Anita and Abbie Hoffman, �To America with Love: Letters from the Underground�
This was written, obviously, after Abbie fled from drug charges. There are a year�s worth of letters between the Abbie and his wife Anita. The letters between the two were used as a basis for the film Steal This Movie, starring Janeane Garofalo and Vincent D�Onofrio.
By chance, I happened to watch this movie about two weeks before I read the book. Having read all of Hoffman�s own books, as well as one biography, I couldn�t believe how presumptuous it was. If I hadn�t read all these books, I wouldn�t have known what the hell was going on.
I just chalked it up to poor movie making. When I started the book, I figured it fill in all the missing gaps and make sense of what happened. After all, the book is nearly always better than the movie, right?
Well, no.
Since Hoffman was a fugitive, and they both knew Anita was being watched, they kept out any details of where he was, what he was doing, and people he saw. There is a statement in the preface by Anita, that certain parts were excised in order to protect others who were involved in Abbie�s disappearance.
This made sense in 1976, when this was first published, but as the book is now re-issued (in 2000, to tie-in with the movie), can we still not find out what the hell happened as most of these people are now dead? What we�re left with is like reading a blog. There are hidden meanings, veiled references, and self-editing to preserve trust and feelings of others, since, as I�m sure we�ve all found out, the Internet isn�t nearly as anonymous as we might have once thought.
And like a majority of blogs, it can sometimes be painfully boring. A lot of the time, they seem to be writing to each other because they feel they should be updating, not because they have anything to say.
By the way, I don�t have anything to say either, but I need to catch up on the 13 books waiting to be reviewed, so I guess I shouldn�t talk shit.
Anyhoo, what we�re left with in this book are things like, �Hey baby, I�ve been reading Erica Jong. She�s kinda interesting,� and comments about how certain kinds of weather make them sad.
If this were a blog here on diaryland instead of a book, I bet they would still have more people on their buddy list than I do. Somebody really needs to show me how to make banners.
Not that I have anything to say.
