Sacred Chickens
  • Sacred Chickens Blog
  • Books, Podcasts, and Other Fun Stuff
  • Contact
  • Merch!
  • Sacred Chickens Blog
  • Books, Podcasts, and Other Fun Stuff
  • Contact
  • Merch!

Roy Peaks BOGO Book Review: Let Me Clear My Throat and Animals Strike Curious Poses by Elena Passarello

3/4/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture


Let Me Clear My Throat
and 
Animals Strike Curious Poses
Author Elena Passarello


Review by Roy Peak





No on brings value to our chickens like Roy Peak. Today he reviews two books of essays by the same author! So you're getting double what you...errr...paid for. Now, on with the review!

Picture

So today, my fine Chickens, we have two books of essays written by the same author. I really do see these two books as companion pieces and am hoping there will one day soon be a third to round them out. Books this good should come in threes. That and the fact that I have not gotten near enough of the fine writing by this fantastic writer and am genuinely hoping for more. Elena Passarello, you are a true treasure.

In Animals, we get true tales of notable creatures such as Mozart's pet starling, which he claimed helped him compose several of his melodies; Harriet, a 175-year old tortoise from the Galapagos Islands; Mike the headless chicken, survivor of a botched beheading; Dürer's so wrong it was right rhinoceros; Jumbo, the circus elephant; Arabella, the experimenting spider aboard Skylab; Yuka, a wooly mammoth found frozen in the ice after perishing nearly forty-thousand years prior, and several more fascinating animals. Passarello makes these stories strikingly poignant and imbues them with a well deserved humanity—although that word seems strikingly insufficient to fully honor these animals in the way that Passarello has. 

Several of these tales seemed a bit farfetched until I did some internet research (thank you, Wikipedia and Google image search) and discovered that yes, there was indeed a bear named Sackerson who fought as entertainment for the rowdy theater-goers of the time, and was famous enough at the time to be name checked by Shakespeare himself in one of his plays. There really was a goat gussied up as a unicorn and sensationally paraded to hundreds of thousands of circus goers during the nineteen-eighties. Did Mozart's pet starling actually listen to the composer's music and chirped it back with improved and unexpected melodies? All true and all brilliantly brought to life by some fantastic and rather compact writing by Passarello.

Her earlier book, Throat, is essays on the human voice, the miracle of speech, the magic of singing, the love of dialects. Like Animals, these are essays mostly on select individuals: famous singers such as Enrico Caruso, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland; Philadelphia sportscaster Myron Cope; an Elvis impersonator, an auctioneer, a speaker of tongues.

We also have essays on the Wilhelm Scream, the Rebel Yell, the "singing" of crows, early telephone etiquette, politician Howard Dean's infamous career-killing scream, as well as the author's own experience as a finalist in the New Orleans Stella Screaming Contest. (Which you can witness yourself thanks to the gloriousness of YouTube. Search for 2011 Stella Screaming Contest. You will not be disappointed.) 

I stated earlier about a wish for a third book of essays in this series but what could it be about? Whatever it is, I'm sure that it will make me think, laugh, cry, and marvel at our world as written of by Elena Passarello's pen.


Picture
Bio:​
Roy Peak is Sacred Chickens' Music Editor. He has played electric bass in more bands than he cares to remember for more years than he can remember. He wrote the theme song for the Utica, New York radio show "Hey You Kids, Get Off My Lawn" on WPNR-FM. His solo debut album, 
All Is Well, has been called "Loud, cacophonous, and beautiful by a truly unique artist." His short fiction has been published in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature and he writes music reviews for the King Tut Vintage Album Museum of Jacksonville.  Roy writes music reviews for the Rocking Magpie among others.

​

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    ​BUY NOW!

    Picture








    ​Click Photo above to buy ebook or paperback from Amazon.

    Or order through your favorite independent bookstore!​

    email Julie

    Categories

    All
    Author Spotlight
    Blog Post
    Digging In
    Essay
    Film/Tv Review
    Gardening
    Music Review
    Original Poem
    Original Story
    Poetry
    Politics
    Random Thoughts
    Recommendations
    Review
    Uncle Morty
    Uncle Morty On Writing
    Weekend Reading
    Writing Contest

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    October 2023
    June 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    RSS Feed