I’ve received a fair number of reviews for Last Night at the Viper Room, which I hugely appreciate; when you spend many months writing a book, it’s a blessing whenever people read it and consider it seriously. (When they actually like it, all the better.) In case you’re curious about what people who are not me think of the book, I’ve collected tastes of some of the recent items:

The Associated Press  (via the Minneapolis Star-Tribune website): “Edwards’ sensitive biography builds just the right tone for looking back at Phoenix’s life 20 years after his death: respect for his talents, admiration for his individuality and a subtle indignation for the tragedy to come.”

Vulture (a lovely review and essay by Jen Doll): “This is a book about a particular time, and it beautifully captures the weird Zeitgeist of the eighties and early nineties in a way that will remind those of us who were growing up at the time of not only River Phoenix, but also of ourselves at a younger age. Names checked and touchstone events cited: Ione Skye, the heyday of Alex P. Keaton, chubby Jerry O’Connell, ABC After-School Specials, the casting of Dead Poets Society, Anthony Kiedis, the first Lollapalooza, the year that Sundance really became something, Sassy magazine?”

The LA Weekly: “As Gavin Edwards details in his enormously compelling new biography of Phoenix and his era, Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind, the actor didn’t take that speedball knowingly. ”

USA Today (three stars out of four): “If only … That’s the thread that weaves through Last Night at the Viper Room, author Gavin Edwards’ insightful biography of River Phoenix, marking the 20th anniversary of the actor’s death.”

The Advocate Hot Sheet: “Phoenix, whose famous siblings Joaquin and Rain are still Hollywood fixtures today, is documented thoughtfully in this new minute-by-minute account of how he died, from bestselling author Gavin Edwards.”

posted 12 November 2013 in Buy My Stuff, Links and tagged Last Night at the Viper Room. no comments yet