Jill Lepore

"A "New Yorker" staff writer and Harvard historian chronicles the discovery of Joe Gould's long-lost manuscript, "The Oral History of Our Time," and of the violence, betrayals, and madness that led to its concealment,"--NoveList.

Joe Gould's Teeth

Daryl Houston

I picked this up somewhat randomly at a random bookstore in Oregon during a recent visit. The cover captured my attention, and I recognized Lepore's name, as she wrote a book about Wonder Woman that I purchased as a gift a few years ago (I've always meant to read that one but have never gotten around to it). The jacket copy made it seem compelling -- here was this bizarre Modern-literature-adjacent figure I had never heard of, though I'm pretty familiar with that period in English literature. And the book started off fascinatingly enough. But the deeper I got into it, the less satisfying it was. It was fine. It was a short read that cost me very little effort to get through. It just never really had a payoff. Maybe that's by design (minor spoilers ahead), given the lack of a satisfying payoff for the snipe hunt Lepore went on when writing the book. Maybe the book is mimetic of her experience hunting for the Gould manuscript. Even if there's such cleverness at play, it was ultimately only so satisfying to me. I liked the book well enough. I didn't like it a lot. I'm glad to've learned about Gould, at any rate (though glad never to've had to meet him!).

Nicholas Hanemann

"A "New Yorker" staff writer and Harvard historian chronicles the discovery of Joe Gould's long-lost manuscript, "The Oral History of Our Time," and of the violence, betrayals, and madness that led to its concealment, "--NoveList.

Joe Gould's Teeth

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