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    Hitch-22: A Memoir
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    Hitch-22: A Memoir
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    Hitch-22: A Memoir
    Audiobook17 hours

    Hitch-22: A Memoir

    Published by Hachette Audio

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Over the course of his 60 years, Christopher Hitchens has been a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been both a socialist opposed to the war in Vietnam and a supporter of the U.S. war against Islamic extremism in Iraq. He has been both a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most dangerous places and a legendary bon vivant with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol and literature. He is a fervent atheist, raised as a Christian, by a mother whose Jewish heritage was not revealed to him until her suicide.

    In other words, Christopher Hitchens contains multitudes. He sees all sides of an argument. And he believes the personal is political.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateJun 2, 2010
    ISBN9781607882336
    Unavailable
    Hitch-22: A Memoir

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    Reviews for Hitch-22

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    • 4/5
      I don't agree with some of his politics but his background is fascinating.
    • 4/5
      Great Memoir of a Genius Critic. One is encouraged to read literature and think critically in all situations. I loved his connections made between the classics read and the book he led. If you are a reader than this book will be your cup of tea, or stick of dynamite (TNT).
    • 3/5
      Brilliant start, but then lapses into chest-thumping. Needs a good editor.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed the honesty and candor of this book. Interesting to see how his views came about. Used a lot of words that I had to look up. (One of the nice things about eReaders is the dictionary is included, but I did not read this on one of those.)
    • 2/5
      Boring. I had such high hopes but it just didn't pan out for me. I'm sure this was rivoting for political junkies but it seemed so stuffy and detached to me. Even the author's account of his mother's suicide seemed devoid of emotion.
    • 5/5
      My favorite biography so far, auto or otherwise. I was particularly hit hard by the fate of his mother. If you want to understand more about the man than just his arguments, perhaps why he argues the way he does, you'd do well to read this book.
    • 3/5
      Hitchens is a fascinating character, and his memoir is no less fascinating. I really enjoyed hearing his narration, though his reading style did take a lot of getting used to.

      This memoir is wildly discursive in the most erudite fashion- and some of the political bits were far too complicated for me to follow 40-odd years later. I love Hitchens' willingness to stand up for what he believes in, and his utter fearlessness.

      Well worth reading.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would because I frequently get annoyed with Hitchens coming off like an arrogant and pompous bastard. The man writes beautiful prose and never bores. He's lived a rich, full life and shares many fascinating observations and insights. A great intellectual with a sharp wit and keen sense of irony.
    • 3/5
      Careerist Memoir at end of life reflecting on battles, achievements, intellectual journey, move from Left to Right aided and abetted by degeneration of the Left into Totalitarian Dictatorship.
    • 5/5
      A brilliant memoir, with acidic wit and an encyclopedic description of everything. I am reminded slightly of Mencken, who had such a brilliant and acerbic way with words, and whose slight arrogance can be justified with their linguistic brilliance.
    • 4/5
      With great humor, tenderness and conviction, Hitch gives us a brilliant account of himself. It's a cerebral book of ideas and struggle - struggle within oneself as much as with an unjust world - that has challenged and expanded my view of some of the great political/ideological forces and events of the past 50 years. It's certainly challenged and expanded my view of Christopher Hitchens. But like all the best writing, it's also a struggle between reader and author (Many times did I find myself saying, "Yes, but...") that helps open the curtains of one's own mental blind spots and emotional illusions.
      Hitch is also one of the great masters of prose style. It's a fast current. And exhilarating. Highly recommended.
    • 2/5
      Christopher Hitchens could be very witty and incisive, and was clearly intelligent and well-read. His wit doesn't come through that strongly in this memoir, though. It is only at times a traditional autobiography. The foreword from the more recent edition (in which he writes about his terminal illness, undiagnosed when the book was written) the chapter about his mother, and a later chapter where he muses on his Jewish heritage that was hidden from him, were the most personal and interesting.

      As for the rest, for me there's far too much blathering about drinking games with his mates that are only funny if you were there, and also drunk. Far too much justification of previously held beliefs and attempting to reconcile them with later positions. Far too many wounded descriptions of his fallings out with others, without ever really taking any responsibility himself.

      I am not that interested in Hitchens' wider circle (e.g. Martin Amis, James Fenton..)and Hitch-22 would be more worthwhile for someone who is.

      I almost gave up on this after the visit to the brothel with Amis, and spent much of the rest of the book disliking both of them because I couldn't get over the attitude displayed here. Those awful, ungrateful prostitutes, looking with contempt at people who were paying for sex (or in Hitchens' case, fortuitously spared from the full deal as he didn't have enough cash). Poor, poor Martin Amis, forced - forced - to have sex with a contemptuous prostitute in order to use the experience in his fiction. The episode is just spectacularly lacking in self awareness, or any attempt to understand or empathise with the women in question, and paints Amis and Hitchens as somehow victims of an enterprise they chose to instigate. And it's not even funny!
    • 3/5
      Come back, Hitch, there's no one quite like you. Interesting memoir although that word game he and the boys play does sound like something that's a lot more funny to those actually present and drunk.
    • 2/5
      I have liked Christopher Hitchens in the past primarily through his previous book, "God is Not Great." Being an anti-religionist, not an atheist I was pretty much in agreement with what he had to say. I was not aware however how little I knew about the man. I was hoping I would gain a lot of answers in this book but I was disappointed.First in fairness this is a memoir not an autobiography and that is where I may have been misdirected. About 85% of the book deals with his political leftest escapades throughout his life. Other topics include a semi-bio on his father and mother. His early schooling is covered also and his experimentation in homosexuality. But very little beyond that such as his own family. His children are mentioned in a paragraph or two. His wife is not mentioned at all. Beyond his analysis of his part Jewish heritage which was kept from him he rarely ventures into his feelings and thoughts on his personal life outside of the political ring.So for those very much into political debate of the right vs. left and socialism contrasted to communism then the book would certainly have appeal. No doubt Hitchens was committed to his cause throughout his life. The problem I found is that he never really gave the reasons why just the experiences.
    • 5/5
      Liberating, inspiring, life changing. A wake up call for the budding intellectual. A manifesto of free thinking. A call to the revolutionaries, to never abandon their convictions - imploring one to look towards the lost treasure of revolution in shaping our lives; our world.Hitch is the catalyst in my personal odyssey, in realizing that it is your mind that changes you. "Get on with your own ork, and behave as if you were immortal."
    • 5/5
      Christopher Hitchens was a passionate reader, thinker, speaker, and writer. I share his passion, but not all of his passions. Some of those I share include a passion for reading (widely and deeply), and an intense dislike of hypocrisy of all kinds. His memoir chronicles a life that began the same day that mine did although, unlike mine, it has ended--all too soon. While I have read his essays and biographical sketches the catalyst for reading his memoir was the tribute for him that, thanks to the wonder that is CSPAN BookTV, was broadcast on television a week ago as "A Tribute for Christopher Hitchens"; one example of the all too few oases of value in the wasteland that with the ubiquity of Cable has only grown larger over the years.The memoir chronicles his personal history with a bent toward intellectual history. The passion of his living shows through in his writing with excitement for the reader both from his adventures in political warfare and his experience in the literary realm of reading and subsequently writing. He developed an uncanny ability to see and understand both sides of an argument, making his own positions stronger in the process. One moment that epitomizes this is his epiphany when, as a student at Oxford in 1968, he visits a camp for international revolutionaries in Cuba. Even there, left-wing as his views were, he could not tow the line and had the audacity to question the unreflexive adherence to whatever opinion emanated from Castro, the "revolutionary leader". Ironically he remembers the aimlessness of a whole day when, with Russian tanks entering Prague, the communists in Cuba had no official view until their leader revealed the official line. To what extent his memory was tempered with hindsight the reader will have to judge for himself, but given his outspoken often contrarian views the picture of his role in that time rings true. His roles as student, lecturer, foreign correspondent, polemicist of ideas (usually contrarian and always well-thought), and more fill the pages of a book that must be read by all who have appreciated his presence in the battlefield of ideas over the last few decades. Perhaps the best example of the many facets of his critical and literary life was his move from England to America. In doing so, becoming a regular contributor for The Nation magazine as a Brit in America he seemed to become a sort of left-wing version of Alistair Cooke and William F. Buckley melded into one outspoken contrarian commentor. This is the Christopher Hitchens that I first encountered in essays and on television and his version of the journey is fascinating.I share his love of literary giants like Orwell and appreciate the way he could effectively stand up against hypocrites of all stripes and, usually, irrational beliefs. His was a life bred in the exciting world of ideas and one that in his words makes for a great memoir. I would encourage everyone to make some room for Christopher Hitchens in their reading life.
    • 4/5
      Long, rambling and fascinating.
    • 3/5
      A little disappointed that it wasn't as interesting as i had hoped it would be. It's a different kind of a memoir than the normal ones. Hitch is really fluid and rambles here and there in this. I would read this book just for the chapters on "Mesopotamia from both sides" and "decay, evolution or metamorphosis". It really shows his open mindedness and soundness of judgement instead of clinging to ideas only because he already had a foot in it. It's a good lesson for everyone too, seemingly obvious but tough to grasp. It's just amazing how he quotes extensively from so many authors and books and incidents, and it's a real pleasure to read all of that. Glad he wrote this and gladder that i had the chance to read it! It took me a while to understand the title though. Even though reading the book doesn't give the idea of remorse or any such need for it, the over emphasis on double identity and the changes he went through gives an impression that he wanted to do some explanation on his leanings and their changes, or at least wanted the lesson to be known about certitudes in anything.
    • 5/5
      Christopher Hitchens's memoirs, like his other writings, is remarkably satisfying in its breadth of content and its approach to reporting on a life well and truly lived. In fact, Hitchens lived so much that I was almost depressed by reading of his adventures, especially considering that he did so much so young, and what do I have to say for myself?However, one should know before reading this volume that these are Hitchens's memoirs, not an autobiography of such. Although he discusses his relationship with his parents at length, and the late-in-life revelation of his Jewish ancestry, he manages to avoid for the most part mentioning either of his wives (or at least how his marriage came to have a sequel) or his relationship with his brother. There is still much work available for any would-be biographer, though the prose here is so faultless that the task should not be taken on lightly.In all, a magnificent work, and I feel truly better for having read it.
    • 4/5
      Fascinating memoir by the legendary Vanity Fair writer who attended Oxford and is friends with Martin Amis. I listened to it on Audible audiobook. Hitchens is an atheist and highly opinionated, but also brilliant, and refreshingly unafraid to share controversial views. I recently read an excerpt of the book in a 2010 issue of Vanity Fair that I hadn't yet gotten around to finishing or recycling - it included the Martin Amis chapter or portion thereof - and had to download it immediately. His mother's tragic death and his late discovery of Jewish ancestry were fascinating; I was particularly interested in his discussion of Wroclaw, Poland (the former Breslin, Germany). He notes the impact of 1968, 1989 and 2001 events on his world view. He thought he might be able to depart from his political writing and debates but realized after Sept. 11, 2001 that it would be impossible. He has a new book of essays out in hardcover.
    • 4/5
      I have been aware of Christopher Hitchens for a long time, but it is only in the last few years that I've really been much of an admirer of his. It's amazing how much "smarter" the man seemed to become as his political views grew closer to my own (for those unsure, this is my lame attempt at a joke) - even his "take no prisoners" debate style seemed less abrasive than before. Hitch-22 is in some ways more than the book I expected and, in other ways, a bit less than I hoped for when I first picked it up. On the one hand, Hitchens is frank about many aspects of his personal life, including the family scandal that cost his mother her life when she was killed by her lover in one of those murder-suicide incidents that destroy so many families. He addresses his own bisexuality, tracing it all the way back to his boarding school days during which homosexual experimentation among the students was commonplace - and admits that he became more of a womanizer after he came to believe that signs of physical aging made him unattractive to men. On the other hand, however, Hitchens says very little about either of his wives or his children, using them more as props, than anything else, in stories about some of his more famous friends, and enemies in the literary world. Most interesting to me is the explanation Hitchens gives for his gradual shift of political views, all the way from being about as far left as one could be in 20th century England to becoming an advocate of the far right viewpoint on American/world politics by the 21st century. Along the way, Hitchens became friends with some of the most influential political and literary minds of his day; as his politics changed, some of those same people would become his bitter enemies. Hitchens, never one to pull his punches, tells the reader exactly what he thinks of the politicians, writers, pundits, and personalities he encountered along the way. While that it definitely a good approach to writing a memoir, many American readers are likely to find themselves a bit befuddled by some of the names and situations Hitchens describes from his earlier life. Too, these particular chapters constitute some of the most dryly written ones in the book, and it takes determination on the part of the reader to get through them despite the war zone adventures they often describe. Hitch-22 does, though, reflect the personality of its author, and the book will not disappoint Hitchens fans. The man's feisty, confrontational approach to life, one leavened by his rather raunchy and witty take, is there for all to see - and enjoy. Even taking into account his current fight for survival, few would say that Christopher Hitchens has been cheated by life. His has been one of the more interesting ones of the 20th century and Hitch-22 proves it.Rated at: 4.0
    • 4/5
      If you enjoy Christopher Hitchens' columns and books, you will enjoy this memoir. I found the early chapters in which Mr. Hitchens discusses his parents and his relationship with his parents to be the most affecting, especially the sad tale of his mother's later life and suicide. The best chapter in the book (in my opinion) is the one on 9-11, into which the author weaves his own personal story of becoming an American (and becoming a citizen) and his hatred of religious terrorism. An interesting story from a man who has tried to base his life on humanistic principles, reason and logic.
    • 4/5
      If you like Hitchens' essays and columns, then you should read this. He's an intelligent writer, and for the most part the memoir is entertaining and breezy. He's a bit of a name-dropper with regard to various intellectuals, writers and poets with whom he has had acquaintances, which I didn't mind but some readers might find off-putting.. First half of book is better than second half. He fails to understand why so many principled individuals might have problems with the Bush-Cheney decision to take unilateral action to go to war on Iraq in March 2003, simplistically depicting opponents of the war as friends and supports of the sadistic regime of Saddam Hussein. Having said that, most of his criticisms of left-wing intellectuals such as Edward Said and Noam Chomsky seem justifiable.
    • 4/5
      Christopher Hitchens wrote one of my favorite books of the decade: God Is Not Great: How Religion Ruins Everything. Culled from first-hand experience in many of the world's hot-spots and conversation with some of the movers and shakers of the past four decades, the book was filled with remarkable insight from someone who's career was largely as a socialist activist and journalist, until abandoning that cause fairly recently. Knowing a little of the places he's been and who he knew, I was excited to hear about this autobiography when he appeared on The Daily Show.Now I look forward to a biography written by someone else.While the book did include a lot of what I hoped to read, it seemed to drag more than it should because some people and places that Hitchens credits as being influential in his life simply weren't all that compelling to me -- especially when he goes on and on about poets and authors I've never read. Perhaps I should read some of what was referenced...and then maybe I'll better appreciate this memoir. But the fact is, it was a slow, arduous read, and it was with much perseverance that I made it to the end.I still find him to be a fascinating individual, I just think his story will be better told by someone else.
    • 3/5
      I am a big Christopher Hitchens fan and was quite pleased that he undertook this project. It is everything you expect from Hitchens: urbane, witty, pointed. There are a few problems, however, namely his continued need to justify his position on the Iraq war and his association with the neo-cons. I also found the dragging into the narrative the family and memory of a killed American soldier who also happened to have been a Hitchens fan...well, it was a bit distasteful because he seemed to want to use the young man as further proof of the correctness of his judgments. What I liked a great deal were his recountings of personal memories and his profiles of people like Martin Amis, James Fenton and Salman Rushdie. It would have been nice to get a little more on the women in his life (although the parts on his mother were extremely moving) but maybe Hitch doesn't kiss and tell (how refreshing!) All in all, except for the dark spots mentioned above this is a fine addition to the collected works.
    • 5/5
      This memoir is read by the author, inflected by self-criticism, deep grappling with the biggest stories of his life, and of course flavored with the wit and style drawn from numerous dialectic conversations and literary study.
    • 1/5
      I like CH as a talking head and author. I guess everybody shouldn't write their autobiography. He is egotistical, childish and cruel. Could be edited and used as a preface for God is not great. I highly recommend his new 10 commandments - check You Tube.
    • 4/5
      Hitchens’ bracing polemics produce a slightly wearing but always stimulating read. There’s a lot in it as he takes us from his private school tussles through the revolutionary Trotskyite movements he follows, in the face of the 68ers’ more hedonistic liberations, to his maturing in the Washington of wars of humanitarian interventionism and regime change. The tone tends to the acerbic, as he can’t resist the urge to denigrate, also to brag. He’s unabashed with the name dropping, but as this is rich in literary and intellectual influences, the reader is rewarded with valuable references to follow up. And his thinking is always interesting, if not in the end wholly reliable: see for example his slightly contrived attempt (relevant to our own degenerating times) at explaining the tenacity of anti-semitism (p379 in this ‘Twelve’ edition).
    • 3/5
      The chief attributes were the references to the Amis clan. There wasn't much else but a bloviated rasping.

      It may be fitting that I finished the book at a shopping mall, waiting for my wife. The structure of this memoir could strike one as a pitch. Maybe the mark finds forgiveness, maybe the neo-con conversion was genetic. The blood made him do it. I'll stop there.
    • 2/5
      Hitch 22 is more of a survey and opinion of modern history than a memoir. In part this is due to the spectacular public life that Hitchens has led, but it doesn't feel like an account from someone who has led a life at all. For someone who holds passionate and often (though not always) beautifully supported opinions, Hitchens presents his own life in a very detached manner. There is bountiful name dropping of really only public figures. His family of origin is sparsely mentioned, his current wife and children could be missed in a blink, and the mother of two children is omitted. Fair enough, he perhaps intends to maintain privacy, but it is just one symptom of the book's overall sense of detachment. Whether Hitchens discusses pivotal, personal events or prurient events like a visit to a brothel, there is a lack of introspection and inner dialogue. It's almost as though an automaton was designed to live a radical, amazing life and report on it eloquently but without feeling. The only occasion where this didn't entirely hold true is when Hitchens discusses his mother and when he takes a personal interest in the death of a soldier he had influenced. Even in these instances, you only get the mere sense of a depth of emotion. The fact of Hitchens' life is much more enjoyable than its recounting.

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