Icebear
Andlig Ledare
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
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Joe Posnanski's tome Paterno hit the bookstores yesterday. From the opening Prelude story in Flatbush about William Blatty of The Exhorcist fame to the end it is the best work I have read that presents the man we have known in Central PA, warts and all. He covers the story all the way through Joe's death. Posnansky firmly asserts that the only thing that JoePA asked is that Giuseppe,(Joe's name for Posnansky), "Tell the Truth." He says that neither Joe nor anyone in the family ever asked him to alter anything in telling Joe's story and he doesn't pull any punches along the way. We can only hope that we will get a full telling of Geno's story of this quality someday.
Posnansky's writing style is very comfortable story telling. He is very gifted at his craft. I am about halfway through but admittedly jumped to the end to see how Posnansky handled the last few months of Joe's life.
From one of Amazon's reviews:
"Let me first point out that Joe Posnanski's style is such that you forget you are reading a biography of the most hated and/or loved person in America, right now. I wanted to read this book, but not to learn more about Joe Paterno; I've read it all; "No Ordinary Joe," "The Lion in Autumn," etc. And to be honest folks, there isn't much new about Joe Paterno, the human, in this book. But, Mr. Posnanski has a way with words to make us realize that Mr. Paterno was a person. He had a mother and a father; his own children, and grandchildren. And then he had his football team, which was his life. Football is ultimately what made Joe tick. If the various biographies written about him didn't drill that point, Mr. Posnanski did, whether he meant to or not."
....
"Why 5-stars? Because this book is extremely well written and I was able to read about all the good times. Still, I realize that as of today, outside of Nittany Nation, Joe isn't going to be remembered for any of that. He's going to be remembered for the last 100 pages of this book. And that makes me incredibly sad. So I wept for Joe. I wept for the victims. And I wept for PSU. Because none of what Jerry Sandusky represents is what any of that place has been about; and those kids lives are ruined--forever. And it all makes me very sad."
Posnansky's writing style is very comfortable story telling. He is very gifted at his craft. I am about halfway through but admittedly jumped to the end to see how Posnansky handled the last few months of Joe's life.
From one of Amazon's reviews:
"Let me first point out that Joe Posnanski's style is such that you forget you are reading a biography of the most hated and/or loved person in America, right now. I wanted to read this book, but not to learn more about Joe Paterno; I've read it all; "No Ordinary Joe," "The Lion in Autumn," etc. And to be honest folks, there isn't much new about Joe Paterno, the human, in this book. But, Mr. Posnanski has a way with words to make us realize that Mr. Paterno was a person. He had a mother and a father; his own children, and grandchildren. And then he had his football team, which was his life. Football is ultimately what made Joe tick. If the various biographies written about him didn't drill that point, Mr. Posnanski did, whether he meant to or not."
....
"Why 5-stars? Because this book is extremely well written and I was able to read about all the good times. Still, I realize that as of today, outside of Nittany Nation, Joe isn't going to be remembered for any of that. He's going to be remembered for the last 100 pages of this book. And that makes me incredibly sad. So I wept for Joe. I wept for the victims. And I wept for PSU. Because none of what Jerry Sandusky represents is what any of that place has been about; and those kids lives are ruined--forever. And it all makes me very sad."