What a fascinating memoir. I knew who John Waters was based on his picture, but had no idea what he had done and who he was in Hollywood. He’s a cult filmmaker, I’ve only seen Hairspray, but recognized a few of the other movies listed. There were two things that I found absolutely fascinating about this book, the first was his fascination with gristliness/grunge/dirtiness and how he wrote the memoir itself.
The writing of the novel was in such a way that Waters was not only interested in, but obsessed with the grunge/gristliness of both his hometown and everywhere he is and this shows in the topics of his memoir. From a brief tirade about men washing their hands in the bathroom like surgeons having only taken a piss and not rubbed off or anything, to his obsession with Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons an off kilter fashion designer (this is a blog about the guerilla stores that Comme des Garçons holds and that Waters talks extensively about). The ‘mistakes’ and slightly ‘gruesome’ design aspect seem to hold sway over Waters and he describes them with such love and detail that he’s clearly behind this designer (as if we couldn’t tell).
