of the families owned a store and used to give Granny Bea a discount on canned goods, they were some kind of distant cousins..." There you have it.