Sinatraland

This thing we have with celebrities is strange, and this book chronicles the illusion that we know these people in some intimate way. Actually I'm a little like Finkie (the narrator) myself. I grew up with rock and roll, but fell into Sinatraland the same spring and summer The Beatles came. I waited longingly for new Sinatra albums, movies, and concerts, and something about the man and his music just enthralled me. I should add, however, that I grew to feel almost as loyal to Jimmy Webb, Randy Newman, Brian Wilson, George Harrison, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, Mozart, Listz, and others. I admire great writers, great singers, and great music. STILL, there is something about Sinatra, something so intimate about his delivery, that I feel I knew him, or at least that he knew me, or perhaps, ultimately, that he knew the human soul better than almost anyone. Sounds stupid, especially to my mother, who grew up with Der Bingle. But there it is.

This is the work of a gifted poet and social satirist. Sinatraland is brilliantly funny, with a delicious sense of the absurd, and at the same time imbued with poignant insight into human foibles. The author has keenly observed pop culture of the sixties, for some of us, our parents' generation, epitomized by Frank Sinatra. You don't have to love Sinatra to appreciate this book. Actually, you might be better off if you're not a fan unless you're prepared to see your idol ever so gently and affectionately tarnished. Sinatra isn't really the subject of this book, after all.....

a good read; well researched. A strong inference that the great singer and arbiter of public taste hadd mob connections and a strong inference is gained that Frank was connected in some way with JFK's assasination! A fascinating cultural scouring written in epistolary style that grabbed me.

This life story in the form of letters to Frank Sinatra evokes a whole era and way of life--it reads true and the characters are flawed but loveable. I feel I could be reading about my own relatives.