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Title: No knock-out punch for the man who would be Hemmingway.
Review: Mailer falls short; but thank heaven the book is far shorter than his dismal "Harlot's Ghost". The author's ego -- battling "The Old Man & The Sea" for short novel, and "Last Temptation" for literary significance (both Nobel efforts) -- work's at humility in the first person and in doing so fails as a writer. The writing is as weak as any in terms of basic expository rules; at times it is smug, which is 180-degrees from humble.No American author has neglected his responsibility to literature more than Mailer. Fictionalized Journalism does not a Nobel Prize earn. The fiction here is totally lacking; as are active verbs, visual descriptions, writing as showing rather than telling. It's as though Mailer read the New Testament and then summarized it to a cronie over a few drinks at the bar, wet-minded enough to use the first person.A Passionist's prayers at the fourteen stations would be more revealing and uplifting and honest.
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