Be Infinitely Brave
Reviewed July 21, 2013
Remember the good ol' days? Days when we were supremely
confident we had all the answers to life yet feared that perhaps we
didn't? Days when love seemed so simple, but wasn't? Days when our
dreams seemed only a heartbeat away, but weren't? Days when adulthood
began its incessant pull while we clung to the familiarity of youth with
all our might? Alex Stein captures those days and far, far more in "No,
Mr. Bond, I Expect Your Dreams to Die."
Although seemingly written for spoken performance, the various stories here work well in print. Despite Stein's deceptively informal style, each moves along crisply, making for an easy read. Don't get in too big a rush, however, or you'll miss some of the nuances and quirks that makes this not just a fun read but a thoughtful one.
One of the things that struck me immediately upon reading was that Stein's thought processes seem to often work like mine, darting here and there, seeming to fixate for a moment before moving on. Stein even admits in the book that as a young man, "I hadn't yet figured out that not everyone is interested in everything I'm interested in and that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for the obscure and bizarre connections I may have made." Obscure or not, they're universal feelings and observations, ranging from philosophy and music to sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. And, oh, the movie business and growing up. As Stein observes, "I needed the real thing because the fake stuff, no matter how wonderful and titillating and exotic, quickly feels much worse than nothing at all." In other words, many of his stories leave you thinking.
On the lighter side, you'll read about how, after years of wanting a dog, Stein gave in to his wife Amy and got a cat. Yes, the man who made the movie "Mush" about the Iditarod, Alaska's famous sled dog race, is owned by a cat. Sitka P. Coldfoot, to be exact. (2023 note, Sitka has left us but it took two cats to replace Sitka) I won't ruin the story behind the name except to say Stein's connections to Alaska go beyond the Iditarod. I mean, how many LA couples do you know who were married north of the Arctic Circle?
And...and...and...there is so much I could say but I'll settle for "Check this one out!" It's about growing up and the many forks and bumps in the road we encounter, to use a cliche, and you'll discover the meaning behind the book title and the title given this review.
Although seemingly written for spoken performance, the various stories here work well in print. Despite Stein's deceptively informal style, each moves along crisply, making for an easy read. Don't get in too big a rush, however, or you'll miss some of the nuances and quirks that makes this not just a fun read but a thoughtful one.
One of the things that struck me immediately upon reading was that Stein's thought processes seem to often work like mine, darting here and there, seeming to fixate for a moment before moving on. Stein even admits in the book that as a young man, "I hadn't yet figured out that not everyone is interested in everything I'm interested in and that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for the obscure and bizarre connections I may have made." Obscure or not, they're universal feelings and observations, ranging from philosophy and music to sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. And, oh, the movie business and growing up. As Stein observes, "I needed the real thing because the fake stuff, no matter how wonderful and titillating and exotic, quickly feels much worse than nothing at all." In other words, many of his stories leave you thinking.
On the lighter side, you'll read about how, after years of wanting a dog, Stein gave in to his wife Amy and got a cat. Yes, the man who made the movie "Mush" about the Iditarod, Alaska's famous sled dog race, is owned by a cat. Sitka P. Coldfoot, to be exact. (2023 note, Sitka has left us but it took two cats to replace Sitka) I won't ruin the story behind the name except to say Stein's connections to Alaska go beyond the Iditarod. I mean, how many LA couples do you know who were married north of the Arctic Circle?
And...and...and...there is so much I could say but I'll settle for "Check this one out!" It's about growing up and the many forks and bumps in the road we encounter, to use a cliche, and you'll discover the meaning behind the book title and the title given this review.
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