Reviews for House of Cards: Love, Faith, and Other Social Expressions

The average rating for House of Cards: Love, Faith, and Other Social Expressions based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-01-03 00:00:00 Kevin Ripa I am disappointed that I have to give this book such a low rating, because I was hoping for so much more. The thing that is most troublesome, Dickerson is an excellent writer. The story flowed without and chunky plot or dialogue, and it was very readable. In fact, if it had been fiction, I would have probably given it a four; I wouldn't hesitate to pick up a novel by this author even after this book. I also like the inside look at how a company is the best in the world at what it does (Hallmark Cards) actually works. I would have enjoyed a book that focused on them. That said the problems I had with this memoir are many. First of all, why the hell is a 20 something writing a memoir? They haven't lived life yet and consequently their insights come across as self-indulgent tripe. This book is no exception. The title says he is a fundamentalist Christian, but when the book starts he is long past that; so it is a little deceptive. Plus he is extremely dismissive of all conservative values, as in he was an idiot who was brainwashed as a child who finally saw the light and became more intelligent. So if you hold conservative values you are admitting you are not very intelligent, or at least not has smart as the author. Then there is the virginity thing. He actually puts forward the Bill Clinton defense with a straight face. I voted for the man twice but even I can't do that, and I have never seen anyone else do it until now. The Bill Clinton defense? That is claiming not to have sexual relations, you are just getting blow jobs. That is an example of the nuanced intelligence you are supposed to get. His girlfriend of six years had been living apart from him while attending grad school up north; and she is extremely long suffering. He rationalized the only way he bring himself closer to her would be to receive a handjob from a prostitute. This is presented as an enlightened growth moment. Then we get to see him at work, both at his first job and then at Hallmark. He tells story after story about his work experience but never seems to see it the way the rest of us do. It reminded me of one of my old jobs. We were teamed up with partners and one guy among us had been through 5 partners in quick succession, always due to interpersonal problems that required an immediate transfer. He ended up in my region paired up with a very successful and genuinely nice guy. Inevitably they had problems which called for an intervention wherein this young man made the statement about his latest partner; "You have the same problem as my last five companions." He never once thought "Is it me?" All of Dickerson's work stories follow this pattern. His boss seems to get frustrated for no reason and calls him on the carpet. Instead of looking to change his behavior, or at least realize that he was wrong, he instead vilifies the complainer. They just don't get him, and he is awesome. The system is screwed up, not him. This is a company who through many years of trial and error has made themselves the best in the world at what they do, and they are the ones who just don't get it. His way is better because he is him. At one point there is a little bit of insight. He watches himself on a video made on his 30th birthday and notices that he may have a few social/interpersonal problems. Instead of exploring that and actually gaining some real insight into his life, he soon dismisses it as trivial and moves on. All he needs to do is shave his head and get some colored shirts. Trust me, to quote Scott Adams, that is like rotating the tires to fix a flat. So at the end I am frustrated. You can clearly see Dickerson's talent as a writer, he is very good. I also loved the insights to how Hallmark achieves its success. I think at the end I just found the author to self-indulgent and to immature. Liked I began, if he switches to fiction I will be right there, but this book just wasn't for me.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-02-20 00:00:00 Rene Maradiaga I suppose my main beef with "House of Cards" isn't quite Dickerson's fault, or even his publisher's, as the subtitle reads "Love, Faith, and Other Social Expressions." Nevertheless, in all the blurbs of praise I read about this memoir, including the three on the back, nobody mentioned that the book devotes a lot of time to thinking about Christianity in its various incarnations, interpretations of the bible, the nature of faith, and that sort of thing. I don't like books being surprisingly about Jesus. That being said, I devoured this puppy in three days, which is significant praise since I'm rarely able to make much reading time outside of my commute, and House of Cards was worth it. Dickerson is, indeed, self-effacing and honest and clever, and there's no reason for the reader to doubt his self-professed skills as a writer of greeting cards. Dickerson even deals shockingly well with his own history of Nice Guy Syndrome, and the related history of Kind Christian Disorder. He cops to his own over-eager sense of entitlement to women and respect and success, and the narration winks to Dickerson's hindsight understanding that being a decent person doesn't and shouldn't earn you any cookies. And that's a big deal. It's good to hear another writer articulate how much of the writing process has nothing at all to do with putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, that there's so much staring into space and seemingly-irrelevant reading and chit-chat that goes into it. I wish I could give these chapters to my boss, and anyone else who manages a staff of writers. Sometimes we really are goofing off, but often we just gotta shake the sillies out of our composition-brains. And Dickerson relays many an amusing anecdote about what that looked like for him at Hallmark, making me feel like way less of a weirdo. The opening pages unfortunately make a promise the rest of the book fails to live up to. We are treated to a slew of Dickerson's cartoons, greeting cards, love poems, and assorted other writings, which conspicuously disappear as he moves closer to his career at Hallmark. I'm sure that's a copyright thing, but those nuggets were the best part of the book, and I resent never getting them at the same volume again. To sum up, even in the estimation of this liberal Jew from the big city, Dickerson's debut memoir has a lot of promise and its fair share of genuine, resonant moments, not to mention wit and self-knowledge. I think the blurb on the back does the author a disservice in comparing him to David Sedaris: I'd rather read Dickerson. But maybe next time a more consistent Dickerson who makes good on expectations and is marketed a little more carefully. I get it, Jesus is a big thing to a lot of people. I'm just asking for fair warning.