Review: Silverstein & Me by Marv Gold
by Jenners • 10/21/2009 • 3 Stars, G Authors, Memoir, S Titles • 17 Comments
Title: Silverstein & MeISBN: 978-1-59709-151-0
Publishing Info: Red Hen Press, 2009
Number of Pages: 190
Book Category: Memoir
Marv Gold grew up with Shel Silverstein in Chicago and stayed in touch with him throughout his life. They meet in 1935 when Shel is 5 and Marv is 6. They instantly adopt a “big brother-little brother” type relationship—with Marv taking the lead and Shel following along. This pattern starts in grade school and continues through college—with Shel following Marv from school to school.
Eventually, Shel flunks out of one of his four colleges and is drafted into the Army, where he is finally able to pursue his passion for cartooning by drawing for Stars and Stripes. In the mid-1950s, his post-army career is jump-started by a lucky encounter with a young upstart magazine publisher named Hugh Hefner, who signs Shel as one of the first cartoonists for his new magazine Playboy. The relationship between Silverstein and Hefner—which led Shel to live in the Playboy Mansion for several years (when it was in Chicago)—was often contentious but lasted an astounding 40 years.
After cartooning, his next career phase was as children’s book author, where he wrote such well-known and loved books as The Light In the Attic, Where The Sidewalk Ends, The Missing Piece, and The Giving Tree. His unique point of view, simple line drawings and ability to create poems that spoke to children made him a giant in the children’s book field, which led to numerous awards and acclaim. During this phase of his career, he also recorded children’s albums, featuring readings of his poems and songs. This led to the next phase of his career—songwriting.
This was one aspect of Shel Silverstein’s career that was a surprise to me. Did you know he wrote the song “A Boy Named Sue” (made famous by Johnny Cash)? Or was responsible for many of Dr. Hook’s songs, including “Sylvia’s Mother” and “The Cover of the Rolling Stone”? Or wrote “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan”? Or that he was nominated for an Oscar for his song “I’m Checkin’ Out” for the movie Postcards from the Edge? Many of his songs seem to have a comedy or novelty aspect to them, but I’m sure you’ve heard of at least one of them—and I bet you didn’t know Shel Silverstein had anything to do with them.
His career came to an end when he was found dead in his home in Key West, where he had lived a reclusive lifestyle for several years. The cause of death was heart failure. He was 67.
The book opens with Marv Gold receiving word of his friend’s death and his reaction to it, which involves hearing Shel’s voice singing to him. He seeks help from a therapist to come to terms with the loss of his friend (though I’m unclear whether this was a literary device for framing the book or if Marv Gold actually did see a therapist) and along the way he remembers the type of person Shel was and how his multi-faceted career developed. At the end of the book, he is able to make peace with his loss and the singing voice stops.
This was one of several areas of this book where I was unsure whether Mr. Gold was trying to be clever or was recounting actual events. The sections where he talks to his therapist are a bit gimmicky and somewhat off-putting. In addition, I found some of the early parts of the book difficult to read because they were written in a choppy almost fragmentary way and often interspersed with song lyrics. An example:
Then it happened—
Sure as hell that same rasping voice was back.
Jeepers, Creepers, Where’d you get them peepers,
Jeepers, Creepers, Where’d you get those—I sat up and finished the line—”Eyes! Not bad, Mr. Shel. Not great, but not bad. However, as Jolson used to say, “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”
Then I belted back my own favorite—
I’m sitting on top, top of the world
Just a-rolling along, just a-rolling along
I’m quitting the blues of the world,
Just a-singing a song, a-singing a song!A chill wind blew over the shoreline, and I grinned.
He was gone. Silence at last. Where did it all go?
Where did it all begin? Were we in first grade? No, I went to Funston on Central Park, and Shel went to Darwin on Belden. Was it in the old neighborhood? Yes. On California Avenue? Not quite. Logan Square? Yes. How old was I? Maybe six. So Shel must have been five.
But where did it really begin? With our backgrounds? Maybe. We were both Jewish. We both had immigrant Hungarian parents. Lower middle class upbringing. We both had simple, colorless childhoods. We liked to read, draw and write and that was about it.
As the book progressed though, the writing becomes a little more focused and straightforward. And I remember thinking toward the end of the book: “The writing is downright lucid now.” In a way, the early parts of the book are like listening to one of your older relatives tell a story—filled with starts and stops, tangents, non-sequiters, details you don’t understand, slang that is unfamiliar. Eventually, you start to get into the rhythm of your relative’s speech patterns, but it is a bit of work. For these reasons, this book might work better as an audio book rather than as a printed book.
The book is filled with drawings by the author (who also studied cartooning) that serve to illustrate the story. In addition, the book contains a Shel Silverstein FAQ (written by the author) that is fairly straightforward and a bibliography of Shel’s personal details, career, artistic works and awards.
My Final Recommendation
Why and Where I Got The Book I want to thank Paula Krapf of Author Marketing Experts for providing me with a review copy of this book.
I never knew anything about Shel Silverstein. I guess when I think about it I often don't know enough about the author whose book I am reading. My son loved The Giving Tree. I used to read it to him over and over and over…
I was fascinated by your review. I adore several of Shel Silversteain's books but knew little about the man. He sounds like a starnge but very talented man, maybe a genius? I'm not as impressed with the author of the book based on some of the tings you said about how he wrote it. I'm a little suspicious of his reasons for writing the book, too. Oh well! Thanks for a wonderful post!
I didn't know about Shel Silverstein's career as a songwriter! Definitely a surprise to me. He sounds like he was a very interesting man. I've always loved his poems.
This book sounds interesting-I'm not really interested in non fiction books, but I did love Shel Silverstein growing up. I'll have to keep this one in mind.
Where the Sidewalk Ends was one of my childhood favorites. His song writing skills come as a complete surprise, though!
Not sure I could do a memoir, though. I'm not a fan of memoirs in general (unless it's a travel memoir, then I'm all over it), especially not ones written by celebrity friends.
shel silverstein was huge when i was a kid in the 80s–i remember putting 'where the sidewalk ends' on my bookfair list in grammar school.
i received (and still have the book) and can recite several of my favorite poems to this day.
i wish that there was a more well-rounded biography of silverstein out there–i would definitely read it. it sounds like gold did have a past with shel but struggled to depict him in the memoir after they grew older (and apart).
great review–honest with support!
I carried around my copy of A light in the attic for a few months in about 5th grade. My parents said it was angst. I would read this book just to find out more parts of this unique artist. Thanks for your review.
This was a very informative post. We read all the books with our children but that's all I knew of him. It's nice to know all the rest.
I've heard of this and thought it sounded pretty interesting, but I don't know if I care enough about Silverstein to read it. Is that bad of me? LOL.
BTW, so no Novella Challenge for you, huh? Not even one little itty bitty novella? Well, if your mom is in town, I understand…I guess…
Very good review, loads of info!!
I have something for you HERE
I loved his books / poems when I was younger (and I still do) But I'm not sure I would be all that interested in this book. I have never been a huge fan of memoirs to begin with. I like reading about other people's lives (that's why I read blogs!) but to sit and read a whole book about one person can be difficult at times!
But one thing I remember clearly though, is when I was in grade 6, there was a poetry contest of some sort, I can't remember how it went but all the grade 6's (maybe grade 5's too?? probably I can't remember, might've been all the secondary students) in the whole city all gathered in one spot and each class read a poem. Our poem was the one about Peggy Ann McKay not wanting to go to school. Do you know it?
I can not go to school to school today said little peggy ann mckay I have the measles and the mumps a gash a rash and purple bumps (it goes on and on… lol)
My son loved Shel Silverstein's books. I had no idea he was a cartoonist for Playboy as well. I love memoirs and biographies, but I'm not so sure this one is for me.
Good review-although I think I will pass on reading it.
I also didn't know about "A Boy Named Sue." Apparently that was THE most popular song at the famous Folsum Prison concert at which it was performed. Interesting to find out about where it came from!
The 'Homework Machine' is still one of my favorite poems, and I read all of his children's books growing up. What a fascinating piece of information on a 'Boy Named Sue'. I had no idea. I'll be hopping over to enter the giveaway! Thanks for reviewing and hosting.
Well I definitely learned some things from your review that I didn't know before (like the part about "A Boy Named Sue" – love that song).
I think the writing style might be off-putting to me too though.
Hmm this sounds interesting. I am not sure with out your review I would have ever considered reading a memoir about someone like Silverstein. However his poetry books were always some of my all time favorites when I was young. It sounds like from your review there was soo much more to him it would be interesting to read about.