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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

EDITORIAL REVIEW

FROM PUBLISHERS WEEKLY


Plaut decided to become a New York City cabbie after getting laid off from a job as an advertising copywriter, then began posting about her interactions with patrons on a blog that forms the backbone of this memoir. The anecdotal structure has its weaknesses, repeating the cycle of passengers getting in the cab, engaging in conversation with Plaut, then leaving either a generous tip or a lousy one. There are also a number of scenes set at the garage, where she slowly develops a friendship with a 62-year-old transsexual driver while struggling to avoid another senior cabbie with bladder control problems. Plaut's growing dissatisfaction with the job provides the memoir with an emotional undercurrent. She has trouble shaking off the feeling that she's wasting her potential, and the drain of interacting with abusive passengers and a hostile police force eventually sets her to dreaming of dying in a car crash. In the end, however, she's grown more comfortable with her fate, ready to continue circling the streets looking for fares. Her storytelling technique may be uneven in this debut, but it shows promise. (Sept.)
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The only bone of contention I have with this review is the reference to
repeating the cycle of passengers getting in the cab, engaging in conversation with Plaut, then leaving either a generous tip or a lousy one
That's what the life of a cabbie is. A multitude of interactions with strangers. Every hour of every shift. Ad nauseam.

Snippets of life.



"Let's all be careful out there!"

THE DAY AFTER A HOLIDAY

IS ALWAYS DEAD


The best part of my shift was watching the sun set. Pretty, isn't it? I liked the effects on the clouds, south of Wailea Lookout. The after
glow was breathtaking. And this morning's setting of the almost full moon was very ruddy.

Made very little money. Only drove a total of 72 miles (116 km) and metered below $100, on 8 runs.

The nicest folks of the shift were a newlywed couple that I took from Sansei to Wailea. They had married on Sunday and arrived on Mau'i late Monday. He was from London and she was from Dallas. My obvious question was:
"How'd y'all meet?"
Turns out that they both work for the same company and are now residents of NYC.

I had absolutely NO reservations to pass on to the day-shift. I don't know the current occupany percents of the hotels but it is usually very low at this time of year. Graduations, etc., on the mainland.

If you think this post is dull, you should try living the shift that got me here.

B O R I N G !
Sneak a peek in here tomorrow.

Maybe it will get better. God, I hope so.

Mahalo

Aloha



THE PICTURE GALLERY

Sugar Beach
Beach In Wailea
Beach In Kihei
Puna Coast
Big Island
Diving Molokini
***




"Let's all be careful out there!"