Rating: 
Summary: Kind of ho-hum...
Review: I don't know; maybe it's because I'm a Canadian, but I really don't get what people see in Vowell. Maybe it's the appeal of the "young-smart history-nerd combo," like somebody thinks that's a rare thing. Probably all of the above plus a dash of great writing and a sprinkling of apple pie spice for Old Glory.Personally, though, I couldn't find in this book the howlingly funny curmudgeon that reviews here had led me to expect. Some insight, perhaps, though I felt myself wishing she was writing from a little more experience. Maybe it's like that thing with airline pilots, imagining them with salt-and-pepper hair and, though their hands are steady, just a trace of crows' feet around the eyes. Deep down, maybe I prefer my historians and history buffs to be way older than me. Vowell is probably a great way for younger audiences to get into political issues, but -- and maybe it loses something, not hearing it read aloud in her own voice! -- I personally found it hard to get excited about her causes, and harder to empathize with her odd American passions.
Rating:
Summary: A Familiar Voice in Dark Times
Review: This book is great! Vowell's voice is easy-going and fun, and it's like she's sitting on the couch telling you all about the lunchroom in the caves and teddy roosevelt and shooting hoops. This book's entertaining, if not neccessarily earth-shattering. Her essay about post-Sept 11th flag-waving is worth the price of admission.
Rating: 
Summary: Vowell Can Get You Through the Winter Doldrums
Review: Sarah Vowell makes me laugh, not just a chuckle, but a belly laugh. Then she pulls me up short when she hits readers with some of her observations of people, politics, the world, never belaboring her point. A friend and fellow Oklahoman told me about Vowell, a displaced Oklahoman. Her "Letter to a Dead Senator" (Mike Synar) is touching; her advice to Pres. Clinton about how to arrange his library is witty and wise. Her piece about having her family for Thanksgiving is a treasure. She looks at herself and others and says what we'd all like to say, but we don't have her courage and wit. One of my favorite lines: (I paraphrase) Some days you just want to rent "Die Hard," close the shades and eat Cheerios for lunch.
Rating: 
Summary: Clever, if Unspectacular Sociopolitical Discourse.
Review: In "The Partly Cloudy Patriot", Vowell describes her sociopolitical perspective on the U.S. In a series of nineteen essays (many of which originally aired on her NPR program), she illustrates her observations with personal experiences and often uses pop-culture analogies for elucidation. She's a self-described "history geek", and she applies her impressive, encyclopedic knowledged effectively. Throughout much of the book, Vowell applies a dry humor mostly effectively; it's the type of humor that makes you chuckle consistently, but seldom generates robust laughter. Vowell is a warm, sincere essayist. Her casual prose and unique pop-culture approach is witty without ever being pendantic or condescending (if you've ever heard an interview, she's very self-effacing). Despite her leftist slant, her strongest essays offer keen observation of the uniqueness (for better and worse) of the collective American psyche. In "Cowboys v. Mounties", she compares the histories of the U.S. and Canada. Even though she's generally a fan of Canadians, something about them seems "off". In her experiences with The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, she learns what it is: Individual Canadians truly considering themselves a minor part of collective social fabric; their unerring modesty and politeness are characteristic of this and seem creepy to the American sense of individuality. In "Wonder Twins" she compares her relationship with her fraternal twin sister with that of Myanmar twins who briefly commanded a guerilla army. Some of her ideas seem a bit flimsy to me, but her assertions are usually interesting and worthy of consideration. Vowell's best essays make social observations rather than being overtly political. Vowell is less successful with her openly political essays. Even if you agree with her politics (which I often do), her unyielding ideological slant is usually an annoyance. The most egregious example is the seemingly interminable essay, "The Nerd Voice" (parts one and two). She expresses her frustration over the results of the 2000 presidential election and explains how Gore could have been a more effective candidate. Using several pop-culture analogies ["Revenge of the Nerds" (movie), "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)] she tries to show how Gore could have presented himself as a likeable, self-effacing nerd (rather than the phony, unlikeable smarty-pants he campaigned as). The ideas in this essay are particularly shaky, and after thirty pages it amounts to little more than sour musings of a resentful Democrat. Most of her other politically oriented essays are shorter, but aren't much better. Reading "The Partly Cloudy Patriot" is like having a casual conversation with an amusing history buff you might meet in a bar; instead talking about sports, you have a conversation about America. At her most insightful, Vowell reveals that all Americans share unique characteristics despite our individual differences. It isn't a literary masterpiece, but if you're in the mood for a couple hours of affable sociopolitical discourse it's an ideal book.
Rating:
Summary: She makes me proud to be American again
Review: After I finished this collection of essays, all I could think to myself was how much it made me want to be a better person. A better American. And not in that Pro-Bush, "I'm gonna put a flag in my yard to show my loyalty", "let's kick some [insert foreign country with whom we're disagreeing this week] [...]!" kind of way. It makes me want to go back and do some of the reading I haven't done since junior high so that I can once again appreciate what America was meant to be instead of what so often we fear it's becoming. Because Sarah Vowell loves America, and her love of our country is an old love. A love that dates back to the days of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. A love that wishes Abraham Lincoln could have been president forever out of admiration for his determination to keep America uncompromisingly whole. I've called her an "optimist-in-cynic's-clothing", and I still stand by that. Like in her earlier collection, Take the Cannoli, she's unabashedly opinionated, but time and history have mellowed her somewhat. Where before she crtitcized America's misdeeds of the past, now she has hope for what we can do in the future. And her hope is infectious. I'm not a very political person, but I love The Partly Cloudy Patriot as much for the politically tinged essays as for the more generically themed reflections. My favorites? "The Nerd Voice", a wonderful essay defending Al Gore, one of America's most famous (and misunderstood) modern nerds, and "State of the Union", a collection of completely random musings that smack of the inspiration that comes only with insomnia. And just in case you're fearing being preached at, don't. You'll laugh your head off, and if you're like me, when you're done reading, you'll want to give Sarah Vowell a big hug of thanks and appreciation.
Rating:
Summary: Slanted but Hillarious.
Review: The Partly Cloudy Patriot comes with the standard Democrat slant. Liberals are portrayed as highly intelligent, and conservatives are portrayed as less than intelligent. Al Gore is a super nerd, and we may infer that he failed to capture more votes than he did because the common low brow middle-American just didn't grasp his lofty ideals. Bush is a jock, and he didn't really win the presidency despite the fact that every recount of the Florida ballots showed him to be the winner. Now, what is wrong with this typical Democrat presentation of politicians is that, well, it's just wrong. Fact is, many conservatives are smart, and many liberals are stupid. There's probably a pretty even mixture on both sides. Bush did his undergrad work at Yale and earned a Harvard MBA. Gore dropped out of Divinity School. Gore should have won the 2000 election by a landslide since the economy was booming. That Bush received the majority of the electoral votes is a testament to his political intelligence and perhaps to Gore's lack thereof. Now, that being said, this is a very funny book, written by a very likable, very funny writer. Ms. Vowell's take on Gettysburg had me laughing out loud. I ejoyed all the essays, even the one's with which I disagreed. If you've ever heard Ms.Vowell on radio or watched her on TV, you know she has a brilliant dry wit. It comes across in her writing. Of all the writers I've heard speak on Book TV, she's one of the few I've actually enjoyed hearing and one of the few who seems like the sort of person you would want to hang around with for an afternoon.
Rating:
Summary: I appreciate her dry wit
Review: I was first introduced to Sarah Vowell when flipping through the channels on television. I stopped on a program on the Discovery Channel, where several authors were invited to speak at some sort of event. Sarah has this somewhat annoying, nasaly sound to her voice that is at once both annoying and completely endearing. After listening to her speak, I bought The Partly Cloudy Patriot on a whim, and was completely taken in. Sarah Vowell is, at heart, a hip, nerdish, Gen-Xer like me. She has a special knack for story-telling. When I read this book, I was reminded of David Sedaris in some ways. I enjoyed it as much as Sedaris, but for different reasons. While Sedaris' anecdotes are "laugh out loud" funny, Sarah's stories are told with a dry, subtle wit. I look forward to reading more of her work.
Rating:
Summary: Great Essays
Review: She writes very funny reviews. You can see her reading some of her work on C-Span 2. She touches on Civil War, Sept 11 and what makes this the country it is. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven, but mostly funny
Review: If you have never read Sarah Vowell and you would like to get the flavour of this book, give her a listen on National Public Radio. Her voice is consistent between the written and spoken word. She is very political and very Democratic, so that informs her writing. If open bias bothers you, or that particular bias bothers you, give this book a miss. The Buffy bit was very amusing, as were some of the historical passages. Some of the rest I found less. However, humour is notoriously subjective, so your mileage may vary. I found this book good reading on a gray, rainy day. It's not Pulitzer material, but it is a bit of sunshine for a dreary afternoon.
Rating:
Summary: correction
Review: As someone who just finally got my hands on this book after weeks of looking forward to it, I couldn't let what seemed like an injustice to this book go--the customer reviewer who liked it the least said "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" doesn't appear in this book despite being advertised on the jacket. Um, did he/she even READ the book?! It's in there--not glaring in the title, but really, not that hard to find. Why write a hateful review if he/she hasn't even read the book?
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