Wow, I see I received this book as an early reviewer edition way back in.... well, a long time ago. Apparently I didn't bother to write a review - which, believe me - was a blessing for the publisher. This book was so bad, I remember it. It was just awful. It was poorly written and offered no insight. Wonder why you haven't seen it for sale anywhere? Now you know. ( )

This is the author's memoir detailing his relationship with Shel Silverstein. There is nothing truly extraordinary revealed, the book provides some slightly interesting detail to the outline found in the appendix. Not a painful read, but not exactly the most exciting either. ( )

While I love Shel Silverstein and his childrens work, I could have been very happy never knowing the skeletons in his closet. The book was very well written and held my attention. I chose not to keep it in my library because of the content. I know we all have "pasts", but I believe most of it is better off untold. ( )

Silverstein & Me: A Memoir is not one's "typical" biography.

Author, Marv Gold, shares his memories of cartoonist, author, and songwriter Shel Silverstein. The most intriguing angle of this particular biography is the fact that Gold had known Silverstein since childhood. Gold is able to reveal the nature of Shel Silverstein without over stepping the private wall that Silverstein had kept around himself throughout his public life.

I first encountered Silverstein's work when I started my career as a school teacher. Having absolutely no idea about the complete body of Silverstein's work, I was delightfully surprised by the stories shared in Gold's writing.

There are some awkward devices used in this book (such as Gold having "meetings" with a fictional psychiatrist ). That writing choice can be a bit disconcerting, but this book is written in a light vein and should not be taken as a scholarly effort to reveal the man behind the cartoons.

What I believe Gold has done successfully, is to reveal the friendship he shared with Silverstein... which makes this book well worth the visit.

Enjoy! ( )

As a reader of Silverstein's children's poems I was excited to pick this book up. Once I began to read it I found that it was not at all what I expected. Yes, I knew a bit about Mr. Silverstein but this book seemed to be more about Mr. Gold than Mr. Silverstein. For those parts that were tied to Silverstein I began to wonder how much was really true. I found that I didn't enjoy this book at all, and was hard to get through once I started. I had to make myself finish the book. ( )