Too Fat to Fish by Artie Lange, Anthony Bozza
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Book Reviews of Too Fat to Fish
Book Review: Entertaining Quick Read
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an entertaining and quick read that details Arties life. If you are a Stern Fan, I recommend it.Book Review: A Collection of Interesting Stores in Transcript Form
Summary: 3 Stars
If you're a big fan of Artie Lange, you'll enjoy this book. If you have only a passing interest in him, as I do, it's only OK.
The style of the 'writing' feels like a transcript of stories read into a recorder and were promptly typed up and printed. It can be difficult to read at times because the train of thought wanders away from the original point or story. I'm obviously not a stickler for grammar or syntax, but the only way that I could get through it was to hear Artie's voice in my head. The writing is a definite distraction, but definitely Artie.
The stores are mostly interesting and a good profile of his life. However, for someone who has gone through so much turmoil and strife, I wouldn't call it gritty. The book seems like a cathartic exercise for him to admit a few wrong doings and apologize to some folks he's wronged. In a lot of places it feels a little shallow. Then again, it is an autobiography, and things may be that simple for Artie. It feels true and honest, but ultimately a bit flat for me.
I actually think that the audio book may have been more enjoyable so that I could hear Artie tell the stories in his own voice. Ultimately, it's an interesting profile of an addict and save for the fame he's enjoyed in his life, is probably extraordinarily similar to every other addict out there.
Book Review: Regular old addict stuff; I like Artie, not this book
Summary: 2 Stars
First of all, in an odd way, I do find myself not managing to hate Artie, despite his terrible behavior over the last several years, and his aggressive courting of failure, which he has finally managed to seduce in full.
Artie's book claims that he's being honest, and he tells a lot of drug stories. But the drug stories aren't very honest, because he didn't admit explicitly what we now know to be true: Artie had not kicked his addictions, and he doesn't have appeared to have tried very hard. If you didn't know anything about Artie, this book leads one to expect that he has gone onto great things. He also didn't discuss the very real failure of Beer League. A passion project? Give me a break! Beer League, like this book, are just vanity projects meant to squeeze every last drop out of his fleeting fame.
If I were his ghost writer, I would have insisted on a much different book being written.
Yet, as I sit here, thinking of Artie telling his story about the bookie threatening him with ashes on his forehead brings a smile to my face. There is something endearing about the guy. But one has to conclude that rather than trying to beat his demons, Artie feels entitled to embrace them, since he has had struggle in his life. How could a decent person do that to his mother? Didn't his mother and sister face the exact same struggle? Why did he feel the right to add to their burden? Artie never feels the need to bother to explain that.
With the benefit of hindsight, this book reads as a completely phony addict's memoir. His stories are not funny in the context of subsequent events, they are sad and predictable, and he has only himself to blame.
In one of the early chapters of this book, Artie pats himself on the back for making the courageous decision to try his hand at show business, quitting a steady union job. Of course this was a great decision, because it worked out so well, he implies. Now, I think even he would have to question whether that wasn't a huge mistake, and whether a life with less at stake would have forced him to be more accountable.
I do wish the guy well, and I think he could build a career on talking about his past mistakes, with one crucial addition: he would have to have REALLY learned to stop making them. I hope he is now at that point, but at the same time, it is not clear to me that a return to the spotlight is what is best for him.
But at the end of the day, this is not a good book at all.
Book Review: Disposable
Summary: 2 Stars
Artie has lead a relatively interesting life and can be a very good storyteller. It's become increasingly clear though to Stern Show listeners that part of that storytelling technique is gross exaggeration and outright lying. At heart, Artie's really interesting mostly as a case study in self-loathing and aggressive machismo. He can be very funny when in a reactive mode, however left to his own devices he's a repetitive, narcisistic boor.
As compared to Howard Stern's two books and Robin Quivers' book, each detailed and thoughtful, this is shallow and disposable. If you want to read it, it is probably possible to pick up a used copy as there are probably many around that once belonged to Stern Show fans who have tired of Artie.
Book Review: I rather go fishing.......
Summary: 1 Stars
A friend of mine who's a big Stern fan recommended that I read Artie Lange's book. I can't stand Stern, but I like reading biographies, and I thought this Artie person (who I've never heard of before) might be a cut above as a comedian. Boy was I mistaking.
The book is simply one of the dullest biographies I have ever read. Even Maureen McCormick's (aka Marcia Brady) train wreck biography had more humor than this "Fishing" garbage.
Half the book contains passages of Artie's childhood, which was so boring and provincial and uneventful, that I skipped over most of it.
The book gets a little bit more interesting when Artie starts to achieve some professional television gigs and reminisces about his MadTV days, where he self-identifies himself as a cocaine snorting swine. (Bingo!! Give the man a prize.)
Other than that, the book is just dull, and I don't think I even finished it. I just lost interest in the whole sordid tale.