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Hopper: A Journey Into The American Dream (2013)

by Tom Folsom(Favorite Author)

3.18 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

006220694X (ISBN13: 9780062206947)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

It Books

review 1: This isn't one of those thorough, completely chronological, academic biographies. You get the feeling Folsom wanted this to be as cool and strange and slightly off-center as Hopper himself. That aspect of it gets annoying, but maybe sometimes Folsom was able to use that tone in personal situations to get some interesting stories and quotes out of people, and to be able to fit them into the book. At times Folsom's tale gets too disjointed. Content is secondary to an attempt at style. I will need to read other sources to get a complete picture. That said, there are some good nuggets here, and the suggestion of some interesting patterns that will pop more readily and be more meaningful to readers who already have some knowledge of the eras, people, and places in Hopper'... mores world. Folsom's bio is a sort of a sketch with some color and now and then nice detail, but it's impressionistic at best.
review 2: Understanding Dennis Hopper, one of modern cinema's great iconoclasts, is perhaps a fool's errand. Notoriously willful, often contradictory, and at times frustratingly combative, Hopper's exploits make for great entertainment even as they confound. Folsom's biography is a good, quick read which helps to contextualize much of Hopper's career, but excepting a lengthy stretch on Easy Rider (and its ill-fated follow-up The Last Movie) the book skips hastily from one milestone to the next without ever delving into the degree of detail or psychological insight that its subject warrants. Folsom is a fine writer, but it is his voice rather than Hopper's which dominates the book. However slight, Hopper is nonetheless entertaining, as any insight into its singular subject is heartily welcomed. less

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