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Eat, Pray, Drink, Lounge, Post, Publish: The Luke Russert Guide to Self-Discovery

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mountaineer:
Eat, Pray, Drink, Lounge, Post, Publish: The Luke Russert Guide to Self-Discovery
Washington Free Beacon
Andrew Stiles   
May 7, 2023
--- Quote ---Midway through the 2016 presidential election, Luke Russert did what most young people do when they feel stuck or unsatisfied in life—he quit his job and spent the next seven years traveling the world on a "quest for enlightenment." Eager to free himself from the "shackles of DC society" and perhaps to finally outrun the shadow of his late father, NBC News legend Tim Russert, the exuberant nepo prodigy set out to carve his own path and find his "purpose" in life.

And now he's back. Having exhausted all other options, including a failed attempt to make it as an Instagram influencer, Russert discovered that his true purpose was writing a memoir about discovering his true purpose. He's spent the last few days hawking it on the Beltway book circuit, back in shackles.

Look For Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself is billed as "the emotional story of a young man taking charge of his life," brimming with "important lessons," "historical understandings," "vivid narrative," and "poignant reflection." Sounds amazing, right? That's probably why the likes of Tom Brokaw, Savannah Guthrie, and Maria Shriver had such nice things to say about it.

Opinions will vary among people who actually read the book. It seems excessive, for example, to describe Look for Me There as a guiding light "for anyone uncertain about the direction of their life or unsure of how to move forward after a loss." It's not entirely clear how the average person will take inspiration from Russert's inner struggle as a chronically unemployed scion getting drunk on foreign beaches, berating third-world taxi drivers, and cheating on his girlfriend.

It's not the worst memoir ever written. Not even close, probably. Former president Barack Obama has authored several (and counting). It's even interesting at times. The early chapters provide a glimpse of what at this point seems like a bizarre alternative reality. Mourners traveling across the country to attend a journalist's funeral. Former House speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) warning Russert to get out of the capital and "go do something" before he becomes a "creature" of This Town. MSNBC bumping Russert's "substantive report" from Capitol Hill for a breaking news update on former president Donald Trump's thoughts on Harambe.

But as soon as Russert embarks on his global quest for purpose and enlightenment, the average reader will find prohibitively challenging the task of taking him seriously as a writer, traveler, thinker, bon vivant. ...

Right off the bat, Russert dishes out throat-clearing apologies for being "the poster child for white elite privilege," "a white heterosexual male whose privilege has given him a cherished opportunity." Though that sort of language might as well be mandated by the publishing industry at this point, presumably no one forced him to include so many abominable sentences and cringe-inducing intellectual observations. ...
--- End quote ---
Rest of article

He certainly isn't the first to attempt to glide through life on a parent's coattails (yeah, I'm looking at you, Chelsea). But how pathetic.

sneakypete:

--- Quote ---Right off the bat, Russert dishes out throat-clearing apologies for being "the poster child for white elite privilege," "a white heterosexual male whose privilege has given him a cherished opportunity."
--- End quote ---

Well,that does explain why so many teebee news readers loved the book. They live in the same alternative reality "bubble" he lives in.

BTW,I didn't even know his father had died,and back in the days of my political innocence,he was one of my favorite reporters.

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