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(3)
Decent Book, Great Guy
This book was not meant to be a nuanced portrait, so you won't like it if that is what you are looking for. Russert's tale is simple and straightforward. He's and trying to remember a lot of the good things he learned over his too-short life. Being from Buffalo, having met him in 1991, and being a big fan of his Meet The Press--yes, I had a lot of personal interest in the story. There is a lot that is missing that could have gone into the book, but then again, I would not have read a 1,000 page opus. What I like best is how the book showcases Tim--his optimism, his work ethic, his faith and his lack of pretense. And for that, its worth reading even if you aren't from Western New York.
(4)
Soft focus
In his career as journalist and host of NBC's Meet the Press, Tim Russert was known for being prepared. He asked the hard questions of his high-profile Sunday morning guests, and his astute coverage of U.S. political elections was legendary. Time Magazine named his as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008. When Russert died unexpectedly in June 2008, the outpouring of tributes was overwhelming.
Any person so well known and respected can be expected to write a book; people want to know all about the forces that shaped such a focused life, and we surely want to know all the secrets and details involving other players on the world stage. It's interesting that Tim Russert chose to write such a sentimental first book. There is nothing hard-hitting about this tender memoir. What books would he have given us, I wonder, if he'd lived out his expected life span?
Despite the title, this book is definitely a memoir. Timothy Joseph "Big Russ" Russert features in many scenes, but he was certainly not the author of the environment in which young Tim grew up. If you were born in America in the middle of the 20th century, the simple family values expressed in Big Russ and Me : Father and Son: Lessons of Life will feel almost excruciatingly poignant. If you were raised in the Catholic church and schools of that era, the details of Russert's primary years at "parochial school" will strike a chord. You may not have gone to an elite Jesuit high school, but perhaps you worked hard to put yourself through university in that time of upheaval; maybe that was a huge milestone for your family, a good degree from a good college. There were challenges; the death of the Kent State students rocked universities badly, and during the Vietnam War the student draft deferment was a powerful incentive to stay in school even for those who saw the social injustice in it.
If you are Irish American, you'll know exactly what Russert was feeling when John Kennedy was shot and killed. That painful time, John and Martin and then, unbelievably, Bobby ... these are some of the landmarks of Russert's youth, and if you are of that time, they're yours too.
If you grew up in South Buffalo as Russert did, don't even think about missing this book.
I'm not sure it's enough, from a man so steeped in American culture and politics. Russert goes on to tell of his work with Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Mario Cuomo, but the heart of "Big Russ and Me" is the American Dream as realized by baby boom families raising children in the 1950s and 60s. Those "Wonder Years" have a soft focus, and "Big Russ and Me" is a pleasant addition but gives us nothing new, asks no hard questions. It's a nice feel-good book and there's always room for that. Just know that's what you are getting, when you pick it up. Four stars.
Linda Bulger, 2009
Amazon.com
Veteran newsman and Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert is known for his direct and unpretentious style and in this charming memoir he explains why. Russert's father is profiled as a plainspoken World War II veteran who worked two blue-collar jobs while raising four kids in South Buffalo but the elder Russert's lessons on how to live an honest, disciplined, and ethical life are shown to be universal. Big Russ and Me, a sort of Greatest Generation meets Tuesdays with Morrie, could easily have become a sentimental pile of mush with a son wistfully recalling the wisdom of his beloved dad. But both Russerts are far too down-to-earth to let that happen and the emotional content of the book is made more direct, accessible, and palatable because of it. The relationship between father and son, contrary to what one would think of as essential to a riveting memoir, seems completely healthy and positive as Tim, the academically gifted kid and later the esteemed TV star and political operative relies on his old man, a career sanitation worker and newspaper truck driver, for advice. Big Russ and Me also traces Russert's life from working-class kid to one of broadcast journalism's top interviewers by introducing various influential figures who guided him along the way, including Jesuit teachers, nuns, his dad's drinking buddies, and, most notably, the late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whom Russert helped get elected in 1976. Plenty of entertaining anecdotes are served up along the way from schoolyard pranks to an attempt to book Pope John Paul II on the Today Show. Though not likely to revolutionize modern thought, Big Russ and Me will provide fathers and sons a chance to reflect on lessons learned between generations. --Charlie Williams
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