A Book

A is for American Dream

As promised, mostly to myself, I started reading an A-book. I went for A by title not by author and selected An American Dream by Norman Mailer, an American Author (just look at those As). I quickly realized I had not read a thing by Mailer even though he's kind of famous. Despite the star-spangled banner of a title, the picture painted in this novel is no Normal Rockwell with housewives in red dresses in houses with white pickett fences and husbands with blue suits. In short, the book is about a man who attempts to commit suicide then changes his mind and decides to kill his wife because the moon tells him too (this all in the first chapter). That's something most Americans wouldn't dream of, but Mailer was no ordinary American. He almost killed his own wife (the second of six) in 1960 with a penknife...at a party. A true American, that man. An American Dream was released in 1964.

Here's an excerpt:

There are times when I like to think I still have my card in the intellectual's guild, but I seem to be joining compoany with that horde of the mediocre and the mad who listen to popular songs and act upon coincidence.

Here's an image of the bookcover featuring a picture strikingly similar to the one of Mailer above. How much of Mailer's American Dream was a real dream of his? Who knows?

Here are some other American things I like that seem quite unAmerican at times:

American Beauty (film)

American Psycho (film)

American Apparel (store)

And some American things that are wholly American which I do not care for:

American Idol (TV)

American Eagle (store)

American Girl (dolls)

There, now you have your answers prepared for when you are on American game show Family Feud and whoever the host is says, "Top 6 answers on the board, 100 people polled, and were asked to complete the phrase "American ______"