No Guns, No Knives, No Personal Checks: The Tales of a San Francisco Cab Driver

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Victoria Tarrani, January 28, 2008 (view all comments by Victoria Tarrani)
Planning a laugh fest soon -- here it is!
Fast paced, quick wit, and lots of fun! If you've ever taken a taxi ride through busy streets and traffic jams trying to get some place quick, you'll get the deft wit and sardonic jousts of the San Francisco Taxi Driver in his daily chats. It's easy to imagine the partial conversations the cabby captures in his quick and thoroughly entertaining treks. The pace of the chatter pulls you into the action, swerving with the moving traffic, flinching with the close calls because you are part of the taxi ride. Try explaining gorgeous transgenders to bug-eyed boys from back home where girls are girls and look like it. Every page is loaded with the unexpected, and you'll find yourself shaking your head wondering why anyone would want to be a taxi driver. It does take a very special person! The four and a half stars are only because of some of the rough language -- they live with it, but not everyone wants to read it. It's top notch laughter!

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Grady Harp, September 3, 2007 (view all comments by Grady Harp)
And the Cabbie Can Write!

Larry Sager has made the best of a temporary situation when he, by force of cash need, signed up for the life and trials (and rich fodder for writing!) as a cab driver on the streets and hills of San Francisco. Sager has a rich background even beyond the scope of his current topic: he is a professional musician, a man who renovates those glorious San Francisco Victorians, and a member of the Black Professions - he is a lawyer. He is well schooled in writing and in film making, all of which add layers to the backbone of his foray into night cab driving adventures.

Sager's 'novel' is a matter of episodes in which he shares some of the dark humor and underbelly of life in San Francisco's night streets. For those who have watched late night television, some of the flavor of this book is similar to the camera-rigged cabs that act as Candid Camera to hookers, drunks, belligerent folks, and lovable sorts that just happen to pop in the available cab door. But where Sager beats the competition in this field is not his superb recounting of dialog from the varied passengers, but rather in his wise and fairly often shared sub rosa thoughts as he grapples with danger, disgust, human excrement, and fear. It is all told with great aplomb and each story is molded far better than mere recounting of incidents.

If there is a flaw in this book, for this reader that flaw is the comic book style of incidental illustrations by Shanon Essex. One wishes Sager had either gone all the way as a comic book or edited out the cartoons and even worse the drawn words that pepper the paragraphs. They are disruptive to the flow and make the book feel amateur - which it most certainly is not. Next time, and it seems certain there will be another book to come, perhaps Sager will have more confidence in his keen observations, reportage, an writing skills and leave the cartoons for other uses. Grady Harp

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taxistories, March 19, 2007 (view all comments by taxistories)
A wild ride through the streets of San Francisco. I missed the author when he appeared in Portland - but I didn't miss reading the novel. What a cast of characters and supposedly fiction - - some very familiar folks, 'cause I've done this gig too - And paging through the web site - confirms this is some real life stuff. I've already bought a couple for birthday presents. Great illustrations and a great cover. Cheers.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780978575106

Subtitle:

The Tales of a San Francisco Cab Driver

Author:

Sager, Larry

Publisher:

Everett Madison

Subject:

General

Subject:

General Fiction

Copyright:

2006

Edition Description:

Trade paper

Publication Date:

January 2006

Binding:

Paperback

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Y

Pages:

284

Dimensions:

9.20x5.86x.73 in. 1.04 lbs.