Cookie Mueller (1949–1989)

Autobiographical recollections from Cookie Mueller - who's most known for being in John Waters' early movies. As a Baltimorean, I was glad to read these stories (even though not all of them take place in B-More). As someone who loves Waters' earlier 16mm films, I was glad to read reminiscences of Mueller making "Pink Flamingoes", eg. In the chapter about that she wrote:

"Making low budget films is work, but it's fun, it's more than working in big budget films. If you're an actor, there is nothing more rewarding, despite the meager pay. On small films you get to know the whole cast and crew in a day, and all of these people are much more inventive because of the limited budget; they create effects that wouldn't have been born if there was more money. Necessity is the mother of invention; this is true. John is a master at this, his imagination runneth over."

What I most remember about this is Mueller's vivid description of someone ODing on heroin at a party & people's desperate attempts to successfuly save their life. After bringing them back from near-death, the person wanted to shoot more heroin. Or something like that. Mueller died in 1989 of AIDS. Too bad, she was an excellent social observor, another sterling example of a working class intellectual, someone who cd write incisively about some truly miserable shit.… (meer)

I read the first story of this book in a Mission bookstore. Shoulda bought it right then and there, but decided instead to wait until almost a month later, when I ordered it on Amazon, got it in the mail four days later, and turned the last page one day after that. This is the kind of book whose glaringly obvious spelling and grammar mistakes (e.g., its) only contribute to its ability to sort of re-set your brain's reading style and wash your mind with a spray of cold water.

I appreciated -- in fact, felt inspired by -- Cookie's lavishly dégagé attitude toward life. Hers is the kind of nonchalant style of describing ridiculous events that lesser writers, like myself, try to emulate but fail to even touch. She treats rape in several points in the book as a kind of fact of life -- something awful, yes, but also as something she can exploit to turn the tables on her rapists and abuse them in the best way she possibly could: through her writing, with sharp, eviscerating humor. The story of her road trip abduction in the South was the best one, and the funniest one, in my opinion. Overall, Cookie was empowered, drunk with empowerment even. It's upsetting how young she died.

I wish the book was longer, and meatier. It went by too quickly, and I wish she'd dug deeper into some philosophical theme. I want to read a novel by her.… (meer)