The latest in a long line of memoirs about being young in New York, Lucking Out chronicles the rough-and-tumble 1970s from the perspective of Vanity Fair cultural critic James Wolcott. He's divided the decade into roughly three sections, recounting his relationship with film critic Pauline Kael; his time among the punk rockers at CBGB; and his take on the decade's enthrallment with both sex and dance.
Readers of Wolcott's columns will recognize his distinctive voice--enamored with culture both high and pop, intellectual but just a tad flip--in Lucking Out. He roves from subject to subject, lighting on various movies, music and novels while leaving room for plenty of inside scoop. We hear about characters populating the Village Voice, Kael's tiffs with thinkers and moviemakers, and personalities from bands like the Ramones and the Talking Heads. It's a portrait of a time and place that should thrill readers who enjoyed Patti Smith's Just Kids.
But this isn't just a collection of gossip or "I was there" moments. Relatively personal anecdotes--like returning home to a burgled apartment and registering not surprise, but worry for his cat's safety--speak volumes about the 1970s. Such stories may not reveal the internal dynamics of CBGB or Kael's clashes at the New Yorker, but they offer the kind of endearing, revealing detail that makes a memoir. And, of course, there's the entertaining once-upon-a-time quality of watching someone progress slowly through the ranks, struggling confidently upward in a media hierarchy that's long gone. --Kelly Faircloth, freelance writer