Crock : There's No Escape from the Legion!

By Bill Rechin and Don Wilder

Crock comic strips, copyrighted 1981, 1982, 1983.

Led by their cruel commandant, Crock, the soldiers of the Legion do their best (which isn't all that great) to follow orders and defeat the enemy.
Fortunately, the enemy isn't all that smart either.

One of my favorite comic strips, but both Bill Rechin and Don Wilder are gone and new strips are no longer being created.

Crock Marches On

By Bill Rechin and Don Wilder

Crock comic strips, copyright 1984 and 1985. Crock is the cruel, selfish commandant of the Foreign Legion outpost in the blazing desert of some unnamed country. Although the locals are after their blood, the soldiers are more in danger from their own leader, Crock. He cares not if the soldiers are starving, thirsty, wounded or underpaid. All he cares about is himself.

Crock : Are Those Your Good Pants?

By Bill Rechin and Don Wilder

Crock comic strips, copyright 1978, 1979, 1981.

Life is hard for the soldiers of the Foreign Legion, stuck as they in the cruel desert and ruled by a harsh and selfish commander. But as written and drawn by the authors, it may be harsh and cruel but it is definitely hilarious.

Kiss Me Like a Stranger

By Gene Wilder

I enjoyed a lot of Gene Wilder's movies so I thought I might find this book interesting, which I did. I am sorry to say that it lowered my opinion of him though.
I was enjoying it a lot and it was a fast & engaging read, until the section where he talks about Gilda Radner. He has some rather harsh things to say about his dead wife, claiming she was babyish and demanding. But that is not what bothered me. Certainly Gilda had flaws, most show biz people are huge balls of ego, so the idea that she was babyish and demanding is no surprise. What bothered me was this: Gilda is bedridden, suffering from the horrific effects of strong chemotherapy. Her little dog is in the bedroom with her, trying to get her attention. Finally, Gilda can't stand it any longer and screams at the dog, "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Wilder, instead of sympathizing with her struggle, remarks that her temper tantrums scared both him and the dog. I thought to myself, "You insensitive ass, why don't you keep the damn dog away from her when she is feeling so ill?" I know I have yelled at my dog when I am fed up with her pestering me and I am not suffering from a deadly disease.
Further, Wilder admits that he is estranged from his "adopted" daughter, Kate. (I use quote marks because I can't recall him saying that he ever formally adopted her.) He says he doesn't understand what went wrong and blames it on Kate's anger at her biological father.
Wilder comes off as self-absorbed and clueless. The book is an interesting read but I wish he was a little less complacent about his own flaws, of which he seems unaware.

Review by Wendy Smith in the Los Angeles Times:   http://www.latimes.com/books/great-reads/la-ca-jc-gene-wilder-memoir-20160829-snap-story.html.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

By Thornton Wilder

1928 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by the man who wrote the play, Our Town.
It starts out with the collapse of the San Luis Rey bridge in which five people fall to their deaths; kind of a grim way to start a novel. The novel proceeds to look at the lives of these unfortunates, posing the question, why them? Were they terrible sinners who deserved to die? Or perhaps they were saints being called home to their reward in heaven?
One of them was a lonely woman whose whole life revolves around her daughter. Her daughter, however, lives in Europe and really would rather that her mother just leave her alone. The woman is accompanied by her maid, who also dies in the bridge collapse. The maid is a young orphan who is in training to take over the job of running the orphanage when she matures.
The third person in the group is a man who recently lost his beloved twin brother.
Next comes an elderly man who is accompanied by a young boy that he has recently undertaken to educate. The boy is the son of an accomplished actress that the man raised & trained.
So what do these people all have in common? They were loved better after they were dead than they were when they were alive. Each one shared their life with some person who failed to value them properly. The mother's daughter was contemptuous of her mother. The head of the orphanage was too impersonal to the young maid. The twin brother was jealous of his brother's love for a woman. The actress despised the man who was responsible for her great success and she was indifferent to her little son.
Only after these five people were gone did their friends & families realize how important they were and how very much they would be missed. Only then is their love realized and perfected.
This is not a happy story. It is a forerunner of Wilder's theme in
Our Town,which he wrote about ten years later, that people are blind to the true meaning of their lives. They go along being cruel or indifferent to the ones they should treat the best, the ones who should be held dear in their hearts. Just like the souls in Our Town, the survivors can only look back and wish they had lived their lives differently, more aware, more lovingly.
I can't say I liked this story. It makes you think, I guess, but I found it depressing to read about these five knowing that they end up smashed to death. I didn't like Our Town either. They are both too morbid and not my cup of tea.
However, the story is well written and very readable and interesting. It drew me in despite its sad beginning. If you like stories that delve into the meaning of life then you would probably enjoy this novel.
Review from The Pulitzer Prizes:  http://www.pulitzer.org/article/bridge-too-far-not-when-its-good-wilders-novel.