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Deer In The Headlights: My Life In Sarah Palin's Crosshairs (2011)

by Levi Johnston(Favorite Author)

2.78 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1451651651 (ISBN13: 9781451651652)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Touchstone

review 1: In 1968, Andy Warhol predicted that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." How could he have foreseen this era of reality TV, where anyone who knows anyone gets to be a fleeting star? In this case, the star’s claim to fame is as the father of the baby of the daughter of the candidate who never became Vice President in 2008. His biography’s title, “Deer in the Headlights,” is quite appropriate, since he was apparently as dumbstruck as a daft young fawn during his rise into the national spotlight. There are some other animals he brings to mind: he's as cunning as a fruit-fly and as masterful as a gnat, to name a few. Portrayed as your prototypical Alaskan white boy, Johnston presumably emerged from the womb fully clad in camo, steering a... more monster truck with one hand and clutching a gun in the other. He is a self-proclaimed expert on all game animals of the Alaskan frontier, and likens his life experiences to tales of the hunt. Bristol Palin, for example, reminds him of a female black bear he closely encounters who refuses even to acknowledge his existence. Sarah Palin is like a sly black bear who snuck up to slaughter a hunter unsuspectingly enjoying the scenery on a bright Alaskan morning. Johnston compares himself to a studmuffin of a black bear, who piteously fell prey to hunters because of his naive failure at constant vigilance. Johnston paints the Palin siblings as Narnian creatures, inhabiting a mystical home in the tundra, where countless young nymphs with charmed names, such as Bristol, Willow, Piper, Track and Trig, bound in and out of the household, where parental guidance is missing, and the domain is ruled by wild children. Todd Palin is an absentee dad, brooding solitarily in his garage until the wee hours when he stalks into the living room to pass out on an armchair. Sarah Palin permanently hides herself in her room, stampeding in and out of the children’s lives whimsically, only to brush off her daughter’s pleas for attention, order fast food for her hungry clan, label her youngest son "my little retard," or proclaim things like, “I hate this friggin’ job [as Governor of Alaska]! I should be making some real money!”That this book is actually readable is testament that it was not independently written by the semi-literate high-school dropout who is named as sole author. His ghostwriters, to their credit, managed some authenticity by preserving the voice of the overconfident teenage would-be frat boy that likely represents Johnston’s true persona. Despite his cockiness, he is a bit endearing in his frankness; and sympathetic in his obvious inability to match the wiles of Palin’s teams of lawyers and PR crew. This book seemed, to be Johnston’s golden opportunity to relate his side of the story, and—most pointedly—to affirm Sarah Palin’s reputation as “the gift that keeps on giving.” The reader’s hilarity at the expense of Sarah, Bristol, or even Levi himself, won’t do any of these folks much harm. They have cashed in on their ridiculousness, and each one is laughing all the way to the bank.
review 2: "GoodReads" reviewer Ryan Field summed up this book quite well on March 13, 2012, "I would recommend the book to anyone as well written, fast paced, and nicely executed. And I'm going to give it five stars because it deserves all that and more." "Deer in the Headlights" serves as the fourth book I have read about someone who has fallen into Sarah Palin's "Crosshairs." All of them detail her aggressiveness and the resulting victims' permanently altered lives. Reading each one is like watching the movie, "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. No matter who is involved and how he/she changes his/her daily life to get away from Palin's focus, the end is always the same…another six weeks of winter; or, in this case, seemingly endless abuse.Levi Johnston is one of many people about whom I have read that have become Sarah Palin's designated enemies. People who detail their experiences in the other books do not necessarily have any type of relationship with one another. Consider the case of Palin's former Campaign Manager (Frank Bailey ["Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of our Tumultuous Years"]). He, admittedly, has been party to creating abusive situations toward innocent people that Sarah Palin has wanted destroyed (ie: Troopergate [Wooten]). First he has participated in the witch hunt. Second, he has become the hunted. Everything has changed for Bailey as it has for Johnston, and as it has for other victims.Unlike Bailey, I find Levi Johnston's perspective to be a refreshing one; and the book's flow makes it easy to understand who this young man is at-heart. Life is simple to him and he seems incredibly self-aware given his youth. He loves (loved) his "Babe" and his baby. He shares how he dropped out of high school and took a full-time position out on "The Slope" in order to be a good provider and give the mother of his baby everything she wanted in life. People like Bailey and Trooper Wooten lost their jobs due to Sarah Palin; Johnston claims that the same thing happened to him as well. This book shared how and why Levi took odd jobs and "went Hollywood." Each day we have the opportunity to re-examine our lives and change our priorities because this is what Levi has done. Johnston shares a story that we think we hear or read about everyday: a young couple in-love and experiencing a life that parallels the Romeo and Juliet scenario in that its forbidden by people with the most power. The only difference is that the couple does not commit suicide. We know this, but innocent relationships are shamefully killed. Levi Johnston's experiences with Sarah Palin can be representative of anyone of us in our daily relationships at work, in our neighborhoods, in divorce court, etc. Anyone who has been a victim of gossip should take pause, look inward and remember how it felt. We should all know better. This book should not be judged on how much/little the reader likes the characters. It can stand on its own and it makes me want to read additional books by the ghost writers (James and Lois Cowan) as well as about The Palins and the enormous state of Alaska. Any book that has that effect on a reader should easily earn its stars. less

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