Reviews
Astonishing.ingenious. Stahl's a fabulous writer, tunneling deeply into Fatty's mind, creating a richly sympathetic voice that veers from wisecracks to woe, all brilliantly illuminating the humanity behind the clown mask and revealing a man starved for love., I, Fatty is all voice, and that voice-wisecracking, shrewd, bawdy, self-deprecating, and rueful-is a tour de force., I, Fatty is all voice, and that voice-wisecracking, shrewd, bawdy, self-deprecaating, and rueful-is a tour de force., Astonishing...ingenious. Stahl's a fabulous writer, tunneling deeply into Fatty's mind, creating a richly sympathetic voice that veers from wisecracks to woe, all brilliantly illuminating the humanity behind the clown mask and revealing a man starved for love., Jerry Stahl gives us a crash course in what the movies were, and are...Stahl explores [I, Fatty's] themes with intelligence and compassion., Jerry Stahl gives us a crash course in what the movies were, and are.Stahl explores [I, Fatty's] themes with intelligence and compassion., Fascinating...As channeled through Stahl, Arbuckle's memory is remarkably lucid, and his sense of pre- and post-gallows humor remains wonderfully intact., Jerry Stahl...is a better-than-Burroughs virtuoso when it comes to depicting every paranoid high and cold-kicking torment obtainable from the street and the medicine chest...Stahl has earned the blurbs he's picked up along the way from James Ellroy, Hubert Selby, Jr., and Jim Carroll, and has the right to be counted in their skanky, stylish company...A bona-fide novelist.
