Matt "Hunter S." Taibbi

[Songbird]

I just spent about 2 hours reading the most fascinating piece of nouveau gonzo, Matt Taibbi's 5-chapter report from his Iraq embed.

I've read enough Hunter Thompson to feel confident enough to say Taibbi is as close to Hunter Thompson as we have in this profession right now. I spent $4.95 on this Rolling Stone just for this 5-chapter masterpiece; I hardly ever buy the magazine, just read it for free over coffee I paid for at Borders.

Anyway, he is part Hunter Thompson, part Private Joker, and fully Matt Taibbi. Part I talks about his embed with a bunch of always-lukcy Okies, and it thrusts the reader into the heart of the piece. The other chapters ring with compelling details — funny, sad, somber, truth — but I don't want to give anything away with anecdotes.

If you're a regular here, Matt, you did a fantastic job. But how did that Jonathan Franzen book at Abu Ghraib end anyway?!

 

[zimbabwe]

Are all 5 chapters in the same RS?

 

[Songbird]

Are all 5 chapters in the same RS?

Yes. I recommend reading all of them instead of putting the mag down. It gets to be daunting, but you'll have more of an appreciation for the overall impact.

 

[zimbabwe]

Thanks. Time for lunch and a trip to Borders.

 

[Songbird]

I should add that Taibbi isn't within 50 miles of Thompson — nobody is, or ever will be — but Hunter is the first person I thought of reading this.

They say something to the effect that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and this is so true by a specific paragraph Taibbi wrote, which is pure Hunter-esque. It begins "We were somewhere ... " but I'll leave the rest for you to read.

Disclaimer: I liked it, but others may not, so don't hate me if you do read it and think the piece sucked.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

I read "Spanking The Donkey," his 2004 campaign book and, frankly, it was such a slavish, lightweight disappointment that I'm reluctant to read anything the guy writes any more. For al his excesses, HST was a true original, a romantic who cared about the best principles of this country. Judging from the book, Taibbi learned all he flash and none of the substance. We get long sections about how ugly Karen Tumulty is and how big Jodi Wilgoren's ass is, and an endless eulogy for the juggernaut that was the Kucinich campaign, and a lot of Matt being smarter than the people he's on the bus with. HST believed in something, at least back in the Fear and Loathing days. This guy believes in invective, and in little else. I'll try this piece, though.

 

[Sly]

I like Matt Taibbi. His piece on the Lynddie England trial was one of the funniest pieces I've read in a long, long time.

 

[tyler durden 71351]

He did a great column tearing Tom DeLay to shreds when the Bugman announced he was leaving Congress. It was up there with the stuff HST did on Nixon and Mike Royko's stuff on Richard Daley. It was beautiful. It ought to be put on DeLay's tombstone. Check out the Rolling Stone from a couple of months ago, the one with a cartoon of W in a dunce cap.
Having said that Taibbi also did a stupid-ass bit about post-Katrina Biloxi that was pure-D whiny lefty claptrap.

 

[Huggy]

He did a great column tearing Tom DeLay to shreds when the Bugman announced he was leaving Congress. It was up there with the stuff HST did on Nixon and Mike Royko's stuff on Richard Daley. It was beautiful. It ought to be put on DeLay's tombstone. Check out the Rolling Stone from a couple of months ago, the one with a cartoon of W in a dunce cap.
Having said that Taibbi also did a stupid-ass bit about post-Katrina Biloxi that was pure-D whiny lefty claptrap.

The DeLay column was great stuff. He also did some funny **** from the Michael Jackson trial.

The new Rs just landed in my mailbox today so I haven't read his latest but I look forward to reading him more than any RS writer since P.J. O'Rourke.

 

[Chi City 81]

Guess I'm going out to pick up Rolling Stone.

 

[estreetband75]

His book on the campaign trail had its moments, but it's not like Hunter's or even Timothy Crouse's Boys On The Bus. But I would guess that's because there are fewer personalities on the bus (or campaign plane) these days and therefore, less crazy-ass stories.

Can't wait to read his Iraqi piece, tho.

 

[Chi City 81]

If you want to read it now, like me:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10687189/fort_apache_iraq/

 

[Moderator1]

Current Rolling Stone? Cover? I'll go get it tomorrow.

 

[Huggy]

Johnny Depp's on the cover. Issue 1004/1005, cover date July 13-27.....

 

[Moderator1]

Thanks much.

 

[jgmacg]

Having read it, Xanny, I disagree with you, and pretty emphatically. Which, as you stipulate, doesn't mean I don't like you. I like you fine, and always will.

I'm just not sure that the comparison to Dr. Thompson is quite right. Not only as a matter of stature, or originality, but style.

While Mr. Taibbi is clearly fingering some of the grace notes of the Gonzo style, I think the more obvious model for what he's trying to do here is Michael Herr. If you haven't yet read Dispatches, I urge you, and everyone on the board, to do so.

Though I commend Mr. Taibbi's work in general, and his efforts here in particular, this piece needed a much better edit than the one he got. It would have been a better, stronger piece at 3/4 this length, and with the weakest figurative language made right. I think it ends badly. I think Mr. Taibbi, wittingly or unwittlingly, makes himself too much the focus of the piece, which Dr. Thompson, despite his use of the first person, never did. I won't prattle on here about what I think could be improved in the piece, which is excellent in many ways, but will instead suggest this:

If you were inclined to do so, maybe you could have one of the Mods move this thread over to the Writers' Workshop sub-board and we could talk about it in terms of craft for the next few days. No hard or hurt feelings, just a purposeful deconstruction of the piece and why it works for you (and many others), but not for me. No harm, no foul if you don't care to do it, either.

Best,

jgmacg

 

[Songbird]

I've thought about the piece all day. The one crit I do have is wanting to see more hard factual reporting. There was probably a lot of things he saw he could've written about, but didn't. In that regard, I was let down.

And you are right about the overuse of "I" in his narratives. That's why I say he's not within 50 miles of Hunter. I just got sucked into the series. Your idea of breaking it down on the other board seems like a good one.

 

[Pencil Dick]

Isn't Taibbi's father the NBC correspondent, Mike Taibbi?

I like Matt's writing ... a lot. His "Bush Like Me" piece in Rolling Stone during the 2004 election, when he worked as a volunteer with the GOP campaign in Florida, was tremendous.

But his suck-fest of Sean Penn and their PR stunt while trying to rescue people in New Orleans last September (remember Penn's boat sinking?), WTF was that?

Let's wait awhile before tossing out comparisons to HST. 

 

[Songbird]

I may have misstepped in implying Taibbi is everything like Hunter. Some of the the things in the piece just reminded me of him, that's all.