Initial Impressions: The Last Taxi Driver, by Lee Durkee - February 2022

[Tom, "Big Daddy"]

Comments on this board should be written with the assumption that not all readers have finished the book. Please avoid revealing any spoilers.

[Laura, "The Tall Woman"]

This is a little different mod choice for me but Ron Rash recommended so I’m going to give it a try. I’ll start next week. I think audio is available on hoopla. The paperback looks pretty thin so not too hefty in length.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

Ron Rash recommends is good enough for me, and my library has it. I'll probably start next week as well.

[Sara]

I will also attempt to start this next week. I like when we are all reading together. :o)

[Lori]

Not available at any of my libraries or on Libby. Hoopla has the audio only so I may give that a try even though I don’t usually do audio. It’s not very long so maybe…I also enjoy when we read together!

[Sara]

I will be listening to the Hoopla too, Lori. Not a fan of audio, but willing to give this a try.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I can never understand why Hoopla only does one version of some books, while others are offered in both audio and book form. Yes, a lot of fun when we read at the same time, makes for a lively discussion.

[Tom, "Big Daddy"]

I'll be listening to the audio although it won't be at the beginning of the month.

[Laura, "The Tall Woman"]

I started this one sooner than I thought. I have hard copy but also the audio. I think the audio may be a good choice.

I was renting a car through Turo this weekend and we had to spray the car with Ozium at drop off. I had never heard of it until this book. So I included a visual. My husband asked me a question and gave me a strange look when I snapped a pic.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/im...

[Sara]

That is so funny, Laura. I had never heard of it either, so I'm glad you posted. I'm enjoying listening to this (and I generally don't like audio). Already finding a lot of pathos behind the humor.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I'm picking it up at my library today.

[Sara]

"When do you stop being the taxi and start being the get away car?" good question, lol.

[Laura, "The Tall Woman"]

Possum story…car witch….with football watching& commentary thrown into the story is so southern.

[Sara]

I was liking this until I got to the possum, Laura. (view spoiler)[I have known a possum up close and personal and this was so animal abuse to me that I just couldn't put it into the perspective it was meant to have. I hated this chapter so much that I was tempted to just ditch the whole thing.

I think I am also a prude, because I think every other word does not need to be f...k. (hide spoiler)]

[Laura, "The Tall Woman"]

I get what you are saying Sara. However, this chapter they were high and drunk and I took it as a very embellished retelling of a story. But it was brutal. I think the language gives you an idea of the characters we are dealing with.

[Sara]

I agree that the language fits the character, which is why I find it tolerable to some extent.

I'm fascinated by the character of Stella.

[Laura, "The Tall Woman"]

That son, Tony.....

This is a different pick for me and I can totally see someone saying this isn't for me....but it's almost like a train wreck where you can't look away. Razor Girl, Tom's pick was like that. Not one I would choose on my own, but glad I read and it was sick and funny all rolled up in one.

In the front of the book are all these endorsements and the comments are ringing true. Maybe not " the best book I've read in years"-Chris Offutt HaHa!

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I just got started, two chapters in, so haven't reached the possum chapter yet. So far I like it, think it's funny, but we are definitely dealing with the dregs of society. I've never been in a taxi, but now understand why so many people refuse to ride in one.

[Kim]

Used to ride in the big black cabs in London, much different from the yellow cabs in NYC, and different again from “gypsy” cabs. This sounds very interesting.

[Sara]

My father drove a taxi when I was a kid as a second job. Of course, if anything untoward went on, he would never have told any of us, but I think it was a much nicer time and in a smaller community and that this would be much more what it would be like now and in a big city.

[Lori]

I got to the part about the Ozium spray and then I found I couldn't sit still. I need something to do with my eyes while listening because I start looking around and then I reach for my iPad and that doesn't work! I don't think I'm cut out for audio or I have ADHD?! 🤷‍♀️

I'm glad you guys are finding it humorous. I'm not sure this is my thing either. Funny story - when I was a teenager back in the 80's my then boyfriend, now husband, gave me a button (you know the kind we all wore on our clothes) that said "He who laughs last, probably didn't get the joke!" He had to explain that joke to me! 😝 If that doesn't tell you anything about my sense of humor, I don't know what will! 😊 Generally, my husband is the funny one in the family!

[Sara]

I have much the same problem with audio, Lori. I absolutely cannot listen to anything on audio that requires close concentration. I have to see the words on the page! This is easy enough to follow, although it is sliding downhill rapidly for me.

I wonder if anyone in the world has my sense of humor. I do laugh, but not generally at the things that capture the crowd. I love subtle wit (Violet, the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey slays me). In your face isn't my style at all. David Sedaris doesn't appeal to me either and everyone else I know loves him.

I might bail...we'll see.

[Terry]

I will comment when the final thoughts folder is opened.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

Maybe I'm less sensitive, or maybe I just hate possums, but that chapter didn't bother me. It seemed a little out of place, but that may become clear later. I can't listen either Lori, the same thing happens. I can't just sit still and concentrate on the narration, I get busy with something, then lose the train of thought in the book.

[Laura, "The Tall Woman"]

I’ve been thinking david sedaris the whole time. And I like his humor, it can be quite crude.
Sara, I don’t see this getting better for you. I’m not offended at all, if you abandon.

[Sara]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Sedaris. Thanks, Laura. I think it might be just as well that I spend the time on something else. I enjoyed the first chapter, for what it's worth.

I do love possums (Diane, you should have known my Petey), but I'm not good with any kind of senseless cruelty to animals. Imagine if he was saying he had done this to a dog. I know it isn't meant to be literal, its meant to be funny, but I could have lived without this image in my head forever.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

No need to continue with something that offends you, Sara. I've been there with other books and authors. Barry Hannah springs immediately to mind. I do love David Sedaris and see the comparison. Best to cut your losses and move on.

[Sara]

Thanks, Diane. I hope you guys all enjoy it. I'd better put Barry Hannah on my "avoid" list. :O)

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

Definitely!

[Laura, "The Tall Woman"]

And then there’s Anna….added Doctorow’s book, Worlds Fair to my TBR, I was intrigued.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I haven't gotten that far yet. Lou is an interesting character, a well read and introspective loser. I'm just as glad to see some of those people get out of his taxi as he is.

[Terry]

Living in Chicago, and pre-Covid, I was accustomed to take taxis from time to time. Sometimes it would be the fastest way for me to get to an appointment in the Loop, and much cheaper than parking! However, from the passenger’s viewpoint, I would say my taxi experience has been highly variable, from smelly cabs to pristine ones, sometimes with drivers that drive in too risky a way, and once with an insulting and somewhat scary driver. I have been known to ask to get out early and change to a different cab. “On second thought, I will get off at the next corner.” Luckily no accidents and no really bad outcomes.

[Laura, "The Tall Woman"]

Uber has certainly changed taxi services. I’d love to get some perspective from a pedal taxi cab. We used one in NYC one time and oh my, I was afraid the chain was going to pop off and kill us all. The kid weighed about 90 lbs pedaling me, husband and 4 year old kid. He had no business trying to pedal us but he took it as a challenge I guess.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

There are a lot of the pedi cabs here in Charleston. They can get around quicker than cars. Our driver once told us that pickups from the bars at night can get pretty nasty, with drunks vomiting and peeing all over the seats, but they just hose them down after the run. At least they're open air.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

"Your main job as a driver in Mississippi is to anticipate stupidity." That's great advice for any state in the Union, and overseas too. As a matter of fact, make every driver in your household read this chapter. NEVER BLINK YOUR HEADLIGHTS AT A UFO AND OTHER DRIVING TIPS FOR MISSISSIPPIANS. If you have a teen driver make them memorize it.

[K]

Yes, the section on the various drivers was great-----coulda written it myself re: oversize SUVs & pick-ups,def not limited to one state. In fact, I can't walk to the library w/out mocking xtra loud ones.Wildest taxi ride I've had was in Moscow,yes Russia. Winter, guy drove like mad in little Lada(?) communist-era sardine can taped together more than my old Toyota!

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

"Every other car on the road is trying to kill you." That's' what I told my daughter when she was learning to drive.

[Tom, "Big Daddy"]

Sara wrote: "I have much the same problem with audio, Lori. I absolutely cannot listen to anything on audio that requires close concentration.."

Do descriptions of running over possums really require that much concentration?

[Tom, "Big Daddy"]

This is very dark humor. My daughter's fiancé was in my car yesterday as I was listening to it and he commented "Let me guess, in the end he blows his brains out".

[Sara]

Tom wrote: "Sara wrote: "I have much the same problem with audio, Lori. I absolutely cannot listen to anything on audio that requires close concentration.."

Do descriptions of running over possums really requ..."

LOL. Nope, I wasn't having any problem with the audio on this one--just the subject matter.

[Pat]

Kind of frenetic - audio version is good but I listen to audio almost exclusively - best way to multi-task while hiking and walking.

[Judi]

Listening to the audio version. One thing I could relate to was the referencing Ode To Billy Joe. I could/can still play it in my brain. I shared the same mind set that summer. I spent that summer in rural Wisconsin. I also agree with some comments that question the reasoning for including the torture and killing of the possum in this story. I am half way through the book. I will complete it. Thus far I am not captured by the story. Perhaps that is because I am a Los Angeles, CA urban chick, A reach for me. I must say that I live in the foothills and live in peace with possums. We have plenty. They drink out of my fountain daily. I shall proceed with the book.

[Sara]

I think if you took out "possum" and substituted "dog" more people would find it objectionable. That is because more people know dogs than possums. :o)