2008 Woodie Awards
President's Story is One Long Tome
Ashley Baldon
Issue date: 10/13/04 Section: Arts&Entertainment
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My Life by William Jefferson Clinton is a good read, if you're a politician, but as a work of art it is mostly lackluster.
One thing is for certain: Clinton's autobiography is a testament to his incredible powers of recall. Weighing in at a hefty 1000 pages, including acknowledgements and index, this book guarantees the reader more for their money.
In the book's acknowledgements, Clinton thanks his editor without whom, he writes, "This book might have been twice as long and half as good."
The autobiography of the 42nd President of the United States begins, as do all life stories--at the beginning.
"Early on the morning of August 19, 1946, I was born under a clear sky after a violent summer storm to a widowed mother in the Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, a town of about six thousand in southwest Arkansas, thirty-three miles east of the Texas border at Texarkana," Clinton begins.
The book doesn't earn much credit as thought-provoking literature, yet Clinton engages the reader with many stories of his childhood and youth--too many stories sometimes. Do we really need to know about the nine-pound tumor his aunt had on the inside of her leg?
Yet, his tales of boyhood are far more enjoyable than his stories of the mature politician. Once Bill grows up, this book is minimally enjoyable. Thankfully, the passages on his political life are strewn with amusing emotional reflections.
From early childhood, Clinton's destiny was to be a politician. A grade school teacher once told him that he would grow up either to be governor or to cause trouble. She was right on both accounts.
What is most fascinating about Clinton's early life is that the reader gains insight into the childhood memories that influenced his political personality.
"My mother once told me that after [my grandpa] died, she found some of his old account books from the grocery store with lots of unpaid bills from his customers... She recalled that he had told her that good people who were doing the best they could deserved to be able to feed their families and no matter how strapped he was, he never denied them groceries on credit. Maybe that's why I've always believed in food stamps," Clinton writes.
Clinton defines his life by politics. He remembers watching the political conventions on the first television set his family owned when most children at the time would rather be watching cartoons.
"But strange as it was for a kid of 10 years old, what really dominated my TV viewing that summer were the Republican and Democratic conventions. I sat on the floor right in front of the TV and watched them both, transfixed. It sounds crazy, but I felt right at home in the world of politics and politicians," he writes.
Reading this book requires commitment. "My Life" is for die-hard Bill Clinton fans, the politically curious, and those who have a lot of time.
"My Life" endeavors to answer the question that the American people ask of every president at one point or another: "What was he thinking?"
One thing is for certain: Clinton's autobiography is a testament to his incredible powers of recall. Weighing in at a hefty 1000 pages, including acknowledgements and index, this book guarantees the reader more for their money.
In the book's acknowledgements, Clinton thanks his editor without whom, he writes, "This book might have been twice as long and half as good."
The autobiography of the 42nd President of the United States begins, as do all life stories--at the beginning.
"Early on the morning of August 19, 1946, I was born under a clear sky after a violent summer storm to a widowed mother in the Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, a town of about six thousand in southwest Arkansas, thirty-three miles east of the Texas border at Texarkana," Clinton begins.
The book doesn't earn much credit as thought-provoking literature, yet Clinton engages the reader with many stories of his childhood and youth--too many stories sometimes. Do we really need to know about the nine-pound tumor his aunt had on the inside of her leg?
Yet, his tales of boyhood are far more enjoyable than his stories of the mature politician. Once Bill grows up, this book is minimally enjoyable. Thankfully, the passages on his political life are strewn with amusing emotional reflections.
From early childhood, Clinton's destiny was to be a politician. A grade school teacher once told him that he would grow up either to be governor or to cause trouble. She was right on both accounts.
What is most fascinating about Clinton's early life is that the reader gains insight into the childhood memories that influenced his political personality.
"My mother once told me that after [my grandpa] died, she found some of his old account books from the grocery store with lots of unpaid bills from his customers... She recalled that he had told her that good people who were doing the best they could deserved to be able to feed their families and no matter how strapped he was, he never denied them groceries on credit. Maybe that's why I've always believed in food stamps," Clinton writes.
Clinton defines his life by politics. He remembers watching the political conventions on the first television set his family owned when most children at the time would rather be watching cartoons.
"But strange as it was for a kid of 10 years old, what really dominated my TV viewing that summer were the Republican and Democratic conventions. I sat on the floor right in front of the TV and watched them both, transfixed. It sounds crazy, but I felt right at home in the world of politics and politicians," he writes.
Reading this book requires commitment. "My Life" is for die-hard Bill Clinton fans, the politically curious, and those who have a lot of time.
"My Life" endeavors to answer the question that the American people ask of every president at one point or another: "What was he thinking?"