Reading Response for Week 7

For the most part, I really, really liked "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold". I thought the physical descriptions were amazing to say the least. Talese's ability to capture everything really impressed me. The way he presents other details is also really well done. For example, Talese's six paragraph describes the song "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" in such a way that can only be described as pure dominance of his craft. Almost every character's disposition clearly comes through in the writing.

However, while the details were excellent, I had a hard time understanding Talese's presence throughout the piece. In some instances he includes himself, in others he just tells the story without much attribution. For example, at his daughter's birthday, was Talese there? Much of these anecdotes come off as being purely hear-say, and if they aren't, then stalker-ish. I think if the details were sprinkled with direct quotes from sources other than Sinatra this would be a better piece.