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| Label: | Tim Gunn |
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Editorial Reviews
Tim Gunn - mentor to contestents on Project Runway, and author of A Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style and New York Times Bestseller Gunn's Golden Rules - recounts his tumultuous relationship with his father in this personal essay. Gunn's father, Bill, was a special agent who served as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's ghostwriter and lived his life according to a set of unbending routines. When Bill Gunn was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, his rigid habits seemingly preserved his sanity while alienating Tim and the rest of his family. Shaken, Not Stirred offers an intimate and heartfelt look into the life of one of fashion's most beloved icons.
Related Reviews
A look at the beginnings of a man of style and class
Tim Gunn shares with us another of his wonderful stories of life. Not fantastical tales, not lectures, not lessons about how to live life as defined others. He has a wonderful talent for finding humor and richness in the reality of things simply as they are, and the truth that we are not limited by those things but can find strength and limitless options in them instead. One of the most lovely things about him is that he urges us all to accept ourselves - warts and all - and celebrate our differences as we live our lives together.
In sharing the life of rituals and worries he observed in his father, he is honest and open about how these things influenced his development and even his mental health as he became an adult. He's brave enough to admit his concerns that the OCD and Alzheimer's Disease his father was so restricted and imprisoned by looms large in his conscience as he ages. In the end, he is realistic and genuine in his admission that letting go - even in the most ironic of circumstances - is a victory. He is - as always - the marvelous Tim Gunn we have come to know and love.
In sharing the life of rituals and worries he observed in his father, he is honest and open about how these things influenced his development and even his mental health as he became an adult. He's brave enough to admit his concerns that the OCD and Alzheimer's Disease his father was so restricted and imprisoned by looms large in his conscience as he ages. In the end, he is realistic and genuine in his admission that letting go - even in the most ironic of circumstances - is a victory. He is - as always - the marvelous Tim Gunn we have come to know and love.
Bavo For Tim Gunn!! A Great Short Read That Leaves You Aching For More!!
I, naturally, have seen Tim Gunn on both "Project Runway" and numerous talk shows from time to time, but have never known much about "the man," only his work. This beautifully written short story left me aching for more and more from Mr. Gunn!! I beg you, Mr. Gunn, please give us a full length book just about your life!! Gunn's writing style and honesty are addictive and this story is, all at once, touching, upsetting, heartfelt, and uplifting. "Shaken Not Stirred" left me crying out for more and I was so disappointed when Gunn's small peek at his life's story ended. This is a MUST READ if there ever was one!! Well worth $1.99--about the price of a bottle of soda and much longer lasting!! A superb read!!
A compelling story that makes me long for more
I was moved by Tim Gunn's video in the "It Gets Better" project, and I adore him on Project Runway, so it's not surprising I was drawn to this story. It's very well written and compelling -- and makes me want to hear more about how a person who grows up with such demons and shadows turns out to be the cheerful, optimistic and stylish mentor he is today.
Living a life crippled by routine and ritual
Tim Gunn presents himself as a son brutalized emotionally by an overbearing father whose life was given order and ultimately overtaken by an increasingly bizarre need for routines and rituals. What could be more terrifying for the son, then, to come to the realization that day by day he was becoming more and more like the father.
That is Gunn's story in this Kindle Single, a memoir of growing up in the 1950s in a family dominated by his father George William "Bill" Gunn, a tall, handsome, athletic man who could step right out of a "Mad Men" episode. Gunn the Elder was a G-Man who worked in the inner circles of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI where he was Hoover's ghostwriter and confidant.
Gunn's father was successful, polished and a person of habits - excessively, obsessively so. "His life was an amalgam of routines, or perhaps `rituals' is a more appropriate word. The way in which he ordered his life went beyond establishing a rhythm and cadence; it was what we would now almost certainly diagnose as obsessive-compulsive."
He was a person who was always right, and always things were done his way and on his schedule. When he got lost on his way to a restaurant and his wife correctly suggested turning right instead of left, Gunn's father insisted that the restaurant had moved since their last visit. Instead of a leaky roof causing upstairs water damage, Gunn's father pronounced that the spots on the ceiling were caused by squirrels in the attic, peeing. End of discussion.
In the memoir Gunn describes a series of increasing peculiar instances of his father's obsessive behavior which over time followed a trajectory that led from strange to deranged to demented. Eventually his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and confined to a nursing home.
Telling his father's story, Gunn describes becoming deeply troubled as he sees himself being caught up in a series of routines and habits of his own. He will do anything to not go out in the evening. He felt compelled to make his bed before getting dressed. He is uncomfortable taking on obligations and for that reason, he says, he has chosen to not become involved in a relationship or raise a family.
At 57 he says he's vigilant about his mental health and finds a great deal of satisfaction in breaking a habit. It means for him that he's not like his father. Gunn's story is a cautionary tale told in a way that's memorable but most of all compelling.
That is Gunn's story in this Kindle Single, a memoir of growing up in the 1950s in a family dominated by his father George William "Bill" Gunn, a tall, handsome, athletic man who could step right out of a "Mad Men" episode. Gunn the Elder was a G-Man who worked in the inner circles of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI where he was Hoover's ghostwriter and confidant.
Gunn's father was successful, polished and a person of habits - excessively, obsessively so. "His life was an amalgam of routines, or perhaps `rituals' is a more appropriate word. The way in which he ordered his life went beyond establishing a rhythm and cadence; it was what we would now almost certainly diagnose as obsessive-compulsive."
He was a person who was always right, and always things were done his way and on his schedule. When he got lost on his way to a restaurant and his wife correctly suggested turning right instead of left, Gunn's father insisted that the restaurant had moved since their last visit. Instead of a leaky roof causing upstairs water damage, Gunn's father pronounced that the spots on the ceiling were caused by squirrels in the attic, peeing. End of discussion.
In the memoir Gunn describes a series of increasing peculiar instances of his father's obsessive behavior which over time followed a trajectory that led from strange to deranged to demented. Eventually his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and confined to a nursing home.
Telling his father's story, Gunn describes becoming deeply troubled as he sees himself being caught up in a series of routines and habits of his own. He will do anything to not go out in the evening. He felt compelled to make his bed before getting dressed. He is uncomfortable taking on obligations and for that reason, he says, he has chosen to not become involved in a relationship or raise a family.
At 57 he says he's vigilant about his mental health and finds a great deal of satisfaction in breaking a habit. It means for him that he's not like his father. Gunn's story is a cautionary tale told in a way that's memorable but most of all compelling.
I loved Shaken, Not Stirred. I found the information about his father absolutely fascinating. It gave me a lot of insight into the 1950s culture and the families that were involved in government at the time. I also completely enjoyed finding out more about Tim Gunn and enjoyed his ability to laugh at himself.
I picked this out because I needed something quick to read, but found that it was just too quick for me! I need more Tim Gunn! So, I guess I will be buying his full-length book very soon.
Great story, great writing with wit and style--just what you'd expect from fastidious Tim Gunn.
I picked this out because I needed something quick to read, but found that it was just too quick for me! I need more Tim Gunn! So, I guess I will be buying his full-length book very soon.
Great story, great writing with wit and style--just what you'd expect from fastidious Tim Gunn.
If you've read Tim's last book, you don't need to read this. This as well-written, naturally, but really nothing new.
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His dad became J. Edgar Hoover's ghostwriter and "was responsible for Hoover's speeches, correspondence, articles, and books." I found this to be a well-written, fast-paced single.It's easy to see where the author got his sense of style. This is a personal look into his life. As a child of the fifties, he offers a unique perspective on a very special time in America and at a most unusual and, yet, quite typical family of the fifties.
This is a brief bio of a very interesting man and well worth the read.
Recommended.
-- Susanna K. Hutcheson