Being There by Jerzy Kosinski
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Book Reviews of Being There
Book Review: Hilariously Written Commentary
Summary: 5 Stars
Chance, an idiot savant finds himself in situations where, by association with an extraordinarily rich and socially connected couple, his simple words are treated as metaphors for society's problems. He is quoted extensively all the while maintaining that he doesn't read, and constantly watches television. His sound bites infiltrate the highest echelons of government, and society, and unfortunately, the possibility of something like this happening seems all too likely.
Book Review: "I like to watch"
Summary: 5 Stars
Terrific, quick read that brilliantly satirizes the influence of television on our society, as well as our ability to delude ourselves into creating false icons. Chance is the Forrest Gump of the 70s, achieving great feats because he doesn't realize that he can't. Enjoy this one....much to chuckle and think about!Book Review: Wonderful, light read
Summary: 5 Stars
Simply a wonderful book b/c it brings you into the mind of a simple, friendly person who brings happiness to all around him. Don't watch the movie.Book Review: Take a Chance
Summary: 4 Stars
Jerzy Kosinski, the author of "Being There," had a long career as a distinguished author. After coming to the United States from his native Poland, Kosinski embarked on a writing career spanning nearly three decades. During this period he wrote nine novels and two collections of essays. The awards he collected over these years are too numerous to list here, but he did win an award for turning "Being There" into a screenplay. In the movie Peter Sellers played the role of Chauncey Gardiner (that's Sellers on the cover of the book, by the way). Jerzy Kosinski died in 1991.If you have seen the film version of this book, you already know what the story is about. Chauncey is a gardener for a wealthy old invalid referred to cryptically as the "Old Man." Poor old Chauncey doesn't have much going on upstairs; he cannot read or write, and his days are spent watching television and working in the garden. The Old Man adopted Chauncey when he was a small child, and maintains an iron grip over his life. Chauncey has never seen the outside world, never interacted with people beyond the gates of the house, or left any trace of himself in the outside world. He's a sort of modern day Robinson Crusoe, isolated on his own private island in the middle of our bustling world.
When the Old Man finally succumbs to his illnesses, Chauncey is left to his own devices in a world he has only seen on television. After a slight accident that occurs a few minutes after he leaves his cocoon, Chauncey finds himself quickly moving up in the world. He is "adopted" by Benjamin and EE Rand, a wealthy family. When Chauncey spouts a few vague aphorisms about gardening, the Rands misunderstand him and begin to believe that Chauncey is a brilliant, wealthy industrialist with intelligent insights into the business world. Chauncey's star continues to climb as every person who meets him, from the president to the Soviet ambassador, thinks he's a charming, insightful man. Chauncey appears on television, his quotes begin to pop up in newspapers, and his name is on the lips of everybody who is anybody. The world is going crazy for Chauncey Gardiner, while Chauncey remains blissfully ignorant of his newfound status. A large part of Chauncey's success comes from his good looks and wearing suits he took from the Old Man. If the image makes the man, Chauncey can't help but succeed.
The back cover of this edition declares that Kosinski's book is a scathing indictment of the media culture, and there is much to back up that assertion in the book. Chauncey's fascination with television is the only way he can relate to those he meets in the larger world. When meeting people, Chauncey remembers how people act on television, and then he mimics their behavior. Since Chauncey is essentially a blank slate (no one can discover anything about him because he has no background), he resembles one of the images he loves to watch on television. Like a television character, Chauncey has no substance. He lives in the present, with no past and no future. It is up to others to fill in the details of Chauncey's existence, and this is exactly what happens when everyone around him projects their own needs and wants on to Chauncey.
A particularly annoying incident in the book concerns a sexual encounter Chauncey has with a partygoer. There is no need for this encounter to take place, and it considerably cheapens the value of the book. Why Kosinski felt this sexual encounter needed to be included is a mystery. Whatever the reason, the addition of this situation dampens the simplicity and innocence of the story.
Overall, reading "Being There" is still a treat. The movie is highly recommended as well. Peter Sellers longed to play Chauncey for years, and does an excellent job with the role. If memory serves correctly, this was Peter Sellers's last film role. If you have already seen the film, be sure and read the book as well.
Book Review: How Sweet To Be An Idiot
Summary: 4 Stars
"Being There" is a novel about the capricious issue of existence and identity in the television age, yet it is told in the manner of a child's fable, with simple, often beautiful prose and a narrative as processed through the consciousness of a simpleton.
That simpleton, Chance the Gardener, a.k.a. Chauncey Gardiner, is cast out of the garden he has tended which has been all he has ever known of the world, left to fend for himself in uncaring Manhattan. A fortuitous accident leaves him in the care of a dying plutocrat and his young, sexually frustrated wife, for both of whom Chance is the perfect tabula rasa upon which to affix their aspirations and sensibilities. How soon before they guess at Chance's true nature, and kick him out of their world? Or will he somehow avoid detection, with his storehouse of borrowed phrases and techniques he has learned from television?
Jerzy Kosinski can't tell a joke to save his life, but he writes with beautiful clarity.
"And yet, with all its life, even at the peak of its bloom, the garden was its own graveyard," goes one early passage of Chance tending his garden. "Under every tree and bush lay rotten trunks and disintegrated and decomposing roots. It was hard to know which was more important: the garden's surface or the graveyard from which it grew and into which it was constantly lapsing."
If "Being There" the novel suffers from one thing, it's "Being There" the movie. There, Chance is played by the sublime Peter Sellers, who finds every glimmer of humor in Chance's character, adds some more, and yet carries Kosinski's character to metaphoric heights the author himself didn't envision. There's also the fact that the film plays more assuredly with the video medium that is a central theme in both stories, throwing up bits of real commercials and children's TV to play up against the plot shifts.
What the book has going for it is its use of fable-like elements that don't translate so well onto film. The Russian ambassador tells Chance that he has "that certain Krylovian touch," referring to a popular Russian fable-writer, and its true enough. Near the end of the book, we are told by a White House observer that the sequence of events that have brought Chance to global attention span fill just four days, which is clearly not in the realm of reality as we know it, especially given the soporific pace of events in the book.
There's an edge to this fable: The Russian ambassador goes on to send Chance a copy of Krylov's fables in the original Russian, which we discover has been taken from a recently arrested Jewish dissident. But characters who present a voice of skepticism in the film, like Louise the cook and Dr. Allenby, are absent here. So too, alas, is the film's finest single moment, its enigmatic ending which actually underlines the fairy-tale quality of this story.
Chance does have some self-knowledge in the book, just enough to wonder who he is and whether he will become two people when he appears on television, the Chance on TV and the Chance who watches. Within its simple constructs, Kosinski asks some deep questions and presents us with food for thought. Plus he doesn't take very many pages to do it. Fables work better when told fast. "Being There" is an adult fable told very well.