Synopses & Reviews
Paralyzed from the neck down, Gordon Zahler rose from his deathbed to a fast-talking, Hollywood entrepreneur/idea man who traveled the world, lived hard, married, fantasized about water-skiing and chased his dreams to create one of the largest independent postproduction shops in Hollywood. While this is Jacobs' story about his coming to grips with his deformed uncle, himself and his mother, the silent victim to Gordon's recklessness,
Strange As It Seems is also a tip of the hat to the man who turned his back on the notion of I can't.
Review
"This amazing book is all heart. In Wheeler-Dealer, Chip Jacobs blends the skills of an investigative journalist, the glitz of Hollywood, and the smooth storytelling of fiction to weave a profile of his larger-than-life uncle that will leave you crying, laughing and gasping in wonder, often on the same page. Bravo!" Denise Hamilton, author of
Damage Control"Readers looking for a glamorous Hollywood story or a tale of gentle uplift should be warned: This is not that book. Instead, Chip Jacobs has written something far bettera witty, clear-eyed account of a charming and utterly impossible man whose ferocious willpower transformed his personal nightmare into a lifelong Technicolor hallucination." A. J. Langguth, author of My Vietnam
Review
Family memoirs are rife with grandiose tales of triumph over adversity, and while it would be easy to dismiss Jacobs portrait of his unorthodox uncle as another such unvarnished encomium, his professional background as an award-winning investigative journalist for the
Los Angeles Times,
LA Weekly, and
CNN prevents this from being so. With both dramatic flair and detached fairness, Jacobs eloquently reveals the soul of a charismatic and courageous character. Had Gordons career taken place on the screen instead of behind it, he would have been the Christopher Reeve of his day.”
Foreword ReviewsIts one of the most inspirational things one can see in the world a man who is paralyzed from the neck down deciding that invalidism isnt for him and making something of themselves
Wheeling the Deal is a brilliant and uplifting true story and is highly recommended for anyone in a similar position or has a relative there to open their eyes to the possibilities.” Midwest Book Review
This is one of those books that will take you a good week or so to read through (if you are an avid reader if not, maybe a little longer). Its a big book, in more ways than one. You will want to sink your teeth into this one, savor it, roll it around in your head
this author is one to watch. The writing is beautiful and grabbed me from the very start. But more than that, it felt honest. When hes at the fire with his family members, I was there with him. I felt that heat.” bookcrossing.com
"FDRs body and Sammy Glicks brain? No, but close and better. Mon Oncle dAmerique has nothing on Chip Jacobs Mon Oncle dHollywood, the picaresque, quadriplegic Gordon, who is at least as good a story as anything he helped to put on film: welfare case to Oscar-caliber movies, co-starring Ed Wood and Pope John XXIII, with snappy dialogue and auto crack-ups, lions and tiger rugs and TV bears, one Serene Highness and many spectacular lownesses. Gordon is a premiere citizen of Hollywood As She is Spoken unsentimental but believing utterly in the art of the possible.” Patt Morrison, award-winning columnist, commentator and author of RIO L.A.
Readers looking for a glamorous Hollywood story or a tale of gentle uplift should be warned: This is not that book. Instead, Chip Jacobs has written something far better a witty, clear-eyed account of a charming and utterly impossible man whose ferocious willpower transformed his personal nightmare into a lifelong Technicolor hallucination.” A. J. Langguth, author of Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution
About the Author
Chip Jacobs is the author of five other books:
Strange As It Seems: the Impossible Life of Gordon Zahler;
The Vicodin Thieves: Biopysing L.A.'s Grifters, Gloryhounds and Goliaths;
The Ascension of Jerry: Murder, Hitmen and the Making of L.A. Muckraker Jerry Schneiderman;
Smogtown: the Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles (with William J. Kelly); and the privately issued
Black Wednesday Boys. Jacobs' reporting has appeared in the
Los Angeles Times,
The New York Times,
CNN,
Bloomberg View, the
Daily News of Los AngelesLA Weekly, among other outlets. Jacobs, the recipient of numerous writing commendations, lives in Southern California. Visit chipjacobs.com to learn more.