What My Hairdresser Knows

By Steven Gorrie

Book Overview

Poor Joe...just when he thought he was at that point in life where everything was supposed to be perfect...he thought he'd achieved everything he strived for only to discover he still wasn't content.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595147704
• ISBN13: 9780595147700
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An unsquinting stare into our mirror

What F. Scott Fitzgerald evoked in "This Side of Paradise" was the disillusionment of post-World War I's youth, and its plaintive search for meaning when life seems to have stripped all meaning away. The search continues in Steven Gorrie's excellent, brief, funny and, upon closer inspection, gut-wrenching novel. No, there is no Jazz Age, but a New Age here, an era of miracle medications, acupuncture cures, and recreational drugs that would make the Roaring Twenties' bathtub gin taste in comparison like a glass of your grandmother's apple cider. It's in this wonderland that Joe, the titular hairdresser, must wade without drowning. Though the novel is set in our millenial New York City, the true stage is inside Joe's tortured soul. In the hands of a less intelligent novelist, this story would have stayed put being a light comedy about hairdressers, their clientele, and gossip shouted over blow dryers. What Gorrie has done is show that a microculture that invests its time in appearances shelters a man who's torn up on the inside. The book reeks with humor; that's almost a given considering the source of its drama. The added ingredient of Joe, his pursuit of happiness, and his misteps along the way, lend an air of truly touching pathos that is rewarded in the reading, and sets this book high above what it might have been. Read this novel, take a glance into your looking glass, and see if Joe isn't staring back at you.

Laugh out loud, moden day fable

WHAT MY HAIRDRESSER KNOWS is a laugh out loud, modern day fable of the quest for meaning while navigating through the somewhat shallow waters of modern city life. Colorful characters abound in this modern day OZ, as seen from the perspective of the questing hairdresser Joe. Highly cinematic, the book is filled with lots of juicy parts--and I want to play all of them!

Beach Book With Brains

This was a quick and entertaining read without being silly. The use of NYC as another character was great and clients were hysterical.

A Very Fun Read

I highly recommend this novel. It was a highly entertaining and quick read. Excellent beach reading material, excellent subway reading material. Much of the story describes the quirky rich people who get their hair done at a swish New York hair salon and their semi-brushes with fame. Very funny stuff.