An extremely kind review of my book appeared on April 7th, on the website “Television Obscurities” (http://www.tvobscurities.com/).
The review says, in part: “I had no expectations prior to starting [the book], and no real idea of who Sue Bennett was, but after finishing it in late March I can say without hyperbole it was one of the best works on early television I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Fielding has done a remarkable job capturing a time period when television was new, broadcasts were live and those working in the medium were learning on their feet.”
The review says: “Fielding’s writing style can take some getting used to. He has a tendency to shift topics with brusque sentences, often introduced through an object, a kinescope, a television magazine, something connected to his mother’s past.”
Yet the reviewer also writes: “The Lucky Strike Papers is not a biography of Sue Bennett. At times, her name may not be mentioned for dozens of pages as Fielding delves into the production of Your Hit Parade. While this might seem somewhat curious, recall that the subtitle to Fielding’s work is not ‘Journeys Through My Mother’s Past’ but ‘Journeys Through My Mother’s Television Past.’ What he has accomplished with The Lucky Strike Papers is something more than a biography. Fielding has crafted a narrative unlike any other I have read, one that uses his mother’s television career as a focal point for a fascinating examination of the medium, one that relies on first-hand accounts, reviews, photographs and viewings of kinescopes.”
The full review can be found here: http://www.tvobscurities.com/2010/04/bookshelf-the-lucky-strike-papers/
