The New York Times reviews “I Am America (And So Can You!)” (SMALL SPOILERS)
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Two more sleepless nights before “I Am America (And So Can You!)” is finally unleashed onto the unsuspecting populace. Well, except for the it-getters. And finally, we hear from the New York Times about the book (subscription required). And it’s actually a pretty positive review.
It May Be a Book, but You Can Read It
By JANET MASLIN
Published: October 8, 2007Books are for pantywaists. Or at least that’s how “Stephen Colbert,” the excitable commentator played to rock-star perfection by Stephen Colbert, viewed them before he became a published author. Now comes the flip-flop, as Mr. Colbert brings the gale-force power of his promotional talents to the hawking of “I Am America (And So Can You!),” a booklike object with his face plastered on its cover. Books are still for pantywaists, but now they’re for souvenir-seeking denizens of what is modestly called the Colbert Nation.
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“America (the Book),” the “Daily Show” spinoff that is the prototype for “I Am America,” was also the collective effort of television staff writers trying to replicate their on-the-air style. But it was neither inspired by nor tethered to a single stellar character. That gave it room to maneuver through a wide range of subjects, as well as a gleeful, anything-goes spirit of adventure. The narrower “I Am America” sticks to ravings suitable for a mock Colbert memoir and further limits its range by avoiding explicit talk of government or politics — though it culminates in a reprint of Mr. Colbert’s blistering political speech delivered at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“I Am America” describes “heroes” as “people who did not skip ahead” to that speech “but read the book from start to finish as intended.” Heroism aside, to experience the speech in print is to understand what “I Am America” is missing.
Mr. Colbert and his staff write for a particular character with impeccable, deadpan delivery, and there is no book-worthy equivalent of what happens when the real McCoy gets near a microphone. The printed speech falls surprisingly flat. Neither this chapter nor the rest of “I Am America” is helped by little red annotations in the margins, though these, too, mimic a tactic that happens to be funny on TV.
Still, the sharp-elbowed Mr. Colbert will deservedly work his way toward the top of best-seller lists, no matter what he has to do to current competitors like Alan Greenspan, Ann Coulter, Oprah Winfrey, Eric Clapton or Mother Teresa. His book may not replicate a winning formula, but it’s certainly a valentine to his proven success. Its tone is typically dictatorial (this, to him, means a person whose book is dictated), as when it warns readers that “no image of me should ever be removed from this book for any purpose, including, but not exclusively: book reports, decorating walls, or placing in your wallet to imply our friendship.” Not for nothing does this book’s reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man feature Colbert eyeglasses and enlarged testicles as bonus features.
One point that I see in this review (and that I’ve seen in others) is that the reviewer says that a bit of the umph, for lack of a better way to paraphrase, is lost when translating the Colbert character into written form. Which I have to agree with somewhat. But that’s what the audiobook is for!
Then again, there are rumblings in the blogosphere about the book companies expecting fans to buy two or even three versions of the book. But that’s a whole other entry for a whole other day.
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3 Comments
October 7th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Not for nothing does this book’s reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man feature Colbert eyeglasses and enlarged testicles as bonus features.
o.O Um… What?
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October 7th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
@bowlofpetunias:
That reminded me – I meant to put Spoiler Alert in the header and forgot. Fixed it!
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October 8th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
“Mr. Colbert and his staff write for a particular character with impeccable, deadpan delivery, and there is no book-worthy equivalent of what happens when the real McCoy gets near a microphone.”
Ms. Maslin neglects the obvious point that most readers of this book who are familiar with TCR will already have that “impeccable deadpan” voice in their heads.
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