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Grady Harp
, September 03, 2007
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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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